“Alcohol-Free” by Twice

As we have noted in the past, K-pop acts don’t tend to drop straight-up love songs. It would seem that perhaps in their part of the world, it’s not as acceptable to release a tune of overtly-amorous nature as it is out west. But we have also noticed that as time progresses, the artists too are becoming bolder in terms of alluding directly to romance. And we would argue that such is the case with “Alcohol-Free”. The relationship between the vocalist(s) and the addressee is never specified. Nor is there even a single dude in the music video. But all lyrics considered, it would be hard to interpret said addressee as anything but a romantic interest.

And with that in mind, this is one of those ‘drunk in love’ kind of songs. And based on that lyrical motif, what the vocalist is saying is that her feelings for the addressee are so intoxicating that she doesn’t need to consume any type of alcohol to feel inebriated. She then goes on to namedrop a few well-known alcoholic beverages, such as “tequila”, “margarita”, “mimosa” and “piña colada.  And all of these references point back to her being “drunk in” the addressee, boozed from his love, so to speak.

Indeed she likens her admiration of this individual to being under “a spell”. For instance she could break night even without feeling tired, with her thoughts being primarily on him.  And as time progresses, likewise her love for him grows.

“Alcohol-Free”

So in reading the title of this song you perhaps presumed that Twice was going to use it as some type of anti-alcohol PSA. And if one desires to interpret it in such a manner, perhaps such is arguably. But along those lines, it wouldn’t be so much that the vocalist is “alcohol-free” based on some type of moralistic reason. Rather in terms of feeling drunk, she is getting her fix via an invigorating romance that she is in.

Twice and “Alcohol Free”

Popular K-pop acts are such Twice tend to release EPs quite regularly. For instance since coming on the scene in 2015, they have dropped an EP  – or mini-album as they are referred to in that part of the world – annually, in fact twice (pun slightly intended) a year in 2016 through 2019. And this particular song (“Alcohol-Free”), being released on 9 June 2021, is the lead single from the group’s first mini-album of 2021, which is entitled “Taste of Love”.

The entire Taste of Love project is scheduled for release on 11 June 2021, via JYP Entertainment and Republic Records. And if you think what we stated in the previous paragraph is a joke, also note that the girls have an entire full-length album slated to come out, entitled “Perfect World”, on 28 July, just a month and-a-half after the release of “Taste of Love”, with the latter being a seven-track project.

Twice is a girl band who are currently nine-members deep. Their membership, in alphabetical order, consists of the following artists:

• Chaeyoung
• Dahyun
• Jeongyeon
• Jihyo
• Mina
• Momo
• Nayeon
• Sana
• Tzuyu

And concurrently they’re all in their early to mid-twenties. And as far as the early 2020s go, they’re considered to be in the second tier of most-popular K-pop girl groups alongside Red Velvet, with Blackpink of course being on top.

Appearance on Ellen

For instance Twice were given the opportunity to debut this song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on the date of the track’s release, which said program actually being one of the most popular talk shows stateside.

Leading up to the release of this song, Twice has appeared on the Billboard 200 once, via their 2020 full-length “Eyes Wide Open”. And whereas it would appear they have yet to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100, quite a few of their singles have appeared on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales listing, with a handful of them topping said chart.