"SHES ABOUT TO SHOW YALL HOW ITS DONE": TWICE's Jihyo sends fans into a frenzy as she unveils concept motion image for solo debut

TWICE Jihyo's dropped her debut solo album teaser recently, prompting fans to type out a stream of tweets ranging from supportive to in awe to absolutely crazy. According to the announcement made on June 26 at midnight KST, the idol is officially set to release her upcoming solo mini-album, ZONE, with the lead song Killin' Me Good on August 18 at 1 pm KST.

ZONE’s launch is going to join the bandwagon of all the summer K-pop releases this year. It goes without saying, fans are exhilarated and are gushing with supportive messages. One fan stated:

"Covering half of zyos face for damage control?!": Fans continue to be curious as Jihyo drops teasers ahead of the D-Day

Jihyo has been steadily dropping teasers for her solo project since early June 2023. The first one only disclosed the title of the project, Killin’ Me Good, revealing an August release.

While initially, some ONCEs (TWICE fans) had speculated the mysterious release to be a potential full-group comeback, some had been praying for it to be the TWICE leader's long-overdue solo debut.

It was the uncovering of a second teaser on June 9 at midnight KST that erased all doubts from the fans' minds. The image showed Jihyo's face and the caption mentioned “ZYO’s ZONE”.

In the latest moving image teaser, the idol's face can only be seen partially, which led to one fan asking, “covering half of zyos face for damage control?!”

The other tweets on her solo debut are a plethora of reactions ranging from one fan writing, “Will be looking forward to those vocals”, while another just made a poster of their own by putting a goofy Jihyo picture on the original poster.

Solo projects of TWICE members and recent activities of the group

Jihyo will not be the first person from the globally renowned superstar girl group TWICE to make her debut as a soloist. In fact, the first member to drop a solo project was Nayeon, who released her extended play, Im Nayeon, on June 24, 2022.

Among its seven well-loved tracks, Pop! became a sensation. Another track featured label-mate Felix of Stray Kids. Its sounds were a merge of genres like R&B, disco, ballads, jazz, and more.

Looking at how versatile TWICE artists are, it is no wonder ONCEs are waiting to find out what the SET ME FREE singer's mini album, ZONE, will explore. Referring to TWICE’s repeated summer solo releases, one particular fan tweeted the group “owns summer solos”.

Meanwhile, TWICE debuted under JYP Entertainment in 2015, with their debut EP The Story Begins. The group was formed under the television program Sixteen and consists of members Jihyo, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu.

TWICE’s latest release was its Japanese album, Hare Hare, on May 31, 2023. The girls are currently on their fifth total world tour, Ready to Be.

About the author

Sreejita is a Kpop and Kdrama writer at SK POP. Combining her passion for writing with her personal interest in K-entertainment, she develops engaging content, and has been writing since she was very young, contributing to school journals, newspapers, and anthologies. Prior to her current role, she worked with Namaste Hallyu and Korea.net.

Sreejita’s knowledge of K-pop and K-entertainment is her biggest asset professionally, and she has demonstrated expertise in artist profiling. She interviewed the K-pop boy group TAN (To All Nations) upon their comeback with their third mini album, TAN MADE [I], in August 2023.

She emphasizes rigorous research, unbiased reporting, and respect toward fan sentiments. While establishing contact with artists' agencies, she strives to represent her company in the best light, and she deeply values the guidance of experts in her field as well as seasoned K-enthusiasts. Additionally, her exchanges with Korean natives has made her aware of the country's traditions and K-pop’s influence locally and globally, thus ascribing fresh insights to her reports.

Sreejita credits her favorite artist, Kim Namjoon aka RM of BTS and his love for literature, for exposing her to writers who inspire her. When not keeping up with the K-entertainment scene, Sreejita loves to read, write, and listen to music and podcasts. Sreejita had a podcast of her own for a while, called LavenderKosmos, where she spoke about lifestyle trends and her personal interests.

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