The month of March has been an electrifying one for TWICE, the K-pop girl group which in short time has collected a special award, dropped a mini album and performed on late-night U.S. TV.
First, the Breakthrough Award at Billboard’s Women In Music Event, where Chaeyoung, Nayeon, Tzuyu, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun and Jeongyeon graced the red carpet and performed “Moonlight Sunrise,” video for which has since racked-up about four million views on YouTube.
TWICE was honored at the annual event March 1 at YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, where they chatted with Billboard on the red carpet about the LP.
Then, overnight (March 9), the singers stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a performance of “Set Me Free.”
The NBC studio audience emptied its collective lungs at the group, as they delivered their style of slick pop with clockwork-like choreography, all bathed in blue light.
“Moonlight Sunrise,” “Set Me Free” and earlier single “The Feels” appear on Ready to Be, the 12th mini-album from TWICE, which dropped at the stroke of midnight. “Set Me Free” is the only track on the record that receives versions cut both English and Korean.
If you need a pointer to its potential chart success, the last TWICE mini-album was August 2022’s Between 1&2, which logged eight weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 3.
In an interview with Billboard ahead of the 2023 WIM, the nine-member act spoke of their global success despite language differences. “I think it’s the songs of ours that carry TWICE’s color rather than the language in which the song is sung,” Jihyo said at the time. “I don’t think the language is that relevant in carrying out TWICE’s [identity].”
Watch the late-night TV performance below and stream Ready to Be here.