K-POP
Twice Becoming The First Female K-Pop Group To Play A North American Stadium
Nayeon, one of the members of the global K-Pop powerhouse TWICE, will be releasing her first solo EP, “IM NAYEON,” on Friday, June 24th. This is Nayeon’s first solo venture since her TWICE debut in October 2015, and she is the first member of TWICE to release a solo EP.
TWICE recently performed back-to-back, sold-out performances at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium – encore performances of their sold-out 4TH WORLD TOUR Ⅲ. These performances were a major milestone for the group, as they made TWICE the first female K-Pop group to play a North American stadium.
4TH WORLD TOUR Ⅲ kicked off with three shows in Seoul on December 24th before heading to the United States where they played five cities – Los Angeles (The Forum), Oakland (Oakland Arena), Fort Worth (Dickies Arena), Atlanta (State Farm Arena), and New York (UBS Arena) – including two shows in both Los Angeles and New York due to popular demand. All seven shows sold out just hours after on sale, and made TWICE the first female K-Pop group to sell out two North American arena tours. TWICE’s return to States was highly anticipated, as this tour was the group’s first time back since their hit TWICELIGHTS world tour in 2019, which included sold-out shows at Los Angeles’ The Forum in Los Angeles and Newark’s Prudential Center.
The tour followed what was a momentous 2021 for the group. In November, they released their third full-length album Formula of Love: O+T=<3, which hit #3 on the Billboard 200 and stayed in the chart for eight consecutive weeks, and performed the album’s lead track, “SCIENTIST,” on MTV Fresh Out Live. The month prior, they released their first full English-language single, “The Feels,” which marked the K-Pop powerhouses’ first career entry on The Billboard Hot 100 (#83) and earned the group multiple top 10 placements across various charts. They also performed the single on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and GMA3. Earlier the same year, they performed on TIME 100 Talks, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and in June, they released their 10th mini album, Taste of Love. The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart and the music video for the album’s lead track, “Alcohol-Free,” was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for “Best K-Pop.”
About TWICE:
Formed under K-pop powerhouse JYP Entertainment in 2015, TWICE is one of the best-selling K-pop girl groups of all time regarding physical album sales. The group first rose to prominence with their debut title song “Like OOH-AHH” and 2016 breakthrough single “CHEER UP,” which went on to top multiple Korean pop charts and won ‘Song of the Year’ at the Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. The group has been included in numerous industry lists including Variety’s Youth Impact Report as the only K-pop group included in the list, Forbes Korea Power Celebrity issue in both 2019 and 2017, and Billboard’s 21 Under 21 2017: Music’s Next Generation issue in 18th place and as the only Asian act. In 2019, the group successfully completed their World Tour, TWICELIGHTS, which included sold-out shows in the US at The Forum in Los Angeles, the Prudential Center in Newark (where they performed in front of 11,000 fans), and a show at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Last year, TWICE’s album MORE & MORE made its first ranking on the Artist 100 and Billboard 200 lists. Their second 2020 album, Eyes wide open, hit the top five slot on the all-genre iTunes US Album Sales Chart and debuted at No. 8 on Billboard’s World Albums chart. The album’s lead track “I CAN’T STOP ME” debuted in the top 10 of the all-genre iTunes US Song Sales Chart, and they later performed the trach on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s #PLAYATHOME digital YouTube series. The momentum continued through 2021 where they kicked off the year with a performance on TIME100 Talks followed by their first U.S. broadcast debut on The Kelly Clarkson Show and a performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In June, they released their 10th mini album, Taste of Love, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, as well as the music video for the album’s lead track “Alcohol-Free,” which was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for “Best K-Pop.” The K-pop powerhouses followed this up with the release of their first full English-language single, “The Feels,” which earned the group their first career entry on The Billboard Hot 100 (#83) and multiple top 10 placements across various charts; they also performed the single on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and GMA3. Most recently, TWICE released their third full-length album Formula of Love: O+T=<3, and completed their sold-out 4TH WORLD TOUR Ⅲ. In May 2022, TWICE headed back to Los Angeles to play two sold-out 4TH WORLD TOUR Ⅲencore performances, becoming the first female K-Pop group to perform a North American stadium.
