Twice built incredible momentum throughout 2019. I mean, they were already the biggest K-pop girl group on the planet, but they managed to successfully mature their sound and evolve in unexpected ways. Both of last year’s albums were super solid, and ushered in a new era for the girls. That goodwill makes new single More & More all the more disappointing. Twice’s music hasn’t sounded this basic since Dance the Night Away, and at least that song harnessed some goofy, upbeat energy.
Written by an army of foreign songwriters, More & More succumbs to the kind of tropical trends I thought K-pop had long since left behind. But judging by Oh My Girl’s massive success with Nonstop, there’s still an appetite for this style in Korea. And honestly, tropical pop can be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, More & More is a confusing bore, anchored by a lifeless beat drop so generic that it almost feels like stock music.
The song opens with a promising verse, building a mysterious atmosphere while drawing upon the girls’ vocals in a way we haven’t heard much in their title tracks. Then we hit the pre-chorus, and it’s too repetitive for its own good. This kind of repetition is automatically catchy, but not in a satisfying way. Perhaps I’d feel more excited if the “more and more” chant culminated in a blockbuster chorus, but instead it plunges into a largely instrumental hook characterized by warped synth squiggles. It’s hardly a galvanizing centerpiece – especially for a group of Twice’s caliber. Worse yet, More & More stumbles in its second verse as the energy drains for a sluggish arrangement that further muddles the song’s appeal. A climactic, dubstep-influenced dance break attempts to inject some interest, but it’s hard to salvage something so inert. I don’t know what JYP Entertainment was thinking with this one.
Hooks | 7 |
Production | 7 |
Longevity | 8 |
Bias | 7 |
RATING | 7.25 |
Be sure to add your own rating by participating in the poll below!
I want to hate this on principle, but… I don’t! I actually find the drop unusually compelling – dated, sure, but there’s a fun interplay between the chopped-and-screwed vocals and instrumental that caught my ear. This blows ‘Nonstop’ out of the water for me.
That said, now that LITERALLY every group has unleashed their perfunctory trop track on the world, I’m more than ready to incinerate the style and move on.
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That’s great! There have been a few songs like that for me too — it almost feels wrong to like them, but you just do. It’s extra fun when a song that you feel like you normally wouldn’t be into ends up working.
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The first listen felt very languid for a summery tropical song, especially for Twice’s useful peppy style. You know how I thought “Feel Special” was a few ticks too fast, this one felt a few ticks too slow. I went back and listened again at 1.25x speed. It sounds so much better! It still has issues about the generic flow as Nick says – I heard the inevitable drop chorus with cheerleader chants coming from the start – but to me the main problem is basic tempo. Maybe not 25% faster, but 10 or 15% faster.
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I felt really disappointed! I was looking forwards to this comeback so much but the chorus was such a letdown for me. I don’t mind that it’s a beatdrop, but the scream-like electronic sounds are not for me. It seems like a confusing artistic direction to take since it does nothing for the mood of the track.
I do think the MV is very satisfying, with amazing visuals and the “more & more” part is very catchy. Other than the song, everything feels on point, especially the fashion. And this is frustrating.
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I didn’t get the appeal of Feel Special too. But this one just.. I too don’t know what they were thinking.
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I agree with many of the things you said here.
The song opened up in the best way possible, it felt refreshing..and I honestly would have liked it if not for the ”More and more” in the hook.
But I liked the choreo and it was interesting to watch.
What about the mini album? I have a track which I would score 9.
As for this & 7.5 is the score from me.
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Yeah I don’t understand why we’re back to 2017 all of a sudden with these trop-house singles again.
What’s worse is that there are b-sides in the mini album that do mucho Better what this song’s aiming to do.
I really wish LDN Noise were more prolific, Shadow is incredible.
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2017 has briefly roared back to life every summer since then, I think Korea now permanently equates tropical house with warm weather lol. I feel like we’ll get a few trop pop tracks every May-August for the next 10 years…
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The Verses were so tight and then that drop came along to ruin everything. Big letdown after how great Feel Special and Fancy were.
At least the mini album is better! Sweet Summer Day should have been the title instead!
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This is exactly the kind of title track I would expect from a rookie group of a small agency for its debut: everything is cheaper than cheapest, even the MV and the embarassing choreo. And the massive commercial success will prove once more in this 2020 that worst productions are gonna be best sellers.
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Ofc big group will outsell no matter how bad their songs. While small unknown idol out there giving bop yet still nugus
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cheap mv and cheap choreo? who even do you like lol
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As a big TWICE fan I’m disappointed, there isn’t a worst a feeling than not being sold on your favorite group comeback. The first big problem isn’t really about the music but more about the promotion of the album. The instrumental is cool but after ONE month of teasers, I already knew everything it has to offer. And I didn’t listen to the teasers after the individual ones, a whole verse as a teaser ? the dance beak ? That’s half the song !
