"Cheer Up" (stylized in

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) is a song recorded by South Korean girl group

Twice Twice (; Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn: ''To~uwaisu''; commonly stylized as TWICE) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, ...

. It was released by

JYP Entertainment JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...

on April 25, 2016, as the lead single from their second extended play '' Page Two''. It was written and composed by Sam Lewis and Black Eyed Pilseung respectively. The song topped the

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based o ...

and is the best-performing single of 2016 in South Korea. It also won several awards including Song of the Year in two major music awards shows, Melon Music Awards and

Mnet Asian Music Awards The MAMA Awards (formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ E&M. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes has been won by K-pop artists, although there are other As ...

Composition

"Cheer Up" has lyrics written by Sam Lewis and music by Black Eyed Pilseung, the same team who wrote Twice's hit single "

Like Ooh-Ahh "Like Ooh-Ahh" (stylized as "Like OOH-AHH"; ) is the debut single recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on October 20, 2015, as the lead single from their debut extended play ''The Story Begins''. It was ...

" from their debut EP. It is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

song that incorporates multiple genres, including hip hop,

tropical house Tropical house, also known as trop house, is a subgenre of house music, and a derivation of tropical music, with elements of dancehall and Balearic house. Artists of the genre are often featured at various summer festivals such as Tomorrowland ...

, and

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

; this blend was described as "color pop". Lyrically, the song emotes tease and frustration about a love interest.

Music video

The music video for "Cheer Up" was directed by video production team Naive (Kim Young-jo and Yoo Seung-woo). The music video was released on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

Channel. It went viral on

soon after it was uploaded on April 25, 2016, gaining 400,000 views in only thirty minutes. It reached one million views in less than a day, and surpassed seven million views on April 27. In the music video, the members portray characters from famous films and TV shows. Mina is Itsuki Fujii from ''

Love Letter A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings. History One of the oldest references to a l ...

'',

Sana Sana may refer to: Places * Sanaa, the capital of Yemen * Sana (river), a river in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Sana, Bhutan, a town in Bhutan * Sana, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France * Sana, Iran, a village in Iran * Sana, Mali, a commune in Mal ...

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine '' Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The s ...

from the ''

'' series, Nayeon is Sidney Prescott from the '' Scream'' film series,

Tzuyu Chou Tzu-yu ( zh, 周子瑜}; , born 14 June 1999), known mononymously as Tzuyu (, ), is a Taiwanese singer based in South Korea. She is the only Taiwanese member of the girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015. Life and career ...

is Holly Golightly from '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', and Jeongyeon is Faye from ''

Chungking Express ''Chungking Express'' is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a ...

''. Momo is an action heroine reminiscent of the ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...

'' and ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environmen ...

'' film series, Jihyo is a cheerleader from '' Bring It On'',

Chaeyoung Son Chae-young (; born April 23, 1999), known mononymously as Chaeyoung, is a South Korean rapper and singer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment. Early life Chaeyoung was born in Seoul, South K ...

is a cowgirl (reminiscent of different Western films, especially ''

A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' ( it, Per un pugno di dollari, lit=For a Fistful of Dollars titled on-screen as ''Fistful of Dollars'') is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, ...

''), and

Dahyun Kim Da-hyun (; born May 28, 1998), known mononymously as Dahyun, is a South Korean singer and rapper. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015. Life and career Dahyun was born in Seongnam, G ...

is the

gisaeng Kisaeng (Hangul: 기생, Hanja: 妓生, RR: ''Gisaeng''), also called ginyeo (Hangul: 기녀, Hanja: 妓女), were women from outcast or slave families who were trained to be courtesans, providing artistic entertainment and conversation to men ...

Hwang Jini (from the biopic '' Hwang Jin Yi''). In the group dance scenes, the members are cheerleaders at a pep rally in a soccer stadium and a basketball stadium and in another dance scene, they are in front of a house, decorated as if hosting a party, wearing casual clothing. A special music video, titled "Twice Avengers", was released on May 27 to commemorate the original music video reaching 35 million views on YouTube. In the special video, the members dance in their film character costumes on a set made to look like a planet in outer space. On November 17, the video surpassed 100 million views. It then surpassed 200 million views on August 9, 2017, making Twice the first K-pop girl group with two music videos to reach this milestone. The music video also topped 2016 YouTube's Most Popular Music Video in South Korea.

Reception

Critical

Tamar Herman of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described "Cheer Up" as an atypical K-pop girl group release that "solidifies Twice's unique style" through its unexpected mix of beats and genres. She further noted that the accompanying music video helped reinforce the members' independent identities while the song showcased of each member's individual voice, " orgoingmusical wholeness for the sake of eccentricity".

Fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to prote ...

journalists Jason Lipshutz, Tina Xu, and Jeff Benjamin discussed the release in the K-pop-centric podcast ''K-Stop'', describing "Cheer Up" as a 1990s pop throwback reminiscent of

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

' " ...Baby One More Time". They praised the single's fun and catchy tone, rap break, and the "incredible" production quality of its music video but criticized its processed vocals and controversial lyrics, which seem to encourage young women to "play games" (i.e., feign disinterest) with their romantic partners. They concluded that, while the group has a lot of potential, they would need to "polish it up" for future releases. ''Billboard'' and ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'' included "Cheer Up" in their best K-pop songs of 2016 lists. The song's "shy shy shy" line became a viral

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

and was imitated by many celebrities.

Commercial performance

"Cheer Up" was a commercial success, debuting atop the

. It topped the chart for three non-consecutive weeks. The song acculumated 1,839,566 digital sales and 111,556,482 streams in 2016, making it the best performing single of the year. Elsewhere, it entered ''

World Digital Song Sales The World Digital Song Sales chart (formerly World Digital Songs) is a weekly record chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Established in 2010—with the issue dated January 23—as one of 21 genre-specific so ...

at number three. "Cheer Up" surpassed 2,500,000 downloads in August 2017 on

Gaon Music Chart The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. It is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's ...

. As of 2018, it has 2,737,015 digital downloads and 160 million streams.

Japanese version

On February 24, 2017, Twice officially announced that their debut in Japan was set for June 28. They released a compilation album titled '' #Twice'' which consists of ten songs including both Korean and Japanese-language versions of "Cheer Up". The Japanese lyrics were written by Yu Shimoji.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

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References

{{authority control 2016 singles 2016 songs Korean-language songs JYP Entertainment singles Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles Twice (group) songs