The Stories Behind 5 Of TWICE’s Most Iconic Songs, As Told By TWICE Themselves

Ever since TWICE debuted 6 years ago, they’ve been blessing ONCEs with hit after hit!

TWICE recently shared stories relating to 5 of their biggest hits over the course of their career during an interview with Glamour. Here’s what they had to say about “One in a Million,” “Feel Special,” “What Is Love?,” “Cheer Up,” and “The Feels!”

1. “One in a Million”

Dahyun said she knew that “One in a Million” was the perfect song to dedicate to ONCE as soon as she heard it. She said, “I knew that it would feel wonderful to be able to perform this song at our concert and still cannot forget the chills and the excitement when we sang it in front of Once.”

Because the song was dedicated to their fans, the TWICE members get goosebumps when they perform “One in a Million” as an encore and hear ONCE singing along with them. Although they haven’t been able to perform in front of their fans in a while, the members distinctly remember what it was like to connect with their fans as they sang “One in a Million” together.

 I remember singing this song onstage, and what we did was we kind of walked around on stage and got really close with our fans, like face to face. I remember seeing the faces of our fans being so happy, and they knew all the words to the song. I remember it very clearly to this day.

—Nayeon

2. “Feel Special”

The lyrics to “Feel Special” were based on what the members told producer and founder of JYP Entertainment, J.Y. Park, during “an intimate conversation” during a meal. Chaeyoung said, “Our producer, JYP, wrote the lyrics based on what we told him about how our relationship is with each other and how we came about. So the lyrics really are close to our hearts, and we love performing it.” 

Nayeon revealed that “Feel Special” didn’t suit the members’ style at first. She said, “At first when it was first written, it was a slow song almost like a ballad. The girls and I didn’t think that it was our song. It didn’t really suit our style, we thought.”

The song was reworked into the more upbeat version that ONCEs have come to love, and the rest is history! Tzuyu said she hopes fans can receive the song’s inspiring energy and become more confident by listening to “Feel Special.”

I believe the lyrics make the song so special. The lyrics give energy and confidence when the listener might be doubting themselves. I hope that our fans can also receive the special energy from this song when they are listening to it when they are feeling down.

—Tzuyu

3. “What Is Love?”

This song paid “homage to a young adult’s curiosity of what love is,” and in the music video, the members referenced iconic films like Romeo + Juliet, Pulp Fiction, and the Princess Diaries. Sana revealed that the group’s managers uploaded photos of the music video in real-time to their group chat as the video was being filmed, which made the members eager to see the “final product.” 

Momo mentioned the song’s recent surge in popularity after it became a trend on TikTok. The members also participated in the trend and had fun recreating moments from the “What Is Love?” music video.

“The trend made us relive the moment when we first released ‘What Is Love?’ So we took part in it, and it was fun recreating the moments to surprise our fans and show our gratitude toward people who are still listening to the song,” Momo said.

4. “Cheer Up”

This song marked a change in image for TWICE and cemented their status as a top girl group. Chaeyoung recalled being “caught off guard” when she first heard the song because it was so markedly different from their debut song, “LIKE OOH-AHH.” She said, “When our group was first formed, our concept had a wild, edgy image that had a strong girl instead of young and cutesy. But then when we got this song, the concepts changed drastically to really bright and happy.”

Although the members were surprised by the sudden concept change, they enjoyed seeing “Cheer Up” become a massive hit. Sana said “it was fun” watching people cover her iconic “shy, shy, shy” line.

Tzuyu was surprised to see not only ONCEs but also celebrities dancing along to the “Cheer Up” choreography. She said, “I’m still surprised to see not just our fans but a lot of celebrities dance to the song. They remember and they know the choreography and they dance to the song, and that makes me really happy.”

5. “The Feels”

The TWICE members liked that “The Feels” stayed true to their signature sound even though it was their first English single. Nayeon said, “When we decided on releasing this track as our first English single in the US, a lot of people thought about what kind of concept we will go with, but we thought that it would be most befitting to be ourselves and basically just show Twice as is in this song.”

Nayeon also revealed that the members felt that the song was hard to sing not only because of its high notes but also because of the added stress of perfecting their English pronunciation. She said, “The song itself is really hard because it has very high notes, but at the same time we had to focus on our pronunciation of each word, so that makes it even harder.” Jihyo agreed and added that they “practiced over and over” to get their pronunciation right, so fans would be able to “catch the lyrics.” 

Dahyun said the music video’s set felt like a dance party because they danced in a small space with their backup dancers, and it felt as if they were really at a prom.

The dancing scene was filmed at a small space with other dancers, so the energy built up quickly. We made a circle and freestyle danced which made things extremely fun. I didn’t feel like we were working at all, but felt like we were having a good time, enjoying the moment together. I really felt like I was at a dance party.

—Dahyun