Now I think the song is doing a good build up job but everything that follows is a letdown. The chorus is lackluster compare to what was before, there is a rap break coming out of nowhere after a good dance break. More & More is disappointing rather than bad, but after OMG and TXT that’s another strong group from 2019 coming back with a not so great title track.
At least the mini album is pretty strong. I think every b sides are better than More & More and Sweet Summer Day is what I wanted the title track to be.
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I’m wrecked because Twice’s last two albums were amazing, top tier, and MUSICALLY SOLID. More & More sounds like a Zara Larson reject mixed with some of Fifth Harmony’s Work. It has the same problem like many other groups of trying to sound too Western pop, which makes them lose everything that sounds like Twice. The verses and intro were amazing and then they built up into absolutely nothing with the prechorus and THE BEAT DROP INTO THE INSTRUMENTAL CHORUS made me lose all hope. Some of the B-sides are decent but none can touch the Fancy or Feel Special B-sides. They need to get Black Eye Pilseung back on their tracks because Western teams don’t know the Twice sound.
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I didn’t hate it but the drop felt underwhelming and strongly contrasting to the verses. At least with Oh My Girl, Nonstop had a consistent vibe and energy throughout that made it ear candy to me. This song was just…weird. The MV felt cheap and ugly. I will say I like the prechorus, the mysterious verses, and its choreo but there should been a post chorus melody like DTNA instead of just small phrases thrown about. Also the transitions were strange as it went straight from the chorus to the dramatic dance break and then the rap.
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Tropical future house is the most insane combination of terrible genres and I know exactly how it is gonna turn out listening to teasers alone. Very strong indictment of JYP personally has close to 0 merit other than an insanely lucky poser
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God, it is so fucking boring. Kinda disappointed as even Feel Special was playlist worthy. I hope the bsides have more to offer, especially since last album only had 2 good tracks (Trick It and Get Loud, to those who care to know).
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Yeah, More & More was a letdown but NOT feel special’s album. That album was one of the best I’ve ever listened to. We literally got 5 bangers.
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This is the first Twice comeback I really like since “What is love?”. I suppose because I’m not necessarily looking for originality or complexity in their songs. For me Twice works best on simple, fun songs. I would pick Rollin’ any day over Fancy You. And Feel Special didn’t do much for me until I heard the recent JYP piano version, it should have been his song (and it basically is, except Twice sang it).
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As stated by you, “More & More” is INDEED a confusing bore, anchored by a lifeless beat drop so generic that it almost feels like STOCK MUSIC. JYP really fucked up in confusion this time huh. Like you said, they’re clearly working with an (unnecessarily) large team of foreign composers (fuck you, song camps!), so perhaps they’re trying to cater more to the western market? I’m no business expert, but did they honestly think this kind of (ultra) generic trop pop still has a place in… anywhere? It’s not 2017. Oh wait last month’s Oh My Girl’s “Nonstop” proved me wrong. Sorry.
Also, I can’t be the only one who thinks that JYP really slashed (?) the budget for this comeback. The MV is pleasing to look at, yes, but it’s also rather cheap-looking if compared to TWICE’s other MVs. The choreography is also… not great (baddd) ://.
I’m not trying to hate on the girls. After all, TWICE churned out two great songs in 2019 and was easily my 2nd favourite girl group that year (2nd only to ITZY). I simply cannot deny how majorly disappointed I am this time around. I’m still a fan, but that sadly may change if JYP let me down next time around.
Overall I’d give the song a 6/10. Additional 0.5 because I’m biased for Jihyo.
MV 7/10. Choreography 6.5/10.
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*Choreography 4.5/10
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Far more than just 2 songs in 2019. Don’t forget Happy Happy, Breakthrough, and Fake & True were all solid titles, even surpassing the Korean releases in my opinion.
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This is La Vie En Rose a year and a half too late. Wtf were JYP thinking? I guess GOT7 is no longer their dumping ground for all their generic ideas
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If I’m not mistaken this song was arranged and produced by JYP .. which explains why it sucks! I have pretty much despised every Twice song that JYP has had a musical hand in (Feel Special, Merry and Happy, Signal, even What is Love to a lesser extent) and this certainly is no exception, it’s the worst of the bunch. Think JYP has absolutely lost his touch.
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It was arranged MNEK and JYP, and produced by MNEK, so JYP had less of a hand in this song and more Western producers and composers.
