Song Review: Twice – Yes Or Yes | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

Whenever a group is as active as Twice has been this past year, they run the risk of succumbing to listener fatigue. Between Korean and Japanese releases, the girls’ brand of quirky cute has been omnipresent. I was never predisposed to enjoying this sound in the first place, so a steady stream of it has been kind of exhausting. It’s also hard to keep up the quality when making such frequent comebacks. Twice’s title tracks have always been solid when working with producers Black Eyed Pilseung. But when they move onto other collaborators, things become more hit and miss. So with all this in mind, my excitement level going into Yes Or Yes was pretty much zero.

However, I’m happy to report that Yes is a pleasant surprise. It’s a well-developed pop song that matches Twice’s unique style to a tee, and it’s the strongest they’ve sounded all year. Its concept is problematic — especially in the era of consent brought forth by movements like #MeToo — and I wish the song’s awful spoken introduction had been deleted entirely. But beyond that bit of tone deafness, we find a pleasingly melodic track that largely avoids coasting on aegyo and catchphrase hooks.

Yes Or Yes’s opening verse is one of its strongest segments, melding the clipped delivery of past Twice tracks with a more mature melody. This pattern mostly repeats for the second verse, following a catchy bit of sing-song hip-hop to keep things fresh. The chorus is fleshed out in a way few of their title tracks have attempted, offering a trio of diverse hooks that move from sprawling power notes to a spunky chant before coasting into a playful post-chorus refrain. It’s all supported by a bright instrumental that blends fizzy summertime synths with rhythm guitar and galloping percussion. Twice’s music may never be entirely for me, but for now this skeptic has been won over.

Hooks	9
Production	9
Longevity	8
Bias	8
RATING	8.5

10 thoughts on “Song Review: Twice – Yes Or Yes”

Yes or Yes has a retro early 60’s feel, similar to Wonder Girls “Nobody”, which is surprising because it seemed like K-Pop had long since moved on from that phase. But that’s the fun of K-Pop, it’s always changing and re-evolving in many different threads. Not a big fan of the video though, it’s more Disney-fied than Dance The Night Away. Regardless, I’m pretty sure Yes or Yes is destined to become a classic TWICE song, if not a classic K-Pop song.

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I’m still not sure why you don’t worship the Twice discography, but no mind, Yes or Yes is great. The spoken word intro might be bad, but it could be Bang by Afterschool, right? DtNA did have to grow on me, but tracks like BDZ and What Is Love? are classic. I disagree that they get shoehorned into generic cute concept music.

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Exactly – the tone deafness was all I could think about when first seeing the MV (the song production is fantastic for a kpop bop). I get that they’re selling aegyo…but the guise of aegyo just can’t veer me away from how troubling the lyrics are.

“I have decided YES!
Now it’s time to hear your answer
If it’s too hard,
There are examples to choose from
You don’t have to waste your time thinking”

“So I prepared these options
Make your choice come on YES or YES?
I will say no to your no, is it me or us?”

Imagine these lyrics sung by a man in some Chris Brown R&B ballad…

Ugh! All I can hear is rape culture over and over in those lyrics. It is a well produced song though. And I can tell they worked hard on the choreo – may be stretching it a little for everyone except Momo who is used to that kind of vigorous dancing.

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Nicole says:

November 9, 2018 at 5:27 am

I think after understanding the entire mv, concept and lyrics, you will change your perspective about the song. All Twice’s mvs are meaningful and they convey positive messages. And the girls said it themselves that they want to give confidence to people who have dreams through this song. There are some youtube videos that analyze their music videos and songs. I hope you can check them out!

(Sorry for my bad English!)

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