In South Korean girl group Twice’s 13th extended play With You-th, released on Feb. 23, the nine members discuss friendship. Following their successful Ready to Be extended play in 2023, the six tracks were released and promoted during the group’s ongoing world tour.
In the first track “I Got You, which is sung fully in English, talks about friendship and always having each other’s back.
“No matter what, you got me / I got you / And I wouldn’t want it any other way”
Lead vocalist Nayeon sings this lyric in the chorus. I love this song because it is a wonderful song about encouragement and friendship, and it is such an upbeat track. I believe this song is about the friendship among the members of Twice, because they have known each other for a long time, even before the 2015 reality show that formed them into the group they are now.
“One Spark” is the second song and lead single of With You-th. The song discusses a person giving the narrator an “everlasting spark” that their heart is “burning.” I’d rank this second best on the album overall because it’s such a fun dance song.
The fifth track “Bloom” is a song about self-confidence. The song has the best intro over all the songs in the EP, with the harmonies of all the members singing the word “bloom.” It was originally written for member Jihyo by her fellow member Jeongyeon for her solo extended play Zone, an album released in August 2023. The song was ultimately made into a song for the entire group instead.
“There’s a song called ‘BLOOM’ that Jeongyeon wrote, actually,” Jihyo said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “It was going to be a side track on my solo album, but I was having a hard time bringing it to life with my voice.”
Closing the extended play is “You Get Me,” a song which is much more slow paced compared to previous songs on the EP. Entirely written by member Dahyun, this is my favorite of all six tracks on With You-th, because of the message behind it.
It’s the shortest song on the EP at 2 minutes and 33 seconds, but it conveys a clear message. The song is about the narrator being understood by another person, where they tell us that they feel good about themselves when they’re near that person.
“‘Cause you get me / Oh, when I’m with you, I’m the best me”
With You-th is a breathtaking album. In the music charts, the EP reached No. 1 on the United States Billboard 200 charts, making Twice the third K-pop girl group to reach that achievement. They’ve reached No. 2 in South Korea’s Circle charts and No. 4 on Japan’s Oricon charts.
This EP shows the group’s maturity and how they’ve shown they are not afraid of exploring newer themes of friendship within their music. As the group continues their world tour until July, I hope they will perform their songs from With You-th.
