Twice's Growth Story Breaking Records and Defying the 'Seven Years of Evil' Jinx

 

twice

It's been nine years since Twice, the girl group that once rocked Korea with the 'Sha Sha Sha!' craze, debuted in 2015. Despite passing through the notorious 'seven years of evil' jinx that often leads to the disbandment of idol groups, Twice is still writing their own history and growing into a global girl group with a strong presence in the international market.


Recently, Twice broke their own record by surpassing 1.7 million album pre-orders with their 12th mini album 'Ready to Be,' coming close to the highest pre-order volume for a girl group held by Black Pink with almost 2 million copies. Even when compared to their pre-order volume over the past three years, which includes their 11th mini album 'Between One and Two' (1 million copies), 3rd regular album 'Formula of Love' (700,000 copies), and 9th mini album 'More and More' (500,000 copies), the trend is clearly upwards.


This growth seems to be largely due to their change in music style and minimal domestic activities as they entered the global market in earnest from 2020. While their famous songs were created by JYP Entertainment producer Park Jin-young, composer Lee Woo-min, and Black Eyed Pil-seung, their recent songs like 'More and More' and 'Set Me Free' were composed by foreign composers, helping them to achieve greater success overseas. They also conducted their comeback live broadcast in New York and released 'Set Me Free' at 2:00 PM Korean time, 0:00 Eastern time in the US.


Their explosive popularity in Japan has gradually attracted attention in the US market as well, with their album 'More & More' entering the US Billboard's main album chart "Billboard 200" at No. 200 in 2020, and 'The Feels' ranking 83rd on Billboard's main single chart "Hot 100" the following year. Their second English single 'Moonlight Sunrise' also ranked 84th on the 'Hot 100' and succeeded in entering the second chart.


In early March, Twice became the first female K-pop artist to receive the 'Breakthrough Artist' award, given to a singer who achieved a meaningful challenge in the music market that year, at the 'Billboard Women in Music Awards' in the US. This reflects their increasing global awareness and record-breaking achievements despite being in their ninth year of debut, a rarity for domestic girl groups.


One of the secrets of Twice's long run is the strong teamwork among the members. JYP Entertainment's representative producer Park Jin-young praised Twice, saying, "I've never seen a group that cares for and cares for each other so sincerely for over 7 years." In fact, all the members signed contract renewals as a full group in the fall of last year, deciding to firmly keep the name of Twice.


As popular culture critic Jeong Deok-hyeon noted, "In the end, the most important thing is content and fandom, and whether artists and agencies acknowledge it and consider it in their contracts. As Twice continues to put out good content, and the fandom continues to support them, there is no reason why Twice's activities cannot continue." Indeed, Twice's growth story is a testament to their strong teamwork, evolving music style, and unwavering support from their fandom, as they continue to break records and defy the 'seven years of evil' jinx.

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