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For TWS, love is 'NO TRAGEDY' on new mini-album
Members of K-pop boy band TWS, from left, Hanjin, Kyungmin, Shinyu, Dohoon, Youngjae and Jihoon pose during a press event celebrating their newest album release at YES24 Live Hall in Seoul's Gwangjin District, Monday. Courtesy of Pledis Entertainment
By Pyo Kyung-min
K-pop boy band TWS is learning to talk about love. The six-member act under HYBE subsidiary Pledis Entertainment returned Monday with its fifth mini album, "NO TRAGEDY," its most emotionally direct work to date.
The six-member group — Shinyu, Dohoon, Youngjae, Hanjin, Jihoon and Kyungmin — introduced the album at a press showcase held hours ahead of its release at YES24 Live Hall in eastern Seoul's Gwangjin District, describing it as a project that captures a more self-directed approach to love.
"If we previously showed fresh, youthful energy, this time we wanted to be more honest, more bold, expressing feelings more directly," Youngjae said.
Since debuting in January 2024, TWS built its identity on its members' bright, boyish charms. "NO TRAGEDY" doesn't abandon that, but it complicates it.
K-pop boy group TWS / Courtesy of Pledis Entertainment
The album's lead single, "You, You," is where that conviction lands most clearly. A house-driven confessional layered with R&B textures, it gives a direct declaration to a dreamlike love interest.
"It's the first time we've really talked about love in depth," Jihoon said. "We discussed what love means among ourselves, and we found a shared answer in our fans, in the way they look at us on stage. That emotion is what this song expresses."
Dohoon, who contributed to the songwriting, said he immersed himself in the feeling before putting words to it.
"I watched romance films and dramas that matched the theme and imagined different scenes while writing," he said.
That emotional openness extends across all six tracks, which move through house, R&B, boom bap hip-hop, funk and rock. The range of genres isn't decoration — it reflects how many forms love takes on the record.
For Kyungmin, who entered his 20s this year, the album's emotional candor is inseparable from where the group is in its life.
"It's the first album we're presenting as adults," he said. "Now that all of us have come of age, we believe we can show a wider range of sides moving forward."
The members of K-pop boy band TWS pose during a press event at YES24 Live Hall in Seoul's Gwangjin District, Monday. Courtesy of Pledis Entertainment
The audience appears to be responding to that maturity. "NO TRAGEDY" surpassed 1.16 million preorders as of Friday, nearly doubling the 648,182 copies tallied for its predecessor "play hard" six months ago.
"We were honestly shocked and really happy to see preorders exceed 1 million," Shinyu said. "More than just a number, it feels like motivation from our fans, and it makes us want to work even harder."
Hanjin, the group's Chinese member, distilled the group's ambition for the campaign into a single phrase.
"Through this album, we hope to earn the nickname 'everyone's ideal type' from both fans and the general public," he said.