Or is that “Two More Times” by Once?
[Video][Website]
[5.57]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: After School, AOA, and Psy have all released music that felt like jock jams but “One More Time” is fascinating in how its stadium-ready synth stabs are such an overt throwback during the verses but are then elegantly blended with other instrumentation during the choruses. The two sections are linked by Jeongyeon singing over a lone piano, and it’s these few seconds of repose that make the transition discreet. The lyrics aren’t anything special, but the chorus and bridge’s softer edges grant them a bit more nuance. Most importantly, lines like “gimme gimme more” and “one more time” sound less like dead-eyed pep squad chanting and more like sincere expressions of joy.
[6]
Jessica Doyle: Why would you have Momo and Mima rapping in Korean, and then devote large parts of the Japanese release to Chaeyoung and Dahyun? Anyway. Much as I would like to tank the song solely as revenge on behalf of Jungyeon’s hair, this is peppier than I expected; generic, but not terrible filler. Though it really could have used a key change for either of the last two choruses. But I may be prejudiced by having already enjoyed this year a sports-themed Japanese single by a Korean girl group with a key change for the final chorus.
[4]
Ryo Miyauchi: The buzz-siren of “One More Time” goes away with the meticulousness put to craft in previous Twice songs. Feelings, too, get blasted by the exclamation mark of a beat, leaving no room to bury any code in their heart share. The single tasks Chaeyoung to deliver its more assertive lines — “I ain’t got time to waste my time/I want to say it now” — but it only gets more frustrating when it abandons that attitude very quick. It’s easy to blame the language barrier with this being the group’s first Japanese single, but the fault lies more on its creators not understanding the greatness behind “TT,” the catalyst for the group’s boom in Japan: the playhouse of a production but also its careful exploration on why the girls might be so tight-lipped.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Trim and crisp, “One More Time” has one of the shrewder deployments of the sawtooth synth I’ve heard in month; the hook could have come from an early ’90s techno track yet here it is on a pep squad chant.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: *Approaches podium and taps on microphone, gestures with hand for the audience to settle down* Ladies and gentlemen. After doing intense observation of the song, and accompanying video, my associates and I are obligated to speak the truth and disclose the following information: This song is the worst single Twice have ever bothered to release. And I mean objectively it is just BAD no matter how much I said “Knock Knock” edges on “Cotton Eyed Joe” or many ‘Signal-보-내 Truthers’ try to debate me on the last summit, this is just a mess. The blaring arcade synths sound like intestinal collapse masquerading as cheer, and the chorus is the most blatantly pandering they’ve gone for in their entire history. *taps microphone over noise of dismissal* This is not the end! Just because it’s their worst song doesn’t erase that this is a new development where Twice not only actually acknowledge and entertain a moment of emotional connectivity and open affection with another and no longer enter periods of scattered exchange in what one Jessica Doyle deemed the Grand Unified Theory of Twice’s Emotional Constipation. With other singles on the anticipated horizon, we feel likely that there is potential to right the ship, and it’s not like there aren’t highlights sonically (such as that dramatic Jeongyeon solo/dramatic pause). I believe in a better Twice, as they’ve been for me before, and together we shall bear witness to greatness once more. Just not here.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: Wouldn’t take a lot of editing to graft the start onto the end and have this on an eternal loop, and gosh I was tempted on the basis of the super perky, bright and sassy chorus and the interjections of “watch out boy!” and “twice!!!” that are peppered throughout. The heavy squelch of the song is a bit exhausting though, like a throwback to everything I didn’t like in pop five or so years ago.
[7]
Alex Clifton: I honestly can’t tell if Twice has been like this for their entire career, or if this is the one single that’s finally resonated with me; I liked “TT” well enough, but literally everything else they’ve put has fallen flat for me. This is aggressively chirpy and sugary, which sounds like a dismissal–those are two of my favourite things. There’s also an additional harder electro-edge which is more unconventional. I’m not sure I’m a full Twice convert yet, but this is a much stronger effort than they’ve previously put out; if they can keep this up, they’ll have found their groove.
[6]