Fresh from its impressive success in Japan with its first Japanese album, the nine-piece K-pop darlings Twice returned with their first full-length album “Twicetagram” Monday.

Having celebrated its second anniversary recently, Twice members expressed excitement over the first full-length album, for which many of them wrote lyrics.

“My biggest goal for this year was to release our first full-length album, and I’m really grateful that we finally made it,” said band leader Jihyo during a press showcase in Seoul on Monday.

“As for the lyrics, I think the lyrics we wrote express ourselves well, because none of us had learned how to write songs before.” 

“Twicetagram,” its name a riff on the major social media platform Instagram, is the K-pop act’s first full-length since its debut in 2015. The album is fronted by lead track “Likey,” a blend of futuristic sound and playful electro-pop. The lead track, Twice’s third single of the year after “Knock Knock” and “Signal,” is the brainchild of producer team Black Eyed Pilseung and producer Jun Goon, lyrically reinterpreting the significance of the “Like” button on social media.

“When working on ‘Likey,’ we tried not to lose our unique style, which is characterized by a quirky image and strong dance performance. Just as our previous hit ‘Like Ooh-Ahh’ had a dance break part, ‘Likey’ also has a part where Momo performs alone,” Jihyo said.

The song’s accompanying music video, filmed in Canada, also emphasizes the group’s effervescent image by showing the members skateboarding and dancing against a vibrant colored backdrop.

Along with the lead track, the album contains 12 other tracks, including “Missing U,” featuring Chaeyoung and Dahyun as rappers, “24/7,” co-written by Nayeon and Jihyo, “Love Line” and “Cheer Up,” written by Jungyeon and Chaeyoung, respectively, as well as ballad track “Turtle.”

Asked which members have seen the greatest transformation, Nayeon pointed out that Mina, who takes part in the lead hook of “Likey,” gained confidence and has learned to sing louder over time. Momo and Jungyeon have also become better with expressing themselves clearly, according to Jihyo. 

Multinational group Twice, which includes Japanese and Taiwanese members, has become one of the most prominent K-pop acts since JYP Entertainment unveiled the group through the 2015 reality show “Sixteen.” After the group rose to fame with its breakout hits “Cheer Up” and “TT” last year, Twice made two successful comeback this year with “Knock Knock” and its latest experimental hit “Signal.”

Powered by its ever-growing global momentum, the group has also been going strong in Japan recently, with its first Japanese album “#Twice,” containing past hits in both Japanese and Korean, debuting at No. 2 on the Oricon Albums Chart.

Rounding out a competitive month for the K-pop world that saw several top artists issuing new albums and singles, Twice also held a showcase for “Twicetagram,” exclusively for fans, on Monday evening at Gwangjin-gu in Seoul, which was broadcast live via Naver V app.

By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)