Christopher Polk/PMC
TWICE took the spotlight for its performance of “Moonlight Sunrise” at Billboard’s 2023 Women in Music event, held at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday (March 1).
As the performance began, images of each of the members flashed onto giant screens amidst shots of beautiful sunrises. As the screens lifted to reveal the K-pop group in matching black outfits, TWICE dazzled the audience – who ONCE were filled with screams – with spot-on choreography throughout the sweet set.
The song, taken from upcoming mini-album Ready to Be, is the K-pop group’s second English-language single; The first was The Feels, which was released in October 2021. “Moonlight Sunrise,” which was released in January, debuted and peaked at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the February 4 chart. Prequel “The Feels” came up a notch – at No. 83 on the Oct. 16, 2021 tally — it was also the group’s first song to crack the Hot 100.
Earlier in the evening, TWICE – consisting of Chaeyoung, Nayeon, Tzuyu, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun and Jeongyeon – were honored with the Billboard 2023 Women in Music Breakthrough Award, presented by Sabrina Carpenter to the K-pop stars.
“I was particularly thrilled that they were recognized because I’m a really big Stan,” the “Nonsense” singer admitted to the audience. “You are so talented and now I consider myself ONCE which is half the room! I really hope this award will introduce her to a wider US audience.”
After the group took the stage to accept the award, Chaeyoung held the award and spoke first. “Becoming a Breakthrough Artist on Billboard Women in Music is the most magical way to start our year,” she began. “Ever since we became TWICE, we’ve believed that as we take a step toward our future, we’ll always be together. This moment is especially meaningful because all nine of us are standing here together in front of our fans who have made our dreams come true. This title Breakthrough Artist proves that people who support you will always be your team, if you are confident in pursuing your dream, you will break through.”
Tzuyu added, “This achievement will forever motivate us to challenge ourselves to break more barriers.”
In an interview with Billboard ahead of the event, TWICE shared her thoughts on her rising global success despite language differences. “I think it’s our songs that carry the color of TWICE rather than the language the song is sung in,” Jihyo said at the time. “I don’t think language is that relevant to doing TWICEs [identity].”
Chaeyoung added that their songwriters know each woman’s personalities and strengths well and are therefore able to create better tunes for the group. “They express our personality really well, so I think that really defines our style,” she shared. “That’s why it transmits different languages.”
And now that they’ve been named Billboard’s Breakthrough Artist and have made their way onto the Hot 100, TWICE is aiming high for the future. Chaeyoung previously told Billboard, “My personal goal for the future is to reach the top [Hot 100].”