Candy Pop (Twice song)


"Candy Pop" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. It is the group's second Japanese maxi single, featuring three other tracks. The song was pre-released as a digital single on January 12, 2018, and the CD single was released on February 7 by Warner Music Japan.
The single album recorded the highest number of copies sold on the first day of sales out of all Korean girl groups who debuted in Japan.

Background and release

On December 22, 2017, Twice announced the release of their second Japanese single titled "Candy Pop", along with several teaser images for the new track. A sneak peek of its B-side track titled "Brand New Girl" was also released the same day, as it was selected as the commercial music for Line's Clova Friends smart speaker. On January 12, 2018, "Candy Pop" was pre-released as a digital single on various online music portals. On January 23, "Brand New Girl" was pre-released as a digital single on Line Music.
The CD single was officially released on February 7. "Candy Pop" and "Brand New Girl" were also digitally released on various South Korean music sites the same day.

Composition

"Candy Pop" was composed by Woo Min Lee "collapsedone" and Mayu Wakisaka, who previously collaborated with Twice on "Knock Knock".

Music video

The full music video of "Candy Pop" was uploaded online on January 12, 2018. The anime-style video was directed by, best known for his work as the director of anime television series Love Live!, in collaboration with Naive Creative Production, the team behind most of Twice's previous music videos. The story line was written by Park Jin-young. There are also hidden characters which were illustrated by member Chaeyoung.
It features the nine members as cartoon singers in a candy-coated realm, filming on set of a music video that a human girl is watching. They see the girl who looks lonely and sad, and want to encourage her. With the help of the animated character of Park Jin-young, Twice transforms into humans, escapes the candy land and heads to the human world in a candy car to meet the girl.
The music video ranked at No. 6 on 2018 YouTube's Top Trend Music Video in Japan, the group's second song on the list.

Promotion

"Candy Pop" and "Brand New Girl" were first performed during Twice Showcase Live Tour 2018 "Candy Pop", which began on January 19, 2018, in Seto, Aichi. "Candy Pop" was also performed on Music Station on February 2. "Candy Pop" and "Brand New Girl" were also featured on TBS's Count Down TV on February 3 and 10, respectively.

Commercial performance

The CD single debuted atop the daily ranking of the Oricon Singles Chart with 117,486 units sold on its release day. It recorded the highest number of copies sold on the first day of sales out of all Korean girl groups who debuted in Japan. The CD single topped the weekly Oricon Singles Chart with 265,758 copies sold. On the Oricon Digital Singles Chart, it debuted at number 14 with 7,517 downloads. It was also reported that it sold 333,633 copies in pre-orders, while Billboard Japan recorded 303,746 unit sales from February 5–11, 2018. On February 24, "Candy Pop" exceeded 400,000 shipments.

Content production

Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.

Locations

Recording
Mixing
Mastering

Personnel

JYP Entertainment staff
  • Song Ji-eun "Shannen" – executive producer
  • Jimmy Jeong – executive producer
  • Cho Hae-sung – executive producer
  • J. Y. Park "The Asiansoul" – producer
  • Jung Kyoung-hee – administration
  • Park Nam-yong – performance director
  • Kim Hyung-woong – performance director
  • Yun Hee-so – performance director
  • Na Tae-hoon – performance director
  • Yoo Kwang-yeol – performance director
  • Kang Da-sol – performance director
  • Lee Tae-sub – recording engineer
  • Choi Hye-jin – recording engineer
  • Eom Se-hee – recording engineer
  • Lim Hong-jin – recording engineer
  • Jang Han-soo – recording engineer
  • Lee Jeong-yun "Lia" – publishing
  • Kim Min-ji – publishing
  • Shin Da-ye – publishing
  • Cho Hyun-woo – publishing
Warner Music Japan staff
  • Kaz Kobayashi – executive producer
  • Hayato Kajino – supervisor
  • Rie Sawaoka – supervisor
Japanese recording staff
  • Goei Ito – music director
  • Yu-ki Kokubo – recording director
  • Satoshi Sasamoto – Pro Tools operation
Design staff
  • Toshiyuki Suzuki – art direction
  • Yasuhiro Uaeda – design
  • Tommy – photography
  • Masaaki Mitsuzono – jacket photo style director
  • Choi Hee-sun - music video style director
  • Lim Ji-hyun - music video style director
  • F. Choi - music video style director
  • Lee Jin-young - music video assistant stylist
  • Heo Su-yeon - music video assistant stylist
  • Jung Nan-young – hair director
  • Choi Ji-young – hair director
  • Son Eun-hee – hair director
  • Jo Sang-ki – makeup director
  • Jeon Dallae – makeup director
  • Zia – makeup director
  • Won Jung-yo – makeup director
  • Choi Su-ji – assistant makeup director
Movie staff
  • Kim Young-jo – music video director
  • Yoo Seung-woo – music video director
  • Takahiko Kyōgoku – music video animation director
  • Hiroyuki Katō – music video animation producer
  • Han Gui-taek – music video making and jacket shooting making movie director
  • Yu Yamaguchi – DVD authoring
Other personnel
  • Min Lee "collapsedone" – all instruments and computer programming
  • Na.Zu.Na – all instruments
  • Twice – background vocals
  • Ikuko Tsutsumi – background vocals
  • Mayu Wakisaka – background vocals and vocal recording director
  • Tony Maserati – mixing engineer
  • Naoki Yamada – mixing engineer
  • Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound – mastering engineer