Q&A: K-pop girl group Twice exploded in the last decade. Then 'KPop Demon Hunters' came calling

The only thing rarer than success in the global pop music industry is longevity. But K-pop girl group Twice make resilience look easy.

Last year — Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu — celebrated their 10th anniversary with the release of “TEN: The Story Goes On.” It's mostly composed of solo songs from its nine members, extending into genres far beyond the bubblegum pop they popularized: “Fix a Drink” is country, “Chess” samples Beethoven's “Für Elise,” and so on.

But that's not the only thing they're celebrating: Not so long ago Sony Pictures Animation reached out to the group to participate in a new project they were working on: “KPop Demon Hunters.”

The movie, which Netflix has said is its most watched film of all time, has amassed hundreds of millions of hours viewed worldwide. It was also the highest charting soundtrack of 2025 with eight of its songs landing on the Billboard Hot 100. It also made a splash in theaters in August and got a subsequent release over Halloween weekend.

Next week, it's up for two Oscars at the Academy Awards. Not a bad call to get.

Below, Twice discusses “KPop Demon Hunters,” being a decade into their career and evolving definitions of success.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

MINA: For Twice’s solo songs, it seems like each member chose a concept that suited them well. And for the group songs, because we’ve been together for 10 years, we know each other’s vocal colors and strengths, so we’re able to assign parts that highlight those individual characteristics, allowing us to showcase our personalities even more.

JIHYO: We’ve worked incredibly hard for the past 10 years, but honestly, I’m not sure what the criteria for success really is. We’ve just consistently and diligently done what we’ve been doing, and if the fact that many people have listened to our music, loved it, and felt encouraged by it constitutes success, then perhaps we have achieved success. However, I still think there’s so much more we can do.

DAHYUN: First of all, we have a lot of group chats. We have a company group chat, a member group chat, and several other group chats. When we can’t meet in person, we discuss things there, and sometimes we even use a voting feature to make decisions by majority vote, choosing from various options. We also hold meetings in person at the company. Both the members and the company staff work together, discussing things and trying their best to make a great album.

JIHYO: It feels like there’s also a broader generational trend at play, and when looking at what’s popular these days, we tend to choose things that align well with Twice. We try to do what we can at that time, and we also try not to repeat what we’ve done before. We consider many different opinions, and although the process gets more difficult with each album, we’re still enjoying it.

JEONGYEON: I think I understand it well now. Ten years ago, my voice was one that was trying very hard to sound good, but now I’m recording with the mindset of singing in my natural voice, just being myself.

CHAEYOUNG: When recording, I think we try our best to perform our parts well, listening to it repeatedly and rerecording. Since performing well is our job, we naturally feel that we have to do it perfectly.

JEONGYEON: Twice’s music is very bright, cute, and generally requires a refreshing vocal style, but the song “Takedown” in “KPop Demon Hunters” is a very powerful song. In fact, during my trainee days, I only sang powerful songs. So, it brought back memories of my trainee days, and I remember having a lot of fun recording it.

CHAEYOUNG: There were several scenes where Mira (a member of “Kpop Demon Hunters” girl group HUNTR/X), was constantly eating something. Although the eating scene was portrayed dramatically in the animation, we also eat a lot after concerts because we had spent so much energy, and we need that energy replenishment. I think those aspects were portrayed quite well. Those parts really resonated with me. The costumes were also great.

MOMO: We’ve done a lot already, but our goal is to meet our fans for a long, long time, perform together, try new things, and continue to connect with our fans for many years to come.

JIHYO: Well, so far, I honestly think that over the past 10 years, we’ve put a lot of emphasis on the group. But recently, we’ve shown some unit activities, like the MiSaMo subunit (made up of Momo, Sana, and Mina) and some members performing at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and I think those are also part of Twice’s activities.

Dahyun is pursuing an acting career for example, but ultimately, I think these activities don’t negatively impact Twice’s activities; in fact, they bring many positive benefits, so I don’t feel like there’s much of a difference.

AP Music Writer Maria Sherman in New York and writer Juwon Park in Seoul contributed to this report.

Jeongyeon, from left, Jihyo, Dahyun, Sana, Mina, Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, Momo, and Nayeon of TWICE pose for a portrait on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Members of TWICE, from left, Jeongyeon, Jihyo, Dahyun, Sana, Mina, Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, Momo, and Nayeon pose for a portrait on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Jeongyeon, from left, Jihyo, Dahyun, Sana, Mina, Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, Momo, and Nayeon of TWICE pose for a portrait on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Jeongyeon, from left, Jihyo, Dahyun, Sana, Mina, Tzuyu, Chaeyoung, Momo, and Nayeon of TWICE pose for a portrait on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — After a long career of fighting for civil rights, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is visiting his home for one last time to lie in state at the South Carolina capitol on Monday.

The final full honors from the state where he was born is a far cry from his childhood in segregated Greenville, where in 1960 he couldn't go inside the local library's much better funded whites-only branch to check out a book he needed.

Jackson led seven Black high school students into that segregated branch, where they sat down and read books and magazines until they were arrested. The branches closed, then quietly reopened for all.

With that action, Jackson launched his career — and crusade — fighting for equality for all. He would catch the attention of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and join the voting rights march King led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Jackson died Feb. 17 at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his later years.

The South Carolina services are part of two weeks of events. It began with Jackson's body lying in repose and the public invited last week to his Rainbow PUSH Coalition's Chicago headquarters.

After South Carolina, Jackson will be returned to Chicago for a large celebration of life gathering at a megachurch and the final homegoing services at the headquarters of Rainbow PUSH. Plans for a service in Washington, D.C., to honor him have been postponed until a later date.

Nationally, Jackson advocated for the poor and underrepresented for voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders.

Trough his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society. He stepped forward as the Civil Rights Movement’s torchbearer after King’s assassination, and would run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.

Jackson continued to be active in his home state, pushing in 2003 for Greenville County to honor King by matching the federal holiday in his honor and in 2015 by advocating for removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina Statehouse grounds after nine Black worshipers were killed in a racist shooting at a Charleston church.

Jackson is just the second Black man to lie in state at the South Carolina capitol. State Sen. Clementa Pinckney was honored in 2015 after he was shot and killed in the Charleston church shooting.

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

The casket of the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives for public visitation at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

FILE - Jesse Jackson is joined by his daughter, Santita, and son Jonathan, far right, and unidentified youngster at the Los Angeles Hilton Hotel, June 8, 1988 after falling in defeat to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in the California Democratic primary. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File)