What is Love?

Lore & Background

In the world of TWICE's 2020 album cycle, *Eyes Wide Open* marked a deliberate tonal shift: the group wanted to capture the feeling of waking up in a new season of life, still blinking, still figuring things out. "What is Love?" sits at the heart of that theme. Where the title track radiates sunshine and carefree energy, this track pulls the camera in close—soft keys, a laid-back groove, and lyrics that circle the definition of love without ever quite pinning it down. It feels like a late-night conversation between friends who keep saying "I don't know, but I think it's…" and trailing off into a smile.

Musically, the track leans on a jazz-tinged chord progression and a restrained rhythmic pocket that lets the vocal harmonies breathe. TWICE's vocal arrangement on the song is notably layered, with the members trading short, questioning phrases and then stacking in tight four-part harmonies on the chorus. The production keeps the instrumentation warm and slightly retro, evoking a lounge or a quiet café rather than a stadium, which gave fans a different window into the group's vocal range and emotional delivery.

For the fandom, the song became a touchstone for the "mood TWICE" side of the group—the version that can be tender, a little wistful, and genuinely thoughtful without losing their infectious melodic gift. It is often included in fan-made playlists alongside other introspective B-sides and is a go-to recommendation when someone asks what TWICE sounds like beyond their biggest singles.

In Their Own Story

The studio lights are dimmed to a warm amber. Nine members are crammed onto a long couch, headphones off, laughing about a lyric that keeps getting mispronounced. The producer calls for one more take, and the room goes quiet in that particular way it does when everyone is about to try something vulnerable. The first verse is almost whispered—a question more than a statement. By the chorus the harmonies bloom, layered and aching, and one member catches another's eye across the room, mouthing *is this it? is this what it's supposed to feel like?* The take ends. Someone exhales. The producer hits stop, listens to the playback, and simply nods. Outside the glass, the Seoul night hums its low electric hum, and for a few seconds the only sound is the echo of a question that doesn't need an answer.

Reader's Guide

"What is Love?" appears as a B-side on *Eyes Wide Open* (July 2020), TWICE's fifth Korean studio album. The track is a mid-tempo, R&B-tinged pop number built around a jazz-inflected chord loop and a restrained, groove-driven rhythm section. Its concept is introspective: the lyrics pose the album's central question—what does love actually feel like, and can you name it before it fades?—without resolving into a declarative answer.

Tracklist context: it sits among a set of B-sides that collectively explore the "waking up" theme of the album, moving from the bright, carefree energy of the title track into slower, more emotionally textured territory. "What is Love?" is one of the slower, more harmonically rich entries on the record, and its vocal arrangement leans heavily on stacked four-part harmonies during the chorus, showcasing the group's blend vocal strengths.

The sound represents a gentle evolution from the group's earlier, more production-heavy pop tracks toward a warmer, more organic arrangement style—fewer synth layers, more live-feel instrumentation, and a vocal mix that lets individual timbres come through. It became a signature "mood track" for fans and is frequently highlighted in album-recap content as the moment TWICE sounds most like a late-night conversation rather than a performance. Chart data for the individual track is limited, as it was not released as a standalone single, but it gained sustained streaming traction within the album's overall performance window.

Did You Know?

• The song's title is phrased as a question, mirroring the album's broader theme of being in a state of discovery rather than having all the answers.
• Its vocal arrangement features some of the densest multi-part harmonies on the album, with members trading short melodic phrases before stacking into layered chorus lines.
• Fans frequently pair it with the album's other slower B-sides in custom playlists, treating it as the emotional 'core' of the record.
• The track's production deliberately strips back the heavier electronic elements found on TWICE's earlier singles in favor of a warmer, more organic instrumental feel.