A Guide to South Korea’s Biggest Girl Group, TWICE

There is always a “Nation’s Girl Group” in South Korea—if you don’t know what that means, it’s the girl group crowned most beloved by the general public, with every title track basically being a smash hit and every item of merchandise, a commercial darling. Of course, there are many successful groups active in the K-Pop scene, but at each moment, there’s only one “Nation’s Girl Group.” And ever since Girls’ Generation stopped its activities in 2017, that title has belonged to TWICE.

JYP Entertainment formed TWICE through a survival show, SIXTEEN—a common method for creating K-Pop groups as it allows the public to bond with trainees, and their struggles, even before their official debut as idols. In 2015, the members found through SIXTEEN debuted as TWICE with the single, “Like OOH-AAH,” and the rest is history. TWICE skyrocketed to fame with their bubblegum cute concept and became popular internationally.

It isn’t all rainbows and unicorns, though—TWICE has been one of JYP Entertainment’s most successful groups from day one, which means that they’ve also been overworked since day one. They’ve had multiple years in which they were busy with five or more comebacks, so much so, that some members had to take a pause from activities occasionally to rest and recuperate. That’s maybe why there has been some confusion about TWICE’s numbers—it’s not been unusual to see them perform as eight these past few years. But let’s clear the air, there are nine TWICE members, so let’s meet them all.

First, there’s Jihyo, the group’s leader (voted in by the members themselves rather than being established by the company) and the main vocalist. And then, in order of age, there’s Nayeon, a lead vocalist and considered “the face” of the group (as well as its oldest member); Jeongyeon, a lead vocalist as well; And Momo, part of the group’s Japanese line (in K-pop, this term means, quite literally, a member of the group who is Japanese rather than South Korean). Momo is widely considered one of the best female dancers currently active in the industry. Nayeon, Jeongyeon, and Momo are the three oldest members of TWICE, all having been born between 1995 and 1996.

Then there are the “middle” girls, starting with Sana, a vocalist, and also a member of the Japanese line, and Mina, a member of the Japanese line and dancer. Jihyo’s place, when following age order, should be between Sana and Mina—they were all born between 1996 and 1997—but since she’s the leader, she usually goes first (as it always happens in K-Pop when listing down the members of the group).

Finally, there are the three youngest, born between 1998 and 1999. They are Dahyun and Chaeyoung, lead and main rapper respectively, and Tzuyu, TWICE’s maknae (which means, quite affectionately, the youngest member). Tzuyu is also the group’s “visual” (the member who is considered “most attractive”—which is … admittedly a bit off-putting if you’re not familiar with K-pop, but it’s a popular K-pop term, and this is a guide)— Tzuyu was born in Taiwan.

Nine members might seem like a lot to wrap one’s head around, but it’s a number that allows for a beautiful variety of personalities and interactions, as well as for some very intricate dancing patterns that you can enjoy by immediately searching TWICE on YouTube. The group is just incredibly talented, and if you have yet to get one of their catchy songs stuck in your head, just hit play below. You’ll be humming it all day.

(video: JYP Entertainment)