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Oh, after looking at the credits I see that Julia Michaels, of all people had a hand in this song LOL
Regardless, I still sort of stand by what I said, I think JYP’s musical instincts, especially for Twice (I know people like Feel Special but I thought it was weak af for a Twice song) are almost always off base. I want Twice to return to the Black Eyed Pilseung days 😥
What wouldn’t I give for another song like Fancy, which I thought was a fantastic evolution of their sound into something more “mature” but still very much “Twice”
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JYP produced What is Love, which I thought was great, just saying. Not to say the man’s music taste is ideal in this day and age, but he deserves some credit
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I made sure to keep my expectations low after hearing that it’s a tropical house song (plus the teasers) so I’m not all that surprised. I love the b-sides though, especially Make Me Go and Sweet Summer Day. Releasing quality b-sides and weak title tracks is something I would NEVER associate with Twice because before 2019, it was usually the opposite for them. But here we are. This song has potential to grow on me, but it will never come close to their best work.
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Oh god, this really isn’t that great, especially for a Twice single. I have so many problems with it where do I start? Let’s just say that its lacking in many areas. From the chanty and repetitive chorus, the second verse that drags the track, and a very poorly executed dance break, the overall package is immediately disappointing. This song in general is not very strong and there are many choices that make me question how this would’ve sounded with their usual producers. Though it does getting points for being very fun and not taking itself very seriously, in addition that chorus while not the best, does offer a nice groove but the vocals could do a lot more.
Now onto the album, it’s not as good as the amazing Feel Special EP but it does hold up. Tracks like Make Me Go and Shadow are well produced and are great and slinky tunes. Though the real stars are Oxygen and Sweet Summer Day, offering a burst of energy and instantly catchy melodies. Though the EP with tracks like Firework and Don’t Call Me Again which are good but nothing special. These tracks don’t have very nonexistent melodies that are hard to latch onto once the next track starts up. Maybe they’ll grow on me but I don’t see anything special yet.
Overall Twice is hit by the 2020 curse as yet another artist that couldn’t live up to their 2019 work but the album is still strong and makes for a nice listen.
More and More (Track) : 7/10 Solid
More and More (Album) : 7/10 Solid 🙂
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The track would have to grow on me but Dance the Night Away never did so maybe it won’t.
Also, Disregard everyone insisting sweet summer day should be the title when the TRUE proper title choice is Firework
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Not Fireworkm we’re sick of the moombahton wave we need Oxygen
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Wow, as a huge TWICE fan this is a huge letdown. I’m super happy they are branching out and using fresh songwriters with this album, but this only reconfirms my belief that songcamps are a cynical form of songcraft intended only to maximize shareholder profits. There’s no “art” here whatsoever.
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Remember when I told that June will be great , yeah Throw that out of the window …….. Twice opened with one of the downright most boring songs I have heard in all of 2020 and Everybody is all of a sudden sold? How the actual heck does that make any
sense. The main chorus lacks melody and the English lyrics is so irritating. I really Like Twice….. Love them but I really wish I could love this song but I still trust Twice on giving me a good B-side.
Hooks: 6
Production: 8
Longevity: 7
Bias: 8
Rating: 7.25
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My expectations were high for this song because one of the composers, Zara Larsson, had released my favorite pop song of 2019 (All the Time). But I was probably asking too much. The song has no impact. Period.
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Thanks for bringing up Zara Larsson! I haven’t listened to her music and it’s been fun to see she has some good stuff
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I liked everything in the mv, but the song sucks….like really bad imo. It sounds like an amateur teenage composer could’ve made this song at home. Compared to their recent hit tracks, this one is not it. I don’t know what they were thinking with this one. So many people on the team yet no one was like hey this sounds kind of bad. It’s such a shame because they were on a momentum with their recent hits and this mv concept is visually appealing. They deserve better than this song.. like WTF ,jyp.
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Oh yeah, More & More is *just* a bit addicting after several listens. MV looks great at some points but too much CGI in some places… and ugly frilly pants. Man they need to go ASAP. Everything in here sounds outdated and cheap. A Fifth Harmony ripoff too.
I really wish Make Me Go or Firework was the title track, but if Firework was especially the title track, some might argue “iTs lIkE dEsPaCiTo or KARD” or something. But maybe, realistically, Sweet Summer Day might work because it’s “cutesy.”
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I thought “What is Love” and “Fancy” were great pop songs, but this “More and More” has got to be the worst. I can’t even get through the song once and have no desire to watch any of the live stages. The members also look really bored and uninspired in the video. It seems the company overthought things way too much and the result is awkward and unappealing.Throw in the plagiarism of the art piece in the video and it’s clear that it was not meant to be this time around. I think they just have to just quickly brush this “comeback” under the rug as fast as possible, learn from the mistakes and look forward to the next comeback. Overall though, I think this group is being run too hard and long term longevity may not be possible at this rate.
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This song deserves a higher rating than Lisa’s solo tbh. It’s not TWICE’s best songs but it’s quite a pleasure to listen to in my opinion.
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