A TWICE CASE STUDY
TWICE IN A MILLION
A CASE STUDY ABOUT K-POP GIRL GROUP "TWICE"
INTRODUCTION
As the Korean pop music (K-pop) craze spreads globally and the Korean music industry flourishes, an increasing number of idol groups are debuting with the hope of making it big. Through this case study, I analyse the factors for the recent popularity of a new K-pop girl group called “TWICE”.
TWICE
JYP Entertainment’s newest group TWICE debuted with the release of their first mini-album “THE STORY BEGINS” on 20 October 2015. TWICE comprises three Japanese, one Taiwanese and five Korean members and their group name was chosen because “the members will be wowing their fans once through their ears, and twice through their eyes”.
MEMBERS (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)
Full name: 임나연 (Im Na-yeon) Date of birth: 22 Sep 1995 Blood type: A Nationality: Korean Hobbies: Watching dramas and movies Specialities: Quickly memorising choreography Motto: Let’s live while being thankful!
Full name: 유정연 (Yoo Jeong-yeon) Date of birth: 1 Nov 1996 Blood type: O Nationality: Korean Hobbies: Watching 먹방 동영상 (videos of people eating food) Specialities: Mobile phone games Motto: Your life is what you choose.
Full name: 平井 もも (Hirai Momo) Date of birth: 9 Nov 1996 Blood type: A Nationality: Japanese Hobbies: Eating, looking at pictures of food while dieting, shopping, watching dramas or movies, nail art Specialities: Doing a wave with only her “abdomen” Motto: You can eat delicious food if you work hard.
Full name: 湊崎 紗夏 (Minatozaki Sana) Date of birth: 29 Dec 1996 Blood type: B Nationality: Japanese Hobbies: Collecting body mists and perfumes, shopping, eating Specialities: Calligraphy Motto: Always looking to the future!!
Full name: 박지효 (Park Ji-hyo) Date of birth: 1 Feb 1997 Blood type: O Nationality: Korean Hobbies: Surfing the web, strolling Specialities: Trot (music) Motto: Positive mind!
Full name: 名井 南 (Myoui Mina) Date of birth: 24 Mar 1997 Blood type: A Nationality: Japanese Hobbies: Searching for restaurants on the Internet, shopping Specialities: Ballet Motto: Let’s live while having fun!!
Full name: 김다현 (Kim Da-hyun) Date of birth: 28 May 1998 Blood type: O Nationality: Korean Hobbies: Listening to music, playing the piano Specialities: Dance, rap Motto: This too shall pass.
Full name: 손채영 (Son Chae-young) Date of birth: 23 Apr 1999 Blood type: B Nationality: Korean Hobbies: Drawing, listening to music Specialities: Drawing, running Motto: Let’s have fun!!!
Full name: 周子瑜 (Chou Tzu-yu) Date of birth: 14 Jun 1999 Blood type: A Nationality: Taiwanese Hobbies: Watching concerts, eating delicious food Specialities: Dancing, throwing balls far Motto: Effort does not betray you! You will gain good results if you don’t give up and keep giving your best.
ACHIEVEMENTS
TWICE is one of the rising rookie groups in K-pop today. Within four months of debut, they won two big rookie awards and together with other newcomers GFRIEND, Seventeen and iKON, stood out from the 99 acts that debuted in 2015.
The Gaon Chart, which measures both online and offline data of music sales, reveals that within two months of promotions, TWICE sold approximately 49,900 copies of their album in 2015. This places them in sixth position for girl group album sales and first place for that of rookie girl groups in the 2015 ranking charts. Although they made less online sales, TWICE ranked within the top 20 for the total digital sales ranking of girl groups and is 15th for the overall girl group sales ranking.
2015 K-Pop Rookie Girl Groups Physical Album Sales and Ranking
Their title song, “Like OOH-AHH”, is a refreshing style as a “colour pop” dance track with elements of hip-hop, rock and R&B. It has a “dance break” segment with English lyrics to attract foreign listeners and like most K-pop songs, includes a catchy “hook” chorus . Although the song debuted at only 99th place on the Melon music chart, it peaked at fourth place in January 2016 and has till today remained in the top 20 on the Instiz “iChart”, which combines a variety of Korean charts used to rank music sales. The song’s music video (MV) has 44 million YouTube views and is the most watched debut MV of all K-pop girl groups.
TWICE has signed commercial (CF) contracts with 12 brands, including mobile communications brand LG and video game company Nexon, and their six-month endorsement rate in the CF industry is currently at 200 million won (S$230,000).
"What's even better is that we keep getting calls for CFs in new business sectors too. We have debuted a lot of new groups, but TWICE is the first group that has become CF models for this many brands in such a short time."
– a JYP representative