There’s no such thing as perfection, but TWICE tried to find the meaning of being perfect. In “Perfect World,” TWICE is trying to find perfection through the crumbling world around them. “Perfect World” is a song that best describes perfection in TWICE. Released on the Japanese album with the same title, Perfect World, “Perfect World” became the main title of the album. Perfect World is TWICE’s third Japanese album after the release of the &Twice album in 2019. The album has 10 tracks including three songs that were previously released as digital singles.
Background of “Perfect World”
It was first teased about the album release through TWICE’s SNS. Through TWICE’s SNS, it was posted a poster of an empty chair set in a theatre. It was posted on May 19th, 2021, along with the title of TWICE’s third Japanese album and release date that was set on July 28th, 2021. After the release of the poster, the tracklist was announced on June 22th, 2021, and TWICE also released an image teaser for Nayeon. For consecutive days until the release of the album on July 28th, 2021, TWICE released image teasers for each member with the teaser order starting with Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. After unveiling the member teasers for Perfect World, TWICE then released a group teaser on June 28th, 2021, and released another set of member teasers with the same order as the previous image teaser set with one member every day. On June 28th, 2021, the teaser for the “Perfect World” MV was released, and the music video for “Perfect World” was also released on the same day. On July 7th, 2021, it was revealed the video spoiler that contains snippets of the song on the Perfect World album.
Story of “Perfect World”
Through the lyrics, “Perfect World” is a song about a perfect relationship that begins to crumble just like a sandcastle. After going through a toxic relationship in “Cry for Me,” TWICE realizes that their seemingly perfect relationship is an empty memory, and it’s time to let go. They don’t want to hear any excuses from their loved one, and they are not going to give up their life for them. The line “I just want you to keep away” is supposed to tell their lover or past lover that they are over and TWICE doesn’t want to hate their lover or their past lover anymore. Even though sometimes TWICE is reminded of when they were together, it’s a bitter ending that is unimaginable by them so it’s better to send a goodbye. Life without their lover goes on and has a brand new sky and is full of hope. The perfect world TWICE imagined about their relationship is wrong and becoming a dreamer is their crime and punishment. “Perfect World” is a pop electronic song along with the tango and rock genre and is written by Risa Horie and musically composed by Jjean, Justin Reinstein, Lacnd, and Lee Woo Min “collapsedone.” The producers for “Perfect World” were Lacnd and Lee Woo Min “collapsedone”.
MV of “Perfect World”
While the song mainly talks about the seemingly perfect relationship that began to crumble and comes to an end, the MV has an interesting story. In the MV, TWICE can be seen dancing in a theatre with a man who is wearing a mask watching them. But, not all of the men that are watching TWICE’s performance or are around TWICE are wearing the same kind of mask. In the “Perfect World” MV, everyone is wearing the mask except TWICE. It can indicate that TWICE was true about their love but the man who is wearing the mask is a symbol of deceit that the man acts around them. The perfect world that was created by TWICE begins to crumble and is chaotic as the man acts deceitfully around TWICE. But, through the chaos that is created by the masked man, TWICE keeps perfectly performing, and it indicates that no one can become perfect other than themselves. The other story of the “Perfect World” MV is about TWICE’s relationship with the media and fans. The masked men symbolize both the media and TWICE’s fans. But, the difference is in the mask that they are wearing. There are plenty of different types of masks that the men are wearing in the “Perfect World” MV. It symbolizes the role of the masked man. There’s a man who at first is watching TWICE’s stage in the theatre and then becomes obsessed with them. It creates imaginary scenarios in his mind. As he becomes obsessed, the other man with a different kind of mask can be seen secretly watching Sana. This man can be interpreted as a sasaeng who sometimes crosses the boundary of TWICE’s private life. There’s also a photographer, and the man who takes a photo of Tzuyu can be interpreted as media, but there’s also the man who is hiding behind the mirror, calling someone, and secretly watching Jihyo. This man can also be seen as media that also crosses the idol’s private life such as Dispatch. Up until August 2021, the MV of “Perfect World” gained 36 million views with 1.3 million likes.
“Perfect World” Performance
Released on July 28th, 2021, TWICE performed “Perfect World” on The Music Day. Unfortunately, in August 2021, it was announced that Jeongyeon would be taking another hiatus because of her mental health condition, and she could not take part in TWICE’s current promotion.
“Perfect World” Achievement
TWICE’s Japanese album is commercially successful in Japan. It also happened to Perfect World. Perfect World debuted at no. 2 on the Japan Oricon Album Chart. Perfect World also charted at number 1 on Billboard Japan Hot Album on August 4th, 2021. Regarding the song, “Perfect World” charted at 192 on Billboard Global, being a big achievement for a Japanese song to chart on Billboard Global.
