Twice - Eyes Wide Open

Release Date: October 26, 2020
Genre: kpop

By the time this came out, the pandemic was becoming our norm and I was listening to more kpop than I ever had in my life. "More & More" had disappointed me, but I felt deep into their variety show content, watching every new video that got posted to their YouTube channel, and part of me knew, these girls could be my favorite group for my 30s.

Review: I remember seeing people call this Twicetober because of their past comebacks on this month. I never got to experience their cute sound in real time, and I made sure to not listen to any of the teasers. So with the title track, "I Can't Stop Me," it sounded good and it was interesting to see to see the red red red light, but I kept thinking they were chasing trends because of Dua Lipa's "Physical," and Everglow's "la di da." So the song didn't feel fresh.

"Hell in Heaven" sounds spooky and i'll always assoirate it with TTT: Crime Scene. "Up No More" and "Do What We Like" are pretty standard pop songs, but they work for me. "Bring it Back" sounded weird, but it grew on me. "Believer" is a strong song. "Queen" is a song Dahyun wrote and I think it slaps, then with "Go Hard" they have this build up that drives me nuts.

I used to dislike "Shot Clock" because we already have "Touchdown" but because I go back to listen to "go hard" so much, hearing the intro of "shot clock" with that marching band drug and nonsensical words in the background, it gets me hype, plus the way Momo says "countdown" makes me laugh.

"Handle It" was another song I originally disliked, but only because it's so slow compared to the rest of the album. I would say it took 4-5 months for this song to finally grab me. Go Chae!  "Depend on You" is a Nayeon song and I think it's the most easy to get into on first listen.

The last two tracks disappointed me. "Say Something" is a city pop song and I tried to appreciate this, but it's just a nice song. And Dua Lipa is credited with the music for "Behind the Mask," but it's not the future nostalgia sound, so it felt a bit slow.

Tracklist/Scorecard:
1. I Can't Stop Me 9/10
2. Hell in Heaven 8/10
3. Up No More 9/10
4. Do What We Like 9/10
5. Bring it Back 8/10
6. Believer 9/10
7. Queen 10/10
8. Go Hard 10/10
9. Shot Clock 9/10
10. Handle It 9/10
11. Depend on You 10/10
12. Say Something 8/10
13. Behind the Mask 7/10

Summary: So this is their 2nd full length album and it's very cohesive that I rarely listen to these songs outside of the full album. I always felt like the pre-2019 sounded like it came from the same source, and then something switched in 2019, and this album sorta stands alone with the 80s sound.

Key Tracks: Queen, Go Hard, Depend on You
Rating: 9/10