Chris Cantada Force recently released a heartfelt song, “ONCE,” dedicated to TWICE. The former Sponge Cola drummer and content creator described the song as a love letter to the K-pop girl group, particularly to his bias, Jeongyeon. ICYDK, fans of TWICE are called ONCE.
As someone who often writes songs for the fandoms he loves, Chris decided to come up with a piece that would allow him to express his love and support for his favorite K-pop girl group.
“I‘ve been a fan of Twice for a long time. But it was just in the recent 10-12 months that I started to release songs again. I wanted to release songs that mattered to me. So Twice was an obvious choice for a song idea,” he said.
Photo: Chris Cantada Force | TWICE
The musician revealed that “Once” was initially slated for release sometime in the third or fourth quarter of 2024. He later moved the release date to coincide with TWICE’s fan meet in Manila on June 1.
Chris revealed that Jeongyeon was his inspiration in writing the song, but he hopes every ONCE can find a connection to their bias through it.
“If by a one in a million chance that Jeongyeon gets to listen to this song, I just want her to know that this is not a romantic type of love song. It’s a love song appreciating her as a person, and how I wish there were more people like her,” he expressed.
“Someone kind-hearted, funny, and passionate about caring for people. It’s a song that I hope would make her smile, and feel that she’s loved by her fans around the world. It was just a privilege to be that person who would be the conduit for that message.”
“Once” actually has a Korean version, making his songwriting process more challenging yet exciting.
“I felt that to have the complete experience of writing a song for my favorite K-pop group, I would also have to sing it in Korean. I can understand some words from all the K-dramas I’ve watched throughout the years. I even took lessons during the pandemic,” he reiterated.
Photo: Chris Cantada Force
A professional Korean translator helped him in recording the Korean version. He shared that he had to rewrite some of the lines in English for the translation.
“If I literally asked her [the translator] to translate the exact line, it would be a rap song with all the words I had to squeeze in. I needed to match the syllables of the English version as much as possible. So I had to take out the metaphor type of phrases and make it more simple,” Chris added.
“It was a different process for me, for sure. I wanted the Korean version to have phrases that make sense for a Korean to say. And that might not always be the same as how English speakers would form their sentences. So I had a lot of fun!”
The Korean version also has a music video, which he filmed in South Korea! It features ONCEs from the fan meet and a clip of Jeongyeon waving at him at the girl group’s press conference in Manila.
While on his way back to Manila from South Korea, Chris saw TWICE at Incheon Airport as they were boarding their flight to Manila. A lucky ONCE, indeed! Here’s a clip:
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Watch the music videos of English and Korean version of “Once” below:
Chris took a break from music and concentrated on creating content on hisย YouTube channel, which has garnered approximately 1.56 Million subscribers.ย He returned to the music scene with his firstย single, โDragon, Fly,โย in 2023.ย โOnceโ served as his fifth single since then.ย
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