Netizens talk about Pledis Entertainment's new boy group name sounding too much like ONEUS's sibling group
On December 21 KST, Pledis Entertainment unveiled the logo for the company's brand new boy group, TWS.
The team name is short for "Twenty-four seven with us," and is pronounced "two-us". According to Pledis Entertainment, the group name "inherits the Pledis style of featuring numbers in the group's name, like Seventeen."
As the first new boy group launched by Pledis Entertainment in 9 years, TWS has garnered the attention of K-Pop fans all over the globe.
However, initial responses to the team name are not as positive as Pledis may have hoped.
For many K-netizens, the pronunciation of the name is too similar to an already existing boy group, ONEUS. Some comments included:
"ONEUS, TWOUS, now there needs to be THREEUS."
"So they're inspired by ONEUS?"
"It sounds too much like a ONEUS subunit!"
"So I wasn't the only one thinking ONEUS, TWOUS, THREEUS."
"If you only heard the name pronounced and didn't know they were from Pledis, you'd think they were a ONEUS subunit."
"It immediately reminded me of ONEUS. With Pledis and HYBE's influence on the K-Pop scene at this point, it's basically stealing that team's name from right under their noses.""Since ONEUS's fandom name is TO MOON, their fandom name can be ONE MOON kekekeke.""How are they going to pronounce it like that and NOT be ONEUS's younger sibling group lol.""They sound even more like ONEUS's sibling group than ONEWE.""1US, 2US, 3US, Among Us...""At this point, even the ONEUS members are going to start thinking they have a new sibling group."
What do you think of the pronunciation of the name TWS?
Meanwhile, the rookie group's debut is scheduled for some time in the first half of 2024.