Artist Highlight: Momo
Take a look at the career of TWICE’s main dancer, Momo!
TWICE
At 15 years old, Momo Hirai was scouted by a JYP Entertainment agent in her home country of Japan. She passed the 2011 JYP Japan auditions and moved to South Korea to begin training. She later became a contestant on the 2015 survival show SIXTEEN that was used to form the group TWICE. Momo was eliminated in episode six; however, the trainers decided that she should be brought back in episode 10. Despite this decision creating controversy, TWICE made their debut on October 20, 2015 as a nine member group.
Momo is credited with writing five TWICE tracks over the years. Her most recent contribution is “Celebrate,” which all members took part in writing. The track is off of the group's Japanese studio album of the same name and was released a week prior to the studio album.
Dancing
Momo began dancing at the age of three and long dreamed of being a dancer that people were amazed by. She trained at Step Out Dance Studio alongside her older sister, which led to her being scouted. Her return to the survival show SIXTEEN was determined by Park Jinyoung, who believed that her dancing skills would complete the group. Momo has been nicknamed “Dance Machine” by her fans for her dancing abilities that allow her to stand out against the other members. Shortly after her debut, Momo appeared on four episodes of Mnet’s dance survival program Hit the Stage alongside many other notable idols.
MISAMO
On July 26, 2023 Momo debuted in TWICE’s first ever sub-unit: MISAMO. The unit consists of Mina, Sana, and Momo, the group's three Japanese members. Their debut album Masterpiece consists of seven tracks. All three members contributed to planning the concepts for the album, and Momo participated in writing the lyrics for the track “Funny Valentine.” The album went Platinum in Japan and peaked at No. 1 on Japan's weekly Oricon Japanese Albums,Oricon Japanese Combined Albums, and Billboard Japan Japanese Hot Albums charts. The trio had a five day long showcase in Osaka and Yokohama, raking in a combined attendance of 40,000 people.
Edited by Lacey Diluvio