TWS, the six-piece boy group from K-Pop giant Hybe‘s sub-label Pledis Entertainment, gathered in front of a large photo of themselves plastered on the wall of the Grammy Museum‘s latest pop-up exhibit Aug. 1.
To celebrate the opening of the museum’s highly anticipated “Hybe: We Believe In Music, A Grammy Museum Pop-Up,” the rookie group participated in the live performance series Global Spin Live. In a change of scenery for the series, the event was held on the rooftop of the downtown Los Angeles museum, with refreshments including Japchae, a popular Korean dish of stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables, fried chicken and more.
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The rookie group, comprised of members Shinyu, Dohoon, Youngjae, Hanjin, Jihoon, Kyungmin, were fresh from their first KCON L.A. experience. The K-Pop festival was a big step for TWS (who only debuted in January) in terms of their international presence, and as Jihoon pointed out, a reason for the group to keep improving as a group.
“It was an amazing experience,” the 18-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter of the experience performing at the festival. He added: “This is our first time having a stage in U.S., so we learned a lot.” The group performed several times throughout the weekend, including a special performance during The CW’s live broadcast of the final night’s concert at Cyrpto.com Arena.
At the Grammy Museum, TWS had a sit-down conversation with moderator Emily Mei and played an intimate crowd of fans who were able to snag tickets before they quickly sold out. The group performed several songs including their debut single “plot twist,” from their EP Sparkling Blue, which is still a consistent hit in Korea half a year after its release (at the time of publication, it sits at No. 17 on the streaming and digital song charts on Korea’s Circle Chart). Their latest single, “If I’m S, Can You Be My N?” was released in June and continues to climb Korean charts, sitting currently in the mid-20s for the streaming and digital charts.
The early success of Sparkling Blue has been exciting for the six performers, but the group did say they had several feelings when making the recently released follow-up EP, Summer Beat! “We were both excited and nervous at the same time, so it was a little bit of mixed feelings” Dohoon told THR through a translator. “We just tried to focus on working our hardest.”
As TWS heads into the second half of their banner first year, they seemingly remain humble and excited for what’s to come. “Everything is new,” Kyungmin explained. “It’s been feeling amazing for us, and we’re grateful for the opportunities that are given to us.”
Following the boy group’s performance, fans were invited to be among the first to see the Grammy Museum’s newest Hybe-focused K-Pop pop-up exhibit, “Hybe: We Believe In Music.” Featuring several groups from Korean entertainment conglomerate sub-labels, the exhibit is a continuation of the museum’s two-year-long commitment to showcasing exhibits and programming surrounding K-Pop.
The new exhibit officially opened Aug. 2. It features BTS, Seventeen, Tomorrow x Together (TXT), Enhypen, Le Sserafim, Zico, fromis_9, Boynextdoor, TWS, &Team, Illit and Katseye, and covers about 12 years of K-Pop history.
BTS has an understandably large presence in the exhibit. Two sets of outfits worn by seven-piece boy group are on display – one from a version of their Proof anthology album and one from the “Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)” music video. The exhibit also features a timeline of the supergroup, chronicling their rise to global stardom year-by-year since debuting in 2013, and over 70 polaroids of the group from 2018.
There is a music video fashion room featuring outfits from Seventeen’s “Maestro,” Tomorrow X Together’s “Sugar Rush Ride,” Enhypen’s “Sweet Venom” and Le Sserafim’s “Easy.” Additionally, The room features a creative process section playing videos from three of Hybe’s producers and five artists. Accessories and jewelry from fromis_9, BoyNextDoor, TWS, &Team and Illit are also on display in a nearby room.
Each group has a music video playing on at least one screen throughout the exhibit. In what appears to be move to make the exhibit more interactive, the Grammy Museum included a karaoke room, where fans can sing BTS’ “Dynamite,” TXT’s “LO$ER=LO♡ER” and Seventeen’s “Aju Nice, along with a random play dance room, where snippets of music videos play on a loop. In the dance room, artifacts from Hybe’s chairman, Bang Si-Hyuk, known as a producer as Hitman Bang, are on display, mostly focusing on books that contributed to BTS’ song lyrics and album names.
“Hybe: We Believe in Music, a Grammy Museum Exhibit” runs through Sept. 15. Tickets for the exhibit are $20 with the purchase of a general admission museum ticket. More information can be found on the museum’s website.
