Friday 16 December 2022

Songs of the year, Number 9: TWICE - Gone


Premier K Pop band TWICE formed in 2015 and quickly built up stratospheric sales and giddying levels of fame in both South Korea and Japan. In recent years, they've begun to look towards the international market but have yet to reach the giddying levels of international stardom achieved by the boyband BTS.

'Gone' is taken from their 2022 EP, Between 1&2 and it begins dramatically with atmospheric strings that signal the brooding nature of the song, which appears to be about an unhappy relationship. The band are multilingual, and this is reflected in the ease with which they switch languages. The killer hook ("I see the lies on the tip of your tongue") begins in English before switching back and forth between languages. There's also an immaculate rapid fire rap, which adds additional attitude and dimension to the track, increasing its level of pure pop irresistibility. 

Fellow K Pop girl band BLACKPINK have built similar levels of global recognition to TWICE but there seems to be a preference for the boys over the girls which I don't entirely understand. Someone who knows more about K Pop than me will no doubt be able to explain it to me but, for now, I remain bemused.

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