TWICE’s Nayeon on New Music, What She’s Learned During K-Pop Career

Nayeon has been on a whirlwind journey for the previous few years.

In 2021, her Ok-Pop lady group, Twice, reached a brand new stage of worldwide success. Touchdown their first entries on the Billboard 200 High 10 (Style of Love) and Billboard Scorching 100 (“The Feels”), the nine-piece act cemented their spot as world superstars. The next yr noticed back-to-back releases of their fourth Japanese album, Rejoice, in July and their eleventh Korean EP, Between 1&2, in August. However Nayeon, the group’s oldest member, kicked off that summer time with Twice’s very first solo album, Im Nayeon (Im is the singer’s surname).

“The first album… I think I felt a lot of pressure because it was the first solo work to come out of Twice,” Nayeon tells The Hollywood Reporter by a translator.

The EP and its lead single “Pop!” – a textbook instance of the elevated bubblegum pop that feels distinctive to Nayeon and Twice – have been an on the spot hit in Korea and globally, with the album debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Now, on a noon Zoom name from her company, JYP Leisure, in Seoul, the 28-year-old singer is all smiles. In between sold-out world excursions and chart-topping albums as a member of Twice, Nayeon has been onerous at work making ready for her extremely anticipated sophomore EP, Na, which dropped at this time.

In a slight departure from her debut solo work, Na, very like Twice’s latest releases, explores a sound befitting an artist who’s not {the teenager} she was on the time of her debut. Whereas “Pop!” was a music for followers to take heed to on a brilliant summer time day with the home windows down, Na’s lead single, “ABCD,” feels higher fitted to pregaming an evening out with mates.

“I wanted to show the side of me that I didn’t get to as a member of Twice and in my first album,” Nayeon explains, noting that she needed to show a extra “mature” sound that was “stronger and bolder.”

Na, which is each a play on the singer’s identify and the Korean phrase for “me,” consists of seven tracks — 4 in Korean and three in English. The brand new launch additionally contains a number of collaborations, much like Nayeon’s first album.

The album’s third observe, “Heaven,” options Sam Kim, the Korea-based American singer who helped write and compose the music. Lee Chan-hyuk, one half of the beloved Korean brother-sister duo AkMu, produced the music “HalliGalli.” The Y2K-esque “Magic,” that includes Julie from up-and-coming Ok-Pop lady group Kiss of Life, is a excessive level of the album.

“I loved working with other artists,” says Nayeon, who notes that Twice hasn’t accomplished many exterior collaborations as a bunch. “It was both strange, but at the same time, it was very exciting.”

Nayeon has been touring with Twice constantly from 2022 till now. The group most lately carried out an encore of their fifth world tour at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in March and has further reveals scheduled for Japan in July. Nayeon says she’s no stranger to the balancing act of touring and creating new music.

“I’m pretty used to it by now, working on an album while touring, so I just had a lot of fun,” she grins, including that her group mates have heard and preferred Na. “I regard my solo work as an extension of being a member of Twice.”

In October, Twice will rejoice its ninth anniversary, considered one of a choose group of acts to succeed in this milestone in Ok-Pop, a style the place it’s widespread for an artist to launch a couple of album a yr, with promotion schedules usually together with a number of weekly music reveals per launch.

“I’ve learned a lot about how to be considerate of others, and how to voice my opinions, and at the same time, listen to other people’s opinions and balance those two things out,” Nayeon says of the information she’s gained by a close to decade on the job. “With many members in our group, I also learned a great deal of responsibility.”

When requested what recommendation she had for youthful performers within the business, Nayeon humbly dismissed the concept. “There are so many great new artists these days, and I learn a lot from them as well,” she says. “There are so many different concepts of idols… so I don’t know if I’m in a position to give them advice.”

Nayeon did, nonetheless, provide some recommendation to these working in direction of careers in Ok-Pop: “Really think about how much you want to devote to this profession and how much you love it and how much passion you have for this.”

Trying forward, Nayeon appears optimistic and optimistic for the second half of the yr, breaking down her targets into distinct buckets: doing nicely on her solo album, the upcoming Twice tour and the group’s ninth anniversary festivities. She’s particularly enthusiastic about performing reside in entrance of Twice’s cleverly named fanbase: “I really want to build more great memories with our fandom, Once.”