"Scientist" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released on November 12, 2021, by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records as the second single of the group's third Korean and overall sixth studio album, Formula of Love: O+T=<3 (2021).
On October 1, 2021, Twice released their first English single, "The Feels". At the end of the song's music video, an upcoming full-length album and tour were teased.[1] On October 24, JYP Entertainment released a trailer featuring Twice members dressed up as scientists at the "Twice Love Lab", a laboratory where they conduct "love experiments".[2] On November 5, a snippet of the song was uploaded to Twice's TikTok account.[3] The Japanese version of "Scientist" was released as a digital single on March 2, 2022. The Japanese lyrics were written by Yuki Kokubo.[4]
"Scientist" has its lyrics written by Sim Eun-jee and music composed by Anne-Marie, Melanie Fontana, Michel "Lindgren" Schulz, Tommy Brown, Steven Franks, and 72.[3] The song has been described as a blend of deep house and dance-pop with 80s synth beats.[5] Lyrically, it expresses that "love is not something you can calculate, study and try to find an answer to but is something you should follow with your heart".[6] Running for more than 3 minutes, the song is composed in the key of F♯mixolydian and has a tempo of 113 beats per minute.[7]
Bailey Kanthatham of the New University acknowledged the song's "innocent approach to love", contrasting it with Twice's most recent singles, "Alcohol-Free", "Perfect World", and "The Feels".[8] It was ranked amongst the best K-pop Songs of the year by Billboard (19th),[9]Dazed (9th),[10] and Paper (9th).[11]
"Scientist" received two music program awards on Music Bank on November 19 and Inkigayo on November 28, 2021.[12][13] It won the Artist of the Year – Digital Music (November) award at the 11th Gaon Chart Music Awards.
"Scientist" was released on November 12 with an accompanying music video. Directed and produced by Rima Yoon and Dongju Jang of Rigend Film[14] – who previously worked with Twice on Formula of Love: O+T=<3's album trailer[15] and "Alcohol-Free"'s music video[16] – the music video is primarily set in a laboratory where the members of Twice are depicted as scientists researching about love.[17] Its dance was choreographed by La Chica, a dance trio who have worked with Aespa, BoA, Chungha, and CLC.[18]
Lee, Soo-jin (November 4, 2021). "트와이스, 이번엔 펑키한 '익스플로전' 버전 공개". Newsis (in Korean). Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
^2021년 12월 Digital Chart [Digital Chart – December 2021]. Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2022.