TWICE the fun as JYP launches new girl band

TWICE

JYP Entertainment launched girl band TWICE, Tuesday, releasing the group’s album, “The Story Begins,” and a music video of their title song, “Like OOH-AHH.”

The nine-member band made their stage debut Tuesday evening with the song -- a number that mixes R&B and rock -- at AX-KOREA in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

It has been five years since JYP, led by singer Park Jin-young, launched a girl band. In 2010, it introduced four-member band missA.

On Monday evening, the band greeted fans on smartphone app V, a real-time online broadcasting platform for Korean celebrities. Appearing live from their dorm room, the band said they had shot their TV debut on SBS’s music performance show “Inkigayo.” They thanked fans who came to the show to cheer them.

TV viewers have closely watched the birth of the band. From May to July, Mnet aired 10 episodes of “SIXTEEN,” a reality audition program in which 16 aspiring singers from JYP competed to become a member of TWICE.