Having pulled off a smooth debut earlier this year, rookie boy band TWS seeks to end the year on a high note by sampling “Last Festival,” one of the most iconic Korean pop songs from the ‘90s.

Lead track, “Last Festival,” mixes samples from a 1993 song of the same title by Seo Taiji and Boys with “the iconic boyhood pop music touch of TWS,” according to Youngjae.


“We took the original theme of ‘sadness expressed not too sadly,’ and added our own sound to it,” the member told reporters in a showcase held Monday at the Bluesquare Mastercard Hall in central Seoul. “We hope that our own colors show through the song and people get to see a different ‘Last Festival’ with TWS.”

“Last Festival” is the lead track of TWS’s first single, “Last Bell.” The single comes five months since the band’s second EP, “Summer Beat!,” was released on June 24. It is also the band’s first single since its debut on Jan. 22 as the first new boy band to debut from Pledis Entertainment since Seventeen made its debut in 2015.

“We didn’t have much time to prepare for everything because of the different items on our itinerary, but we all took the time to prepare to rebuild our basics even when we weren’t told to do so,” Shinyu said. “Our goal for this single was to really improve our performance skills so we practiced a lot.”

Two of TWS’s songs released this year became major hits on short-form video platforms — “Plot Twist” and “If I'm S, Can You Be My N?” — thanks to their catchy melodies and trendy lyrics. The members were obviously aware of the pressure to continue that successful streak, but took it as a motivation to work harder, instead of being beaten down.

“The immense love we received did pressure us, but in a good way,” Shinyu said. “It made us work harder and brought the members closer to each other.”

TWS received the Best New Male Artist and Best Dance Performance Male Group awards at the 2024 MAMA Awards held from Friday to Sunday across Los Angeles and Osaka. The band hopes to take the good energy they received and fly even higher next year.

“Everything has been an honor for us this year,” Hanjin said. “It feels like a gift given to us by our fan [club] 42, the staff at Pledis Entertainment, the members and so on. We’ll really keep on trying harder to give a positive energy to the audience.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]