The entire world is adapting to the New Normal™ amid the pandemic – and that includes our South Korean pop favorites as well.
With touring no longer an option – for at least the next year, potentially, if not longer (sorry to be bleak) – artists are finding ways to innovate and bring themselves to audiences as best they can, from those acoustic living room Instagram Live sessions at the outset of the quarantine, to drive-in drag queen experiences, to more massive virtual pop productions.
TWICE‘s solution? Beyond LIVE – TWICE: World in A Day, a 90-minute concert shot live on Sunday (August 9) at Studio Paradise in Unseo-dong, South Korea, featuring the massively popular K-pop girl group’s greatest hits including “Fancy,” “TT,” “What Is Love?” “YES or YES” and “CHEER UP” among others, as well as new music from their latest More & More EP.
Beyond LIVE is an online concert streaming service that launched amid the global health crisis – a joint venture between SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment in partnership with Naver – allowing for a paid concert experience that uses advanced technology and interactive opportunities with fans.
The paid experience featured all the bells and whistles of a major pop production – costume changes, ample choreography and sleek visuals – while pulling their ONCEs from over 126 countries (!) into the experience through projections, as well as stages inspired by various regions from around the world, reflecting different cities as if on a world tour. (Sweet Jeongyeon, sadly, was forced to sit in a chair during the performance due to a health condition, but she toughed it out anyway.)
During the show, the girls also revealed that they’ll be releasing an English version of “More & More,” their Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter and Zara Larsson-penned, MNEK-produced smash, sometime in August.
“We are looking forward the English release of ‘MORE & MORE’ later this month. We decided to record this version as a gift to ONCE around the world, and we hope that they enjoy it!” they said in a statement.
It is admittedly easy to resign to sadness and start to spiral amid all the uncertainty, but with hopeful, heartwarming, unifying productions like this, our pop queens are proving that the show must – and will – go on.
Twice’s More & More mini-album with photobook and special goodies is out now, and you can make the concert experience feel even more real with the official Twice lightstick.
Photo credit: JYP Entertainment
