Controversy Continues: TWS’s Victory Over NCT’s Ten Raises Questions

Recently, Pledis Entertainment’s newcomer TWS has just clinched their 4th win with the song “Plot Twist” on the music show Music Bank. This wouldn’t be noteworthy if netizens hadn’t noticed that the group’s vote count was less than half of the runner-up, NCT’s Ten. What’s more notable is that Ten is a non-Korean member, so naturally, TWS would have had more advantage, but in the end…

As a result, TWS’s victory over Ten was considered unconvincing because previously, the rookie group had faced suspicions of chart manipulation when the rankings of “Plot Twist” underwent drastic changes on music charts. Many people believe that if “Plot Twist” were really that popular, TWS would have received more votes, but the result was surprising!

Some comments on the results of Music Bank:

• The difference in votes against a foreign solo artist is so significant. Anyone looking at it might think it’s a vote against BTS.
• TWS’s fan voting score is seriously concerning. Aren’t boy groups supposed to have high fan voting numbers? What’s happening here? It’s a bit strange!
• The fact that a group’s voting points surged overnight but still couldn’t beat a solo foreign member from another group, relying on digital points to clinch first place, what’s that all about?
• They hyped TWS as a national boy group, but their fan voting points are really laughable haha. With such a high ranking, shouldn’t they have received more public votes and gained more fans? It’s not going according to plan at all.

Recently, Pledis officially released their first boy group in 9 years, TWS, with the mini-album “Sparking Blue” and the title track “Plot Twist.” Despite being rookies, TWS has already garnered attention from the public thanks to the support of HYBE’s stars, from “brother group” SEVENTEEN to seniors like LE SSERAFIM, ENHYPEN, TXT.

“Plot Twist,” the title track of the group’s debut album, had a rather tumultuous debut when it nearly disappeared from Korean music charts. But this isn’t surprising for a rookie boy group until signs of what netizens consider to be unreasonable discrepancies in the song’s rankings began to emerge.

At a time when promotional activities were not yet strong and their virality was average both in Korea and internationally, the speed at which “Plot Twist” climbed the charts even surpassed big names in digital music charts like IU, NewJeans, Taeyeon… or artists with big fandoms like Lim Young Woong.

TWS’s streaming numbers also left Knetizens amazed by the significant jump. “Plot Twist” is currently in the top 30 of Melon. Additionally, the group holds the #2 position on Bugs and has been consistently climbing other charts.

However, the achievement didn’t seem to match the group’s visibility, and their fandom wasn’t strong enough to mass stream. Therefore, TWS and Pledis were accused of chart manipulation. In the face of public curiosity, Pledis has yet to provide a satisfactory explanation.

Source: K14