On October 24, 2016, TWICE released their third mini-album TWICEcoaster : LANE 1 as well as the music video for title track “TT.” The two versions of the album were apricot and neon magenta, the official colors of the girl group that had been announced just a month prior to the release. This was TWICE’s third release since their debut a year before and it left a lasting impression on the K-Pop world. TWICE released a Christmas edition of the album on December 19, 2016 and a repackage titled TWICECOASTER : LANE 2 on February 20, 2017.

The Music Video

“TT” is an electro-pop and dance-pop track, the title referencing the sad crying emoticon with tears streaming down its face. The girls refer to this emoticon in the choreography, where they use their pointer fingers and thumbs placed under their eyes to create the “TT” pose. The music video is utterly adorable and perfect for Halloween, featuring the girls in different costumes as two small children going trick-or-treating knock on their door before entering. Nayeon is a pretty devil, Jeongyeon is dressed as Pinocchio, Momo is Tinker Bell, Sana is Hit-Girl from the comic series Kick-Ass, Jihyo is a combination of Elsa from Frozen and The White Queen, Mina is a female pirate with Jack Sparrow vibes, Dahyun is a fluffy white rabbit, Chaeyoung is The Little Mermaid, and Tzuyu is a mysterious vampire. In between scenes of the girls interacting with the children in their costumes, we get glimpses of the super cute choreography. A favorite part is when the girls perform the chorus choreography inside of a CGI jack-o-lantern with “TT” eyes. The music video ends with the two kids returning to the foyer as somebody knocks on the door. We see them react to the new arrival but don’t get to see who it is, setting up a sequel for the repackage album and its title track “KNOCK KNOCK.”

The Comeback Performances

TWICE had their comeback performance on October 27, 2016 on a special edition episode of M!COUNTDOWN, where they performed “1 to 10” and “TT” on stage in Jeju for a crowd of 10,000 local and international fans. The performance for “1 to 10” features the girls dancing on stage, the screen behind them playing animations of people walking around a city. TWICE’s logo is seen in the center of the swirling city view and also on some of the buildings. 

For their performance of “TT,” a minute-long film played of the girls explaining what all “TT” could mean before showing off the famous “TT” pose. They then donned outfits similar to those seen in the music video, with lots of soft pink and blue accents. The screens onstage kept with the Halloween theme seen in the music video, with animations of bones, bats, ghosts, and candy floating behind them during the verses, a scary house for the pre-chorus, and then a jack-o-lantern for the chorus, a nod to the jack-o-lantern from the video.

The Legacy

When it comes to legacy, “TT” definitely did a lot for TWICE. This comeback not only gave the girls their very first music show win on The Show’s November 1, 2016 episode, it also gave them their most wins to date, racking up 13 wins! They got one win on Show Champion (November 2), two wins on M!COUNTDOWN (November 3 and November 10), six wins on Music Bank (November 3, November 11, November 18, November 25, December 2, and January 6), and three wins on Inkigayo (November 6, November 13, and November 20).

TWICE were nominated for “Artist of the Year,” “Best Female Group,” and “Worldwide Favorite Artist” at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in 2016, where they took home the “Best Female Group” award. They were also nominated for “Best Artist Award,” “Top 10 Artists,” “Netizen Popularity Award,” and “Kakao Hot Star Award” at the Melon Music Awards, earning a spot as one of the “Top 10 Artists” winners.

TWICEcoaster : LANE 1 was nominated for “Album Daesang (Album of the Year)” at the Golden Disc Awards and peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Weekly Albums Chart, No. 5 on the Gaon Yearly Albums Chart, and No. 3 on the Billboard U.S. World Albums Chart.

“TT” is ranked No. 18 on Billboard’s “The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s” and No. 20 on Medium’s “25 Best K-Pop Songs of the 2010s.” The track won “Song of the Year – October” at the Gaon Chart Music Awards and peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Weekly Songs Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard US World Digital Song Sales Chart.

When it comes to YouTube views, “TT” set and broke a lot of records.The music video reached 5 millions views in the first 24 hours and set the record for fastest K-Pop music video to reach 10 millions views, doing so in 40 hours. The video then broke the record for fastest to reach 20 million views, doing so in just under five days. “TT” hit 100 million views in early 2017, becoming the most viewed K-Pop girl group music video at that time, before then reaching 200 million and 300 million views, still marking them as the first K-Pop girl group to do so. In September 2018, “TT” became the first female K-Pop group song to reach 400 million views and currently sits at 550 million views.

“TT” was re-recorded in Japanese for the first Japanese TWICE album, #TWICE, with the music video dropping a week ahead of the album’s release. However, even before the track was released in Japanese, the Korean version of “TT” was such a big hit in the country that the “TT” pose became a trend in Japan.

As for the future, we at The Kraze predict “TT” will remain a fan-favorite and a must-have for any Halloween K-Pop playlist for years to come.