“Doughnut” by TWICE

No dear reader, TWICE’s “Doughnut” does not have anything to do with Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts or any other related product. In fact despite being named after one of the world’s favorite snacks, the lyrics of this piece aren’t really related to food at all, with the title rather being allegorical. 

And what it is meant to represent is a ‘hole in the heart’ of the singer. And that expression itself is a metaphor which can be read in one of two ways. On one hand it does allude to the notion of the singer being heartbroken. But more specifically she is in a depressed state whenever, such as in the present, the addressee, her sweetheart, is not around – which by the looks of things is quite regularly.

So more to the point is that “Doughnut” is actually a love song. The singer takes a roundabout approach in leading the listener to the thesis sentiment, which is that she’s in love with the addressee, by rather using how crappy she feels without him as a premise. And the lyrics do not read as if they have broken up or anything like that. Instead it sounds a lot like another reason – whether it be family, school or what have you – is why she cannot currently be with him.

Takeaway

So conclusively, the second and most pronounced meaning of the titular allegory is it representing a doughnut-shaped space reserved exclusively for the addressee in the vocalist’s heart. 

And whereas such a figure of speech may be an elementary one poetically, it is also quite powerful, as presumably said hole would be pretty big, perhaps even taking up the majority of one’s heart. So it stands to reason that whenever the addressee is not present, the vocalist will experience some type of suffering or discontent.

TWICE and “Doughnut”

Twice is a nine-piece girl group from South Korea that has been releasing music since 2015. And they have established themselves amongst the most-popular female crews in K-pop, right up at the top of the list with the likes of Blackpink and Red Velvet.

To note most of the big K-pop acts tend to be trilingual, being able to render songs in Korean, Japanese and English. And relatedly these lyrics are primarily in Japanese and in that regard mark the ninth such single that Twice has put out.

This song was released by JYP Entertainment on 3 December 2021. It is part of what some may call an EP – which is also entitled Doughnut – but in reality is a single with a B-side, “Wonderful Day”, as well as the instrumentals to both tracks.

The cover art and music video to this song are based on a winter, Christmas-inspired theme.