WATCH TWICE ‘SIGNAL’ OUTER SPACE IN NEW MUSIC VIDEO

By Tamar Herman, Billboard

They’ve conquered South Korea with their infectious hits, and in the music video for their latest single “Signal,” K-pop girl group TWICE looks to extend their reach off-planet.

The nine-member act dropped “Signal,” the title track from their fourth EP, on Monday (May 15) simultaneously with a quirky music video that had the song’s erratic sound acting as the backdrop to TWICE’s attempt at winning over the heart of a blue-faced alien.

Twice’s first song produced by JY Park, the founder and head of their label JYP Entertainment, “Signal” diverges from the girl group’s vibrant brand of colorful, effusive pop. Instead, the bass-focused single begins with a deadpan rap that builds into a groovy electropop melody used to relay the song’s earworm of a hook, while the talk-rap serves as a clapping refrain throughout the remainder of the track before turning into the “Signal” outro.

Though the song is something new for Twice, the brightly hued music video is reminiscent of some of their past videos: the zombies of their 2015 debut track “Like Ooh-Ahh” are swapped with aliens, while the camera-headed mascot of last year’s “Cheer Up” returns for a cameo. And, like all Twice videos, each member of the girl group is differentiated by an identifying factor. In this case, each member has a unique superpower with which she tries to impress the extraterrestrial lover.

Along with the title track, Twice’s Signal EP contains six other tracks, including “Eyes Eyes Eyes,” a light-hearted, airy song with lyrics written by members Jihyo and Chaeyoung.

With over half a million views on YouTube and a presence on multiple Billboard charts, Twice has become one of the K-pop industry’s most dominant girl groups since “Like Ooh-Ahh” was released two years ago. Their last album, Twicecoaster: Lane 2, peaked at No. 4 on the World Albums chart, while their February single “Knock Knock” hit No. 5 on the World Digital Song Sales chart.

The release of Signal precedes Twice’s attendance at KCON NY next month, where they’ll perform on June 24 alongside K-pop boy bands CNBLUE, NCT 127 and Up10tion.

This article originally appeared on Billboard.

Source: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/7784790/twice-signal-video-single

Photo: http://kpop.wikia.com/wiki/File:TWICE_Page_Two_group_photo.png

Video: www.youtube.com

By Bekki Bemrose, AllMusic

Singer/songwriter Aldous Harding first drew praise for the gothic folk and stark emotionality of her 2015 debut that brought about comparisons to both Kate Bush and Scott Walker. She grew up as Hannah Harding in the town of Lyttelton near Christchurch in New Zealand to musician parents. Her mother was folk singer Lorina Harding, and it was on her Folk-Tui-winning record Clean Break that the 13-year-old Harding made here recording debut. Despite this early foray into the music business, the young Harding had no interest in pursuing a career as a musician, believing it to be a precarious existence. Just a couple of years later, she began to let go of her dreams of becoming a vet when she started singing and writing songs alongside friend and fellow musician Nadia Reid. By 2008 she was performing backup vocals for the traveling string band the Eastern, and Harding got an early break when she was spotted busking by Anika Moa, who on the back of that performance invited the young musician to open for her at her show that same night. In 2012 Harding changed her forename to Aldous and asked Marlon Williams and Ben Edwards to co-produce what would become her debut record. The self-titled release garnered much critical acclaim, and Harding toured the album extensively. For her follow-up, she signed to British independent label 4AD, and enlisted the help of John Parish (Sparklehorse, PJ Harvey) to co-produce the record. Her sophomore album Party was released in 2017, and was preceded by the singles “Horizon” and “Imagining My Man.”

This article originally appeared on AllMusic.

Source: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/aldous-harding-mn0003259630/biography

Photo: http://www.weallwantsomeone.org/2016/12/30/deerhunter-and-aldous-harding-at-webster-hall-october-24-2016/

Video: www.youtube.com