Twice - What is Love/Summer Nights

Release Date: April 9th, 2018/July 9th, 2018
Genre: kpop

Well, the Taste of Love era came and went, and it caused me to have major writer's block. This is their 5th mini album, which got repackaged with 3 more songs.  I listen to these songs during various times so my initial impressions are way different today because I hated most of them originally, but I watched so many of their extra content on their YouTube page, a lot of the instrumentals to these songs stuck by me.

Review: The MV for "What is Love" was how I discovered Twice and my memories of trying to get into this album were met with "oh, this is generic." Prior, my favorite kpop song was "loving u" from Sistar and when I tried listening to their albums, it just sounded like the crappy stuff you'll find on American radio in the late 00s.

"What is Love" is awesome and the music video is iconic. Hearing them shout "I wanna know" in a call and respond way is so cute. I always felt the rap was unnecessary, but nowadays, it's fine. The beginning sounds on "Sweet Talker" sounded awful. My initial thoughts were that it was a laser-infused dance track with lots of cute sound bites. I can tolerate it now, and I understand why there was a barrier to entry here, but it's also the sound that turn me off from Twice.

Later in the year, they released "Dance the Night Away" and it's a summery dance song and I originally hated it because there was no lyrical depth to it, but of course, over time, that's kind of the point. The song has no meaning. It's suppose to be a boost of happiness. I had the same problems getting into "Chillax" and "Shot thru the heart" like with "sweet talker" because, I guess I was expecting something on the level of "What is love" and we got something low key. Since I watch their youtube content, I hear the instrumentals to "Chillax," and "Ho" and "Say Yes" that they all just grow on me.

I also watched concert footage and "Stuck" was the song that closed the show for Twicelights. Because of backing tracks, it's hard to tell if they are singing or not, but for Stuck, the mics were live, and because I first discovered this song from a live fancam, it's hard to separate the emotions felt when they said goodbye to the audience, so this song is special to me, like a "happy" sad song.

Tracklist/Scorecard:
1. Dance The Night Away 9/10
2. CHILLAX 8/10
3. Shot Thru The Heart 7/10
4. What is Love 10/10
5. SWEET TALKER 6/10
6. HO! 7/10
7. DEJAVU 8/10
8. SAY YES 7/10
9. STUCK 10/10

Summary: I guess this is my first Twice album, but I listen to the songs at various stages of my kpop discovery. "What is Love" is iconic, and "Dance the Night Away" seems to be a easy going summer anthem. I can listen to everything else in one go, but it's a big range of love it to it's okay.

Key Tracks: Dance the Night Away, What is Love, Stuck
Rating: 8/10