"Likey" (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) 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, Chaey ...

. 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 October 30, 2017, as the lead single from their first studio album ''

Twicetagram ''Twicetagram'' is the debut and first Korean studio album by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released on October 30, 2017, by JYP Entertainment and distributed through Genie Music. The title ''Twicetagram'' refers to their official Instagr ...

''.

Background and release

Twice's comeback with their first full-length album, along with the lead single "Likey", was officially announced on October 16, 2017. The two music video teasers for the song were uploaded online on October 28. "Likey" and its music video was released on the 30th as a digital download on various music sites.

Composition

"Likey" was composed by

Black Eyed Pilseung Black Eyed Pilseung () is a South Korean music production and songwriting duo made up of Rado (Song Joo-young) and Choi Kyu-sung, formed in 2014. They have produced hit songs such as Sistar's "Touch My Body"; Miss A's " Only You"; Twice's "Like ...

and Jeon Gun. It was Twice's fourth collaboration with Black Eyed Pilseung, after their hit singles "

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 ...

", " Cheer Up" and " TT". The future electropop song opens with a synth-driven intro, and continues with children cheering, trumpeting horns, and old-school synthesizer samples throughout the track. Lyrically, it is about the agony of trying to elicit a social-media "like" from a crush, as well as the struggle of maintaining a beautiful social media image.

Music video

Produced by Naive Creative Production for JYP Entertainment, the music video of "Likey" was directed by Kim Young-jo and Yoo Seung-woo. It was uploaded on October 30, 2017, at the official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

channel of JYP Entertainment. The music video was entirely filmed in

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

in early September 2017, showcasing some of the most iconic areas in the region. It was featured in CTV News Vancouver—stating that the video is expected to boost tourism of the city. Some parts of it were personally filmed by Twice leader

Jihyo Park Ji-hyo (; born Park Ji-soo on February 1, 1997), known mononymously as Jihyo, is a South Korean singer. She is the leader and vocalist of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015. Life and career Early life ...

. Early on in the video, Twice is seen clowning around at the Sunset Beach roller hockey rink with views of the ocean and

Granville Island Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview, Vancouver, Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver under the south end of the Granville Street ...

behind them. They also gather in a

gelato Gelato (; ) is the common word in Italian for all kinds of ice cream. In English, it specifically refers to a frozen dessert of Italian origin. Artisanal gelato in Italy generally contains 6%–9% butterfat, which is lower than other styles o ...

shop called Ocean Rock Cafe on Marine Drive in White Rock. Backdrops for the dance routine include Gastown alley and Maple Tree Square, Alley Oop (the colourful downtown backlane between

Granville Street Granville Street is a major street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and part of British Columbia Highway 99, Highway 99. Granville Street is most often associated with the Granville Entertainment District and the Granville Mall, Vancouver ...

and Seymour streets) and Stanley Park's Hallelujah Point. In the mix, it also features the Gastown Steam Clock, Angel Hand-Painted Fashions store,

White Rock Pier White Rock Pier is a pier in White Rock, British Columbia. Originally built in 1914, it was a dock for steamships that arrived when the Great Northern Railway began operation. On December 20, 2018, the pier was severely damaged during a wind st ...

Steveston Steveston, founded in the 1880s, is a neighbourhood of Richmond in Metro Vancouver. On the southwest tip of Lulu Island, the village is a historic port and salmon canning centre at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River. The early 1900s st ...

's Marine Garage and the SkyTrain while riding an old Mark I train. On December 3, 2017, it set a new record of the fastest K-pop girl group music video to reach 100 million views on

within 33 days. It surpassed 500 million views in February 2021.

Commercial performance

"Likey" debuted at number 1 and 2 on 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 the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100, respectively. It charted on top spot of ''Billboard'' charts'

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 s ...

and

K-pop Hot 100 The K-pop Hot 100 is a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by ''Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multime ...

for two consecutive weeks."Likey" on Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart: * *"Likey" on Billboard Kpop Hot 100 Chart: * * It also topped ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

s Hot Buzz Song for four consecutive weeks. "Likey" surpassed 100 million streams in February 2019 and 2,500,000 downloads in March 2020 on the Gaon Music Chart. In April 2020, "Likey" earned a Silver streaming certification for surpassing 30 million streams on the Oricon Streaming Singles Chart from the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

(RIAJ).

Japanese version

Twice's second compilation album '' #Twice2'', released on March 6, 2019, includes both Korean and Japanese-language versions of "Likey". The Japanese lyrics were written by

Mayu Wakisaka is a singer-songwriter, composer, and lyricist based in Tokyo, Japan. Mayu grew up in Osaka, Japan, and studied law at Kyoto University. In 2007, she quit law school to pursue her career as a singer-songwriter and moved to Los Angeles. While st ...

. "Likey (Japanese ver.)" was pre-released on January 10 as a digital single, along with an accompanying music video.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

, -

References

{{authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs Korean-language songs Twice (group) songs JYP Entertainment singles Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles Billboard Korea K-Pop number-one singles Bubblegum pop songs Mass media about Internet culture