1. What is Love?
2. SWEET TALKER
3. HO!
4. DEJAVU
5. SAY YES
6. STUCK (CD Only)



Once have been waiting with breathless anticipation for TWICE's newest EP 'What is Love?' It's finally here, and already the title track has made a huge splash. It has six tracks, but the sixth is CD only and beyond the scope of this review. 

"What is Love?" is a very typical TWICE title track. For starters, it's cute, poppy, upbeat, and fun. An adorable rap and a very simplistic hook round out the tune. They also give short shrift to some of their members as usual on their promotional tunes. It's already earned its place at the top of the charts. "SWEET TALKER" is meant to be super-cute, but I have to say I'm not as much a fan of this. It's got some brass to help the tune along, but to my ears, it just fell a bit flat. The 60s inspired "HO!" has the girls using that Motown sound initially, at least in the main verses. Jihyo, Sana, and Nayeon pour some infectious enthusiasm into the chorus and save this from being just another retro tune.

"DEJAVU" starts with a rap from Dahyun, Chaeyoung, Momo, and Sana. I should be surprised, but I'm not. It was...well...let's just say it flowed well enough. It's silly and whimsical, which is just how it's supposed to sound. The hook is pure gold, especially with the pounding drums behind it. They continue to rap too, and I really love the time changes in this one. It's a good tune, their pronunciation of "deja vu" notwithstanding. Out of all of these, "SAY YES" is my favorite. I know that sounds atypical for me, especially considering this is a soft pop tune, but this sweet, faux-folk song features some of TWICE's gorgeous harmonies.

This is probably one of TWICE's better albums, considering that they branch out at least a little bit. The members got involved in this too, as "Sweet Talker" features lyrics written by Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon, and Jihyo lent her pen to the quirky "Ho!" And it works. This particular release is more focused and a somewhat experimental besides. The question "what is love?" can rightly be answered with this release.

MV REVIEW

Say you have a line from the song that reads "Every day in a movie...I learn about love..."  What do you do for the MV? Have the girls re-enact scenes from famous movies, of course. Nayeon does the 'Princess Diaries' thing complete with glasses and a makeover; Sana and Tzuyu dance competitively like in 'Pulp Fiction;' Sana and Jeongyeon do the pottery scene from 'Ghost;' Tzuyu and Jeongyeon and don wings and armor respectively for a scene out of 'Romeo & Juliet;' and there's much more besides.

The dancing is on the nose. Their movements are coordinated and are at least a little involved. The choreo is fun to look at -- they have a few comebacks under their belt now and know exactly what they're doing. There are still a few nods to aegyo, but they do more with it and integrate it fairly seamlessly.



They chose an interesting concept for the MV, and the girls do their best hamming it up in front of the camera. And what they lack in delivery they make up for in charm. It's adorable to watch them go through the re-enactments, even though some performances were better than others. I like the way this was put together, and it still made me smile at the end.

Score

MV Relevance...........9
MV Production..........8
MV Concept..............9

Album Production.....9
Album Concept.........9
Tracklisting...............9