known mononymously as Momo (; ), is a Japanese singer, dancer, and rapper based in South Korea. She is a member of South Korean girl group

Twice Twice (; Japanese language, Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''Tuwaisu''; commonly stylized in all caps) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon ...

under

JYP Entertainment JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1997 by Park Jin-young, J. Y. Park. Operating as a record label, talent ...

and its subunit MiSaMo.

Life and career

Early life and pre-debut activities

Momo Hirai was born in Kyōtanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. She began dancing at the age of three, together with her elder sister, Hana. Momo gained exposure to the South Korean music industry early, appearing in a music video for Lexy in 2008 and on the talent show '' Superstar K'' in 2011. Momo and her sister were originally spotted by

in an online video in 2012. They were both asked to audition, although only Momo was successful, prompting her to move to South Korea in April 2012. Before joining Twice, she danced in a number of music videos as a "K-Pop trainee". In 2015, Momo participated in the South Korean

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show '' Sixteen'', created by JYP Entertainment and co-produced by Mnet. She was initially eliminated from the show but was brought back by

Park Jin-young Park Jin-young (; born December 13, 1971), also known by his stage names J. Y. Park and The Asiansoul or the initials JYP, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, record producer, record executive, and reality television show judge. Park rose to s ...

at the end to become part of the final lineup of girl group

, due to her performance abilities.

Debut with Twice and MiSaMo

In October 2015, Momo officially debuted as a member of Twice with the release of their first extended play (EP), '' The Story Begins'', and its lead single " Like Ooh-Ahh". On February 9, 2023, JYP announced that Momo, alongside bandmates Sana and Mina, will officially debut in Japan on July 26 as a sub-unit named MiSaMo with the

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

titled ''

Masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

''. Prior to the trio's debut, on January 25, they released the track "Bouquet" as part of the soundtrack of

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

's drama series '' Liaison: Kodomo no Kokoro Shinryōjo''.

Artistry

Momo revealed that she was influenced by her older sister Hana from an early age; where she began dancing with her at the age of three. She also revealed that the

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

singer

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ; born September 20, 1977) is a retired Japanese singer. She rose to prominence as a Japanese idol, teen idol, and transitioned into a leading Pop music, pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentatio ...

is her role model and that she "wanted to be like her someday." She noted that she loves

2NE1 2NE1 (, ) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. The group consists of Park Bom, Bom, CL (rapper), CL, Sandara Park, Dara, and Minzy. Known for their Experimental music, musical experimentation, fashion, and stage pre ...

and

Rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

, explaining, "I always wanted to thrill people with my dance, and K-pop dance thrilled me."

Endorsements

In 2022, Momo was appointed as the brand muse of Wonjungyo, a cosmetic brand supervised by Won Jung-yo, Twice's makeup artist. In October 2022, she was announced as the brand ambassador of the Japanese sports brand, Onitsuka Tiger. In May 2023, she made an appearance as a model to promote the Japanese news app SmartNews. In June 2023, Momo was selected as Japanese ambassador for the Italian fashion brand Miu Miu.

Image and influence

Known for her physical fitness and body movements, she was nicknamed "Dance Machine" among her fans, and is considered Twice's best dancer. In

Gallup Korea Gallup Korea () or Gallup Korea Research Institute () is a South Korean research company. Founded by Park Moo-ik in 1974, the company became a member of Gallup International Association in 1997. It is best known for conducting public surveys o ...

's annual music poll for 2018, Momo was voted the 20th most popular idol in South Korea, the second highest-ranked Japanese individual in the poll, behind Twice bandmate Sana. She has been one of the most popular non-Korean

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

stars since her debut, and ''

The Chosun Ilbo ''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ), also known as ''The Chosun Daily,'' is a Korean-language newspaper of record for South Korea and among the oldest active newspapers in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, ''The'' ''Chosun Ilbo ...

'' credits her popularity with helping improve relations between South Korea and Japan. In 2019, Momo received attention on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

after a video trailer of her was released for '' Feel Special'' and ranked as the tenth most popular female K-pop idol in a survey of soldiers completing mandatory military service in South Korea. In 2023, she surpassed

Naomi Watanabe is a Japanese comedian, actress, and fashion designer. She rose to fame in 2008 for her imitation of Beyoncé, after which she was given the title "the Japanese Beyoncé". Career Watanabe does impersonations of popular artists in Japanese cultu ...

and became the first Japanese person to hit 10 million followers on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

only after eight months of opening her page on said platform.

Discography

Collaborations

Songwriting credits

All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database unless stated otherwise.

Filmography

Television shows

Hosting

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirai, Momo 1996 births Living people People from Kyōtanabe, Kyoto Singers from Kyoto JYP Entertainment artists Korean-language singers of Japan Japanese K-pop singers Japanese women pop singers 21st-century Japanese women singers Momo Japanese expatriates in South Korea Japanese female dancers Japanese dancers Japanese dance musicians Japanese women rappers MiSaMo members