hello friend, happy holidays! i hope you have been spending yours beautifully. the end stretch of the year has been expectedly batshit—i know i am missing a november round-up but i have a good reason for that: we have once again begun moving. it’s been a busy past few weeks, but hopefully when we have settled into the new place, there will be more time (and space!) to write. for now, however—we have this. thank you for indulging, as this is, once again, very predictably about twice but hey—it’s been a big year for the girls and for us as well. hope you find something useful and/or entertaining here. —K
Over the past year, a constant question from my bewildered officemates has been: You’ve seen them before, why are you going out to see them again? Which is a question I delight in answering1, absolutely, but yeah. This is getting ahead of myself.
So yes, this is going to be a wrap-up of wrap-ups—more for my benefit, than anything, honestly. I don’t think I have traveled internationally for leisure as much as I have this year than at any point in my entire life—and I think that merits noting.
To illustrate said point: I usually still have over a week’s worth of vacation leaves by the time December rolls along, which means I could take half of the month off if I wanted to—my manager has gone on record for years, trying to get me to use my leaves throughout the year instead of just using them all up in one month. This year, however—this year I was down to three. (Buti nadeclare na holiday ang 26! Duty pa sakali lmao)
And that’s mostly thanks to—well, nine women who are based in Korea, who should in fact be sending us a free calendar on the basis of how much business we’ve given them this year2.
ANYWAY. Let’s kick this off with the first concerts:
Oh, if my note-taking for the Seoul concerts were done for an official coverage, my editor would definitely give me a dressing down lol. It was an absolute mess, I was all over the place, it was my first time to watch Twice LIVE, and at the time I had no idea what I was about to get into all year long. Let’s be real, my meltdown was warranted.
My love for Seoul Day 1 is unmatched—it was the first RTB show and everyone was in the dark about what was going to go down. I remember seeing the intro montage of the girls with their eyes closed, the entire sequence just shifting from one calm face to the other with spa music on the background—it was a timeless classic that was still thrilling to watch, even in subsequent concerts. Also: The KSPO stage is still the best stage setup out of all the venues this year. I’m glad I was able to watch RTB there.
Anyway. I wasn’t sure how strict the venue was going to be when it came to recordings, but surprisingly, they let us record unperturbed for the most part, but my audio was terrible, and by terrible I mean in several of it you could hear me losing it embarrassingly. That Mina fancam is still not going to see the light of day, I am afraid, and my Sana New Rules fancam is still hopeless.
What a hectic weekend—my photos tell me that right after the Seoul concerts, I was back at work by Wednesday lol. A preview of the madness to come.
Speaking of madness—RTB in Osaka! Rainy af, so not much by way of recordings—also the Yanmar Stadium was huuuuge. I, a natural acrophobic, really needed to get my shit together because our seats were really Up There. Via tiny stairs slippery with rain. A true miracle if any for my otherwise shaky knees. We had a blast, but not enough pictures, sadly.
We promised ourselves we’ll go back to Japan for purely tourist purposes—though let’s be real, with TWICE announcing July 2024 dates—including a weekend at the 75,000-seater Nissan Stadium—it looks like another Japan schedule for us is forthcoming. 150k seats up for grabs—we only need four! Nissan Stadium, let’s go!
Anyway, this household is Jihyo-biased:
We were in Seoul in August in time for Jihyo’s solo to drop. ZONE is the best album for me this year, bar none. Review above is pretty thorough—goes track by track and gathers a handful of reviews from other sources. Even links to promo guestings! Because I’m whipped like that (C’s review notes, verbatim). I don’t mind; it’s a great album. And I’m pretty confident it’s not about to be the last one.
Anyway, at the time of writing, Jihyo had not yet dropped her five-episode Zyo’s Zone.Zip series, which takes a more intimate look into how ZONE was produced—highlighting Jihyo’s participation in the recording and writing of the songs, and her particular struggles. The first episode is here.
I’m a process girl, if any—especially now, in an era where it is has become relatively easier to churn out AI-assisted work, process is what truly makes anything more worthwhile. And Jihyo’s process—her dedication, her work ethic, her vision—are just a few of the things that make ZONE such a great album, one that only she can bring to life.
September was whack. Crazy, truly, with two TWICE concerts book ending the month. It was so HOT. Like, sweltering. Looking back, I am baffled as to how I survived all that heat, queueing and everything. Especially in Bulacan! Where waiting facilities were practically nonexistent.
Singapore was hot too—but much more manageable! Their venue was accessible via buses and trains (side-eyes Philippine transportation infrastructure, in general) and was situated within a mall complex so while the area was also busy with other events, the presence of an airconditioned place within walking distance was a blessing, given the temps.
Regardless of inconvenience though, let’s be real—the Philippine Arena crowd was still the best crowd for us. Out of all the live shows—and we were in eight of them in four cities—Filipino fans are still the best live audience, bar none. This is why I keep going to live events again and again—half of the experience is the crowd. We always deliver, hereabouts.
Our last international trip this year was back to Seoul for the TWICE fanmeet—our first! Such a blast. The weather was nice and cool this time—a much-welcome break from the heat of the months prior. I wish I felt a bit better for this—at the time I was so exhausted from the traveling and from work in general—but yeah in all it was a fun time, no matter how brief.
We hope to back again (???) for comeback activities, maybe??? TWICE announced a single dropping right around Jihyo’s birthday—while they are on tour in Mexico, I think? So we’re on the lookout for possible Seoul dates sometime late March or April. We’ll see!
brief note: december concerts
+5 concerts for these insane girls this month: Two in Nagoya, one in Jakarta and two in Fukuoka.
Anyway, we caught the Fukuoka livestream on my birthday. I have to note this here, in case I wonder what we did on my birthday/our anniversary this year—yeah we watched TWICE in Fukuoka at the new house! It was a bit complicated (Hulu Japan istg) but everything turned out OK in the end. We finally saw the new dance breaks for ourselves!
As if her stage weren’t violent enough, Mina added a dance break to her 7Rings stage. It’s devastating and fantastic and perfect for their upcoming Latin America shows.
So next year, we’re looking forward to…
Seeing Taylor Swift live for the first time
Watching TWICE at the Nissan Stadium
Going back to Seoul for their next comeback promos + being able to get into a music show recording
Supporting succeeding solo efforts (Dahyun and Chaeyoung, most probably)
Yes I am Jeongyeon(Jeongyeon anything, pls.)
Let’s put these down to words and check back on them at a later date hihi see how close we got (or how far we strayed ksksksks)
Happy New Year guys! I hope next year brings less stress (lol) and more words for all of us.
XO,
K
Quantitatively, the answer is 9. We saw them nine times this year: Twice in seoul (april), twice in osaka (may), twice in singapore (september), twice in bulacan (sept/oct) and once, again, in seoul for the fanmeet (october).
Joke is on us though, because we also purchased a calendar from them for 2024.