CHAEYOUNG of TWICE Makes Solo Debut With LIL FANTASY vol.1 — Billboard 200 No. 38 and a Wholly Self-Authored Album

TWICE's Chaeyoung released her debut solo album LIL FANTASY vol.1 on September 12, 2025. It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 38 — a first for any TWICE solo project — and reached No. 1 on Hanteo's daily chart on release day with 114,423 first-day copies sold.

The album's title track SHOOT (Firecracker), a dance piece rooted in jazz and disco, topped the Worldwide iTunes Top Songs chart in Chile, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. LIL FANTASY vol.1 also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart, demonstrating that Chaeyoung's fanbase — and a larger K-pop audience — responded to a solo debut that was built almost entirely on her own terms.

What "Her Own Terms" Actually Means

CHAEYOUNG is the fourth member of TWICE to pursue solo work, following Nayeon (2022), Jihyo (2023), and Tzuyu (2024). What distinguishes LIL FANTASY vol.1 from the earlier TWICE solo projects is not merely the commercial outcome but the creative architecture: CHAEYOUNG co-wrote and co-produced every track on the 10-song record, with full lead credits on the title track's lyrics, composition, and production.

That level of creative ownership is uncommon in first solo albums from idol group members, particularly ones with concurrent group commitments. Nayeon's and Jihyo's solo debuts had leaned on JYP Entertainment's established songwriting pipeline; CHAEYOUNG's approach prioritized her own creative fingerprints from the first track to the last. The result is an album that sounds like a decision rather than an assignment.

In a Billboard interview, CHAEYOUNG described the project as an expression of being "hungry" musically — a reference to years of operating within TWICE's defined group aesthetic rather than exploring the hip-hop, jazz, and alternative pop influences she had been developing privately. LIL FANTASY vol.1 is the output of that accumulated creative pressure, and it reads as such: dense with references, willing to confuse, rarely predictable.

The Billboard 200 Achievement in Context

No. 38 on the Billboard 200 is the highest chart entry for any TWICE member's solo album in the United States. Nayeon's IM NAYEON II had peaked at No. 60; Jihyo's ZONE had reached No. 51. The progression across three consecutive TWICE solo debuts — 60, 51, 38 — traces a consistent upward line that reflects both growing familiarity with Western markets and the ability of each successive act to mobilize the group's global fanbase more effectively for a solo launch.

CHAEYOUNG's improvement on Jihyo's chart position is notable because it coincided with a more unconventional album than either predecessor. SHOOT (Firecracker) is not an obvious mainstream crossover attempt — its jazz-disco construction and CHAEYOUNG's stylistically idiosyncratic approach to the vocal delivery run counter to the more polished pop template that typically drives Billboard placements. The fact that the number went up despite a less chart-conventional album suggests that genre adventurousness from an established idol, when executed with confidence, can attract rather than repel audience interest.

Critical Response and What It Points To

Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of 2025 list ranked LIL FANTASY vol.1 at No. 86. Billboard Korea named it one of the 25 best K-pop albums of the year. These are not typical placements for a first solo project from a group member — they indicate that critics engaged with the album on terms beyond the "idol solo debut" category and found something worth examining seriously.

The self-composition angle drove much of that engagement. When an album is entirely written, composed, and largely produced by its performer, critical frameworks shift from evaluating an act's delivery of material to evaluating the vision behind it. LIL FANTASY vol.1 invited that kind of scrutiny, and the critical reception suggests it held up under it.

What CHAEYOUNG's Debut Means for TWICE

TWICE debuted in 2015 and will mark their tenth anniversary in October 2025. LIL FANTASY vol.1's release in the weeks before that milestone is not coincidental — it situates CHAEYOUNG's solo debut within a longer narrative about how individual TWICE members have used the group's decade-long platform to develop parallel creative identities without compromising the group's collective brand. That all four solo TWICE debuts have been commercially and critically successful suggests the group has managed this parallel-career balance more effectively than most comparable acts in the industry.

For September 2025, CHAEYOUNG's debut week was not just a personal career milestone but a datapoint in a developing story about what the next decade of TWICE — individually and collectively — might look like. The four TWICE solo albums released between 2022 and 2025 have charted a consistent progression in terms of Billboard 200 performance, critical reception, and creative autonomy. LIL FANTASY vol.1 represents the highest point on each of those three axes, suggesting that the trend has not yet reached its ceiling. What comes next from CHAEYOUNG, and from TWICE's remaining solo-debut candidates, will be tracked accordingly.