"Signal" (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 ...

. The song was released on May 15, 2017, 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 ...

and distributed by KT Music, as the lead single from their fourth extended play of the same name. The Japanese version of "Signal", along with its accompanying short version of the music video, was released on June 14, 2017, as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

for their first Japanese compilation album, '' #Twice''. The song received its first awards, Song of the Year (grand prize) and Best Dance Performance for a female group, at the

2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards The 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards ceremony, organized by CJ E&M through its music channel Mnet, took place from November 25 through December 1, 2017 (dubbed as "MAMA Week") in Vietnam, Japan and Hong Kong with the theme, "Coexistence". It was the ...

Background and release

On May 1, 2017, JYP Entertainment announced Twice's comeback with their fourth EP ''

Signal In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

'' and its title track of the same name. The first music video teaser of "Signal" was uploaded online on May 13. It was released on the 15th as a digital download on various music sites.

Composition

"Signal" was written by

Park Jin-young Park Jin-young (Hangul: 박진영; 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 ju ...

and co-composed by Park and Kairos. This marked Twice's first collaboration with their agency's founder. The

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

song features a programmed Roland TR-808-style kick and

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

with incorporating hip hop elements. Lyrically, it expresses a girl's frustration who keeps sending "signs and signal" to hint her feelings for a guy but is unnoticed.

Music video

The music video for "Signal" was directed by Naive Creative Production, the same team behind Twice's previous music videos. It surpassed 100 million views on

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 ...

on August 30, 2017, three months after the release. On December 7, it was announced that it ranked second place on YouTube's Most Popular Music Video in Korea of that year, only behind the top spot of "

Knock Knock Knock Knock may refer to: * Knock-knock joke, a type of joke Film and television * Knock Knock (1940 film), ''Knock Knock'' (1940 film), an animated short film noted for the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker * ''Knock Knock'' (2007 film), a ...

". It also ranked at No. 9 on 2017 YouTube's Top Trend Music Video in Japan. It has a science fiction-fantasy theme featuring a green-headed alien and the nine members of Twice with their own

superpowers A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural st ...

Nayeon Im Na-yeon (; born September 22, 1995), known mononymously as Nayeon, is a South Korean singer. She became a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, under JYP Entertainment, in 2015 as a winning contestant of the reality survival televis ...

's superpower is time reversing,

Jeongyeon Yoo Jeong-yeon (; born 1 November 1996), known mononymously as Jeongyeon (), is a South Korean singer. She is a member of Twice, a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. Early life Jeongyeon was born as Yoo Kyung-wan on 1 Novem ...

's is time freezing,

Momo Momo may refer to: Geography * Momo (department), a division of Northwest Province in Cameroon * Momo, Gabon, a town in the Woleu-Ntem province of Gabon * Momo, Piedmont, a town in the province of Novara, in northern Italy * Joffrey Tower, in ...

's is super speed,

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 M ...

's is invisibility,

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 ...

's is x-ray vision, Mina's is hypnosis,

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, Gye ...

's is self-duplication,

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 ...

's is telekinesis, and

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

's is super strength. The cameraman who made an appearance in " Cheer Up" music video is also seen. At the end, the members transform into aliens.

Commercial performance

"Signal" debuted at number 1 for two consecutive weeks and 4 on ''Gaon'''s Digital Chart and ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100, respectively."Signal" on Gaon Digital Chart: * * It charted at number 1, 3 and 22 on

Kpop 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 multim ...

, ''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 (

Philippine Hot 100 ''Billboard'' Philippines (also known and stylized as ''billboardPH'') was a music media brand owned by Algo-Rhythm Communications in partnership with '' Billboard''. It was announced in June 2016 and officially launched on September 15, 2016. ...

) respectively.

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 "Signal". The Japanese lyrics were written by Yu Shimoji and Samuelle Soung. "Signal (Japanese ver.)", along with its accompanying short version of the music video, was pre-released on June 14 as a

of the album.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

, -

Accolades

Music program awards

References

{{Mnet Asian Music Award for Song of the Year 2017 singles 2017 songs Korean-language songs Twice (group) songs JYP Entertainment singles Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles Songs about extraterrestrial life Billboard Korea K-Pop number-one singles Songs written by Park Jin-young