Page Two (EP)

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Page Two is the second extended play (EP) by South Korean girl group Twice. The album was released digitally and physically on April 25, 2016 by JYP Entertainment and distributed by KT Music. It contains seven tracks, including the lead single, "Cheer Up". Page Two has the most first-week sales out of all K-pop girl group releases in 2016.

"Cheer Up" was composed by Black Eyed Pilseung and is a blend of several different genres. The accompanying music video, in which the members parody characters from famous films, went viral on YouTube soon after release, reaching seven million views in two days.

Video Page Two (EP)

Background and release

On April 11, 2016, JYP Entertainment announced via the band's official Facebook and SNS that the group would release their second mini-album Page Two and single "Cheer Up" on April 25. Two versions of the album, pink and mint, were released in CD format. The first press of 30,000 limited edition copies featured a special sleeve designed by member Chaeyoung. The album was also released as a digital download on various music portals.

Maps Page Two (EP)

Composition

The album's lead single, "Cheer Up", has lyrics written by Sam Lewis and music by Black Eyed Pilseung, the same team who wrote Twice's hit single "Like Ooh-Ahh" from their debut mini-album. "Cheer Up" is a dance-pop song that incorporates multiple genres, including hip hop, tropical house, and drum and bass; this blend was described as "color pop". The second track on the album is a remake of Park Ji-yoon's 1998 single, "Precious Love", written by Park Jin-young (J. Y. Park). The song was re-arranged in a house dance style with electronic instrumentation and hip hop rhythms, and features a new rap written by Chaeyoung.

"Touchdown" was described as a "powerful dance number with dynamic rhythms, melodies, and powerful sound effects". "Tuk Tok" is a dance-pop song with elements of soul and trap, inspired by the teaser video for Sixteen. "Woohoo" was described as a hip hop song with "groovy beats", and "My Headphones On" is a pop ballad about a girl's breakup. A seventh track, "I'm Gonna Be a Star" (the theme song from Sixteen) is only available on the CD version of the album.

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Promotion

On April 25, 2016, Twice held a media showcase at Yes 24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. They performed "Woohoo", "Touchdown", "Precious Love" and "Cheer Up" for the first time at the showcase, which was broadcast live via Naver's V app. The group then promoted the album with a series of televised live performances on various music shows. Their first music show appearance was on M! Countdown on April 28, where they performed "Cheer Up" and "Touchdown". The choreography for "Cheer Up" was slightly changed after Sana's "shy shy shy" line (pronounced "sha sha sha") became a viral meme. Twice won their first music show award on M! Countdown the following week on May 5, and also won on Music Bank and Inkigayo that same week. They concluded promotion for the album on May 29 with a performance on Inkigayo, winning a total of eleven music show awards. The trophy on the May 27 edition of Music Bank was initially awarded to AOA before the show's producers admitted they had miscalculated the album points.

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Critical reception

Kim Hyang-min of Korea JoongAng Daily gave the album a mixed review, describing the songs as "high-spirited and cheerful" and "generally refreshing and witty" but regretting the album's lack of genre diversity. Kim noted that the tension in the title track's lyrics was "well-expressed" through its hip-hop and electronic sounds, though the song was too repetitive, and praised "Touchdown" for its "powerful sound" and energetic feeling.

Tamar Herman of Billboard described "Cheer Up" as an atypical K-pop girl group release that "solidifies Twice's unique style" through its unexpected mix of beats and genres. She further noted that the accompanying music video helped reinforce the members' independent identities while the song showcased of each member's individual voice, "[forgoing] musical wholeness for the sake of eccentricity".

Fuse journalists Jason Lipshutz, Tina Xu, and Jeff Benjamin discussed the release in the K-pop-centric podcast K-Stop, describing "Cheer Up" as a 1990s pop throwback reminiscent of Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time". They praised the single's fun and catchy tone, rap break, and the "incredible" production quality of its music video but criticized its heavily processed vocals and controversial lyrics, which seem to encourage young women to "play games" (i.e., feign disinterest) with their romantic partners. They concluded that, while the group has a lot of potential, they would need to "polish it up" for future releases.

Commercial performance

Page Two debuted at number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart and number 6 on the Billboard World Albums chart, with 80,686 units sold during the month of April. It had the highest first-week sales volume for a K-pop girl group in 2016. According to JYP representatives, the pre-order of 30,000 limited edition albums sold out before its official release. By September, the album had sold over 150,000 units.

The songs from the album also performed well digitally. "Cheer Up" charted at number 1 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 3 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. "Precious Love" and "Touchdown" also charted on the Gaon Digital Chart, at numbers 73 and 86 respectively.

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Track listing

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Content production

Credits adapted from album liner notes.

Locations

• Recorded, engineered and mixed at JYPE Studios, Seoul, South Korea
• Mastered at Suono Mastering, Seoul, South Korea

Personnel

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Charts

Awards and nominations

Release history

Notes

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia