ENEMY

TWICE gained wider global recognition in the summer of 2025 following their feature on the smash-hit soundtrack for <i>KPop Demon Hunters</i>, but the real-life girl group known for bops like “TT”, “What Is Love?”, “FANCY” and “The Feels” was already one of the most successful K-pop acts of all time. Debuting in 2015 out of the idol survival show <i>Sixteeen</i>, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu are popular worldwide for their bright discography, catchy choreo and prolific output. <i>ENEMY</i>, their second full-length album release of 2025, is specifically targeted at Japan, where Korean idol music is a part of the mainstream pop scene and TWICE is incredibly popular. (Three of the group’s members, Momo, Sana and Mina, are from Japan.) <i>ENEMY</i> is TWICE’s sixth full-length Japanese album, following 2018’s <i>BDZ</i>, 2019’s <i>&TWICE</i>, 2021’s <i>Perfect World</i>, 2022’s <i>Celebrate</i> and 2024’s <i>DIVE</i>. The album’s rock-infused title track stretches the boundaries of TWICE’s self-described “colour pop” sound while still fitting seamlessly into the group’s tradition of self-empowerment songs. “Even a flower cannot bloom without swaying,” members Dahyun and Chaeyoung rap in Japanese on the second verse of the pop-rock song about persisting through hardship. Though <i>ENEMY</i> flirts with other sounds across its nine tracks—like cheerful summer bop (“Up to you”), laidback electropop (“FINE”), meandering jazz-pop (“Love is more”) and sweet acoustic ballad (“Glow”)—it returns to J-rock for album-ender “Like 1”, a sentimental song composed by Taku and Toru, members of the veteran Japanese rock band ONE OK ROCK. The track’s lyrics were written by TWICE leader Jihyo, leaving listeners on a poignant, ambiguous note: “Know there will come a time/For a bittersweet salute (I wanna)/Stay in this moment now/But we don’t get to choose.”