Momo Hirai

Momo Hirai(Japanese:平井 もも,Hepburn:Hirai Momo, 平井 桃; born November 9, 1996)known mononymously asMomo(Korean:모모;Japanese:モモ), is a Japanese singer, dancer, and rapper based in South Korea. She is a member of South Korean girl groupTwiceunderJYP Entertainmentand a member of its subunitMiSaMo.
Momo Hirai was born inKyōtanabe,Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.She began dancing at the age of three, together with her elder sister, Hana.
Momo gained exposure to the South Korean music industry early, appearing in a music video forLexyin 2008 and on the talent showSuperstar Kin 2011.Momo and her sister were originally spotted byJYP Entertainmentin an online video in 2012.They were both asked to audition, although only Momo was successful, prompting her to move to South Korea in April 2012.Before joining Twice, she danced in a number of music videos as a "K-Pop trainee".In 2015, Momo participated in the South Koreanreality televisionshowSixteen, created by JYP Entertainment and co-produced byMnet.She was initially eliminated from the show but was brought back byPark Jin-youngat the end to become part of the final lineup of girl groupTwice, due to her performance abilities.
In October 2015, Momo officially debuted as a member of Twice with the release of their first extended play (EP),The Story Begins,and its lead single "Like Ooh-Ahh".On February 9, 2023, JYP announced that Momo, alongside bandmatesSanaandMina, will officially debut in Japan on July 26 as a sub-unit namedMiSaMowith theextended playtitledMasterpiece.Prior to the trio's debut, on January 25, they released the track "Bouquet" as part of the soundtrack ofTV Asahi's drama seriesLiaison: Children's Heart Clinic[ja].
Momo revealed that she was influenced by her older sister Hana from an early age; where she began dancing with her at the age of three.She also revealed that theJ-popsingerNamie Amurois her role model and that she "wanted to be like her someday."She noted that she loves2NE1andRain, explaining, "I always wanted to thrill people with my dance, and K-pop dance thrilled me."
In 2022, Momo was appointed as the brand muse of Wonjungyo, a cosmetic brand supervised by Won Jung-yo, Twice's makeup artist.In October 2022, she was announced as the brand ambassador of the Japanese sports brand,Onitsuka Tiger.In May 2023, she made an appearance as a model to promote the Japanese news app SmartNews.In June 2023, Momo was selected as Japanese ambassador for the Italian fashion brandMiu Miu.
Known for her physical fitness and body movements, she was nicknamed "Dance Machine" among her fans,and is considered Twice's best dancer.
InGallup Korea's annual music poll for 2018, Momo was voted the 20th most popular idol in South Korea,the second highest-ranked Japanese individual in the poll, behind Twice bandmateSana.She has been one of the most popular non-KoreanK-popstars since her debut,and theChosun Ilbocredits her popularity with helping improve relations between South Korea and Japan.In 2019, Momo received attention onTwitterafter a video trailer of her was released forFeel Specialand ranked as the tenth most popular female K-pop idol in a survey of soldiers completingmandatory military service in South Korea.In 2023, she surpassedNaomi Watanabeand became the first Japanese person to hit 10 million followers onInstagramonly after eight months of opening her page on said platform.
All song credits are adapted from theKorea Music Copyright Association's database unless stated otherwise.