To end this year’s summer off with a bang, one of South Korea’s most significant pop sensations, TWICE released their 11th mini album, Between 1&2. The album was released on August 26 and has come with many positive reviews, especially from their fans.

TWICE is a nine-member girl group formed on the survival show SIXTEEN, which consisted of sixteen trainees under the company JYP Entertainment, who had hopes of debuting as an up-and-coming group named TWICE. Current TWICE members who debuted were Im Nayeon (Nayeon), Yoo Jeongyeon (Jeongyeon), Hirai Momo (Momo), Minatozaki Sana (Sana), Park Jihyo (Jihyo), Myoui Mina (Mina), Kim Dahyun (Dahyun), Son Chaeyoung (Chaeyoung), and Chou Tzuyu (Tzuyu, pronounced chewy). The group debuted on October 20, 2015, with the EP (extended play) The Story Begins and the title track “Like Ooh-Ahh.” They decided on the fandom name ONCE, just twenty days after their debut. You may recognize some of their extremely popular songs, such as “TT” or “Cheer Up.”

With a physical copy of the Between 1&2 album, the photo book for the album showcases the many concepts they tried out, such as retro or bubbly. There are four versions of the physical album, including Archive, Cryptography, Pathfinder, and Complete. Each member also had individual photoshoots for each of these versions. 

The album price is pretty good for all of the inclusions. It comes with 1 random folded poster of a member, 5 out of 45 random photocards, a film photo sticker of a random member, 1 random message card of a member, and a heart glass to read the message. Not many groups give out this many inclusions, so ONCE is a very spoiled and lucky fandom, in my opinion.

The seven songs in the album include: “Talk that Talk,” “Queen of Hearts,” “Basics,” “Trouble,” “Brave,” “Gone,” and “When We Were Kids.” The title track, which is the song being promoted, is “Talk that Talk.” They all bring a mix of emotions to the listener and provide a small sample of their enormous discography.

The intro to the title track “Talk that Talk” gives a sweet intro to the pop song as Nayeon, Tzuyu, and Mina starts singing, and it compliments their voices extremely well. The end of the pre-chorus has a nice buildup for the very energetic chorus. The bridge with Mina and Tzuyu’s heavenly voices and Jihyo’s powerful voice shows its time for Nayeon to hit a high note. This song is perfect for the end of summer because it creates the illusion that summer will never end. It is a great title track, and definitely one of my favorites by them.

The second song, “Queen of Hearts,” has an intro that I didn’t personally like, but as I kept listening, the chorus was very great, especially Jihyo’s part where she says “Baby I was born to rule … And it’s all because of you that I’m the queen of hearts.” I believe that this song was written for themselves because Mina sings in the next verse “… And now that I’m surrounded by all my girls, We be shining bright like diamonds and pearls,” and I can infer that when she says “..all my girls..” she is referring to her group members.

The next song named “Basics” was my favorite song on the album on the first listen. The listeners are serenaded by saccharine “ahs” from the members right from the start. My favorite part of this song is the chorus. It is very upbeat and you can really jam out and dance to it wherever. All of the members sound like they have lots of fun singing it, and that makes me have fun just listening. The catchiest part is when Mina says, “So I’ma call my friend up, take off my makeup I’ma sleep good tonight, okay.” I love listening to that part because the way Mina says it just melts in my ears. One of the members, Chaeyoung, wrote the lyrics for this song herself, and she has written 12 songs.

“Trouble” is the next song, and the leader of the group, Jihyo, wrote this song. The song even starts with her strong vocals, showing that she is not just a powerful singer, but a powerful songwriter as well. Her lyrics in this song are definitely my favorite parts, especially Chaeyoungs rap verse since she is a powerful rapper. One thing I have noticed is that when Jihyo writes her songs, she tends to showcase the other members’ singing abilities. I love when she writes lyrics because it is quite clear that she cares about her members and wants them to be seen and heard. Jihyo has written 13 songs for TWICE.

The following song, “Brave,” has an interesting introduction. But after the intro, it is very much more of a ballad/slow type of song. The beat is fast, but the voices are slow and soft. It is more of a “driving on the freeway while the sun is setting” kind of vibe. 

The lyrics of the next song, “Gone,” were written by Dahyun. The intro of the song sounds very magical. Jihyo starts singing, and it really pulls the melody together. The song continues, and right at the chorus, it is extremely catchy. What I really like about this song is that the voices are at a deeper level than they usually are. They really match the tone of the song, and it fits together when everyone is on the same level. Near the bridge, Jihyo lets out a high note and it sounds so beautiful. In the end, “Gone” finishes with a droplet sound. It really ties the song together, and the droplet sound maybe has the impression that they are done crying over someone. This song is definitely another one of my favorites from this album.

“When We Were Kids” is more of a ballad type of song. I like this song because it’s very slow, and gives a very nostalgic vibe, which I assume that the girls were trying to portray in the music. The song is pretty short, but it would make you want to replay it over and over again because it is just that good. The lyrics for this song were also written by Dahyun. Dahyun has also written 13 songs for TWICE.

In conclusion, the album is chefs kiss. It shows how well-rounded TWICE is with their sound, music, and songwriting. They have had a very unique voice since their debut, and have been together for 7 years. This album marks close to their 7-year anniversary, and my assumption is that the album is an ode to that. Being in the game for a while has its perks, and every member renewed their contract for another 7 years. Since the album name is “Between 1&2,” it probably means between ONCE and TWICE. TWICE is always known for being very interactive with fans, and showing us ONCE how caring they are to us. TWICE has a very special bond that I haven’t seen with any other group. The album is great overall and has my vote for one of the best K-pop albums of 2022!