It is truly fatal. On August 19, Blackpink released ‘Pink Venom’ as a pre-release song for their 2nd full-length album ‘BORN PINK’, which will be released in about a month. They said, “From the moment we debuted, twists have been our charm,” and “The very meaning of ‘pretty poison’ is the closest word to describe us. “If you listen to this song, you will be more excited for our second full-length album,” he said confidently.
As with their bold ambitions, Blackpink has colored the global music market pink. On August 29, they won two awards (Best Metaverse Performance and Best K-Pop Award) at the ‘2022 MTV Video Music Awards’, one of America’s major pop music awards ceremonies. A few days later, on September 3, ‘Pink Venom’ entered the US Billboard main single chart Hot 100 at number 22. In addition, on the first day of the official release of the second full-length album on September 16, it ranked first on the iTunes album chart out of 54 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
Although Blackpink has been making news every day, they are a group that is not often seen on broadcast. First of all, the complete comeback itself is rare. This ‘Pink Venom’ is also a song released 1 year and 10 months after the first regular album ‘THE ALBUM’. Since their debut on August 8, 2016, Blackpink has released 7 albums including their 2nd full-length album, and the total number of songs is only 31, including 2 remixes.
In today’s idol ecosystem, where comebacks two or three times a year are common, Blackpink’s scarcity strategy is more of an adventure. This is because there is a high risk of being forgotten by the public. However, in Netflix’s first K-pop documentary ‘Blackpink: Light Up the Sky’, Blackpink’s producer Teddy said, “I know fans are angry and say, ‘I want more.’ “I have a lot to show you, but I’m very picky about what I show,” he said, explaining the reason for the lack of comebacks. In fact, Blackpink is actively involved in all stages of the creative process, from concept brainstorming to final styling.
There are clear pros and cons to picking and choosing and focusing on single songs. Although it makes fans thirsty, it improves the perfection of the music and makes them achieve a ‘career high’ every time they release a new song.
Even after the release of the pre-released song from this 2nd full-length album, most people had expectations that “if the performance of the pre-released song is this good, the title song will be even greater.” There were some harsh criticisms that this song was nothing more than a self-replication, but public opinion changed with YG Entertainment’s bold statement, “All the songs on the album are the crystal that will write a new history for Blackpink, but the title song in particular is worthy of surprising fans.” In the end, in terms of maintaining the buzz from the release of the pre-release song to the release of the title song, it is a strategy that gains more than it loses.
There is another clever ‘push and pull’ from Blackpink. Blackpink releases songs in a concise manner, but they are not stingy when it comes to showing off. In the case of the music video for this new song ‘Shut Down’, which was released on September 16, the largest production cost was invested since YG was founded. In addition, scenes paying homage to old music videos were hidden here and there, adding to the fun of finding them.
Blackpink is the ‘YouTube Queen’, as evidenced by various new records, thanks to targeting the visually sensitive and video-friendly generation of today. On September 5, the number of subscribers to Blackpink’s official YouTube channel exceeded 80 million. This is the first and highest figure among all artists in the world, and there are 33 videos that have reached hundreds of millions of views on the channel.
The luxurious yet hip image in Blackpink’s music video makes you listen to the music with your ears and see it with your eyes. Choreography videos that make the group dance visible give rise to spontaneous cover dance videos from fans.
The fashion world, recognizing the impact of this YouTube queen, also fell in love with Blackpink. All Blackpink members are active as luxury brand ambassadors. Starting with ‘human Chanel’ Jennie, Rosé of Saint Laurent and Tiffany & Co., Jisoo is an ambassador for Dior and Cartier, and Lisa is an ambassador for Bulgari and Celine. As a result, the music video for ‘Pink Venom’, which exceeded 200 million views on YouTube within a week of its release, was a moving pictorial itself. Chanel jumpsuits, rain boots, and rings, as well as Dior cropped tops and knee socks, Cartier earrings and rings, Celine crochet hats, bulky lace-up boots, Bulgari rings, and Tiffany necklaces were all on display.
Of course, paying attention to visuals does not mean that Blackpink always insists on a flashy image. They are good at reinterpreting traditional Korean cultural elements in a hip way with their own unique colors. In the music video for ‘How You Like That’, she wore designer Kim Dan-ha’s modified hanbok, and in ‘Pink Venom’, she created a buzz by adding Korean beauty, such as Miss Sohee’s hanbok dress with her hair up and mother-of-pearl nail art.
A scene from Blackpink’s ‘Pink Venom’ music video. Youtube captureWhen discussing Blackpink’s skills, an indispensable part is stage manners. Blackpink, who knows how to have fun on stage, was the first K-pop girl group to be invited to the ‘Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’ (Coachella), the largest music festival in the United States, on April 12, 2019. Regarding the performance that day, which featured a total of 13 songs for about an hour, foreign media said, “Everyone in the audience gave such enthusiastic praise that it was difficult to tell who was a hardcore fan and who was an ordinary audience member” (‘Variety’), “Modern hip-hop, EDM, ballads, As they are a group that digests a diverse spectrum of music, including rock, it was a wise choice to invite them to Coachella.” (‘LA Times’)
After Coachella, Blackpink is expanding its scope of activities even more globally. It also secured popularity through collaboration with world-class pop artists such as Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga. In the second half of this year and the first half of next year, we plan to hold a world tour of the largest scale ever, attracting 1.5 million viewers. It will kick off in Seoul on October 15th and 16th and meet local fans from North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Just as Blackpink rose to a new level with Coachella, this stadium-level world tour is an important testing stage for Blackpink. Above all, Blackpink, who recently celebrated their 6th debut anniversary, is scheduled to renew their contract in August next year. It is entirely up to the Blackpink members whether they can continue the momentum after successfully completing the world tour and overcome the ‘Seven Years of Demon’ milestone.
However, what is worthy of anticipation is that Blackpink, who debuted as a ‘complete idol’ after thorough planning and years of practice from the beginning, knows well why they are loved and even what they should do and how to do it. You can tell just by looking at the interview in the June issue of the American music magazine ‘Rolling Stone’, which recently featured on the cover. This is the third time since the magazine was founded in 1967 that a girl group has appeared on the cover, following Britain’s ‘Spice Girls’ and America’s ‘Destiny’s Child’. Blackpink spoke calmly in a potentially burdensome situation.
“I think Blackpink’s hip-hop is music that the world has never seen before. Four girls in their 20s with different backgrounds are creating popular music based on hip-hop. In the eyes of America’s cool rappers who do ‘real hip hop’, it may seem like child’s play. I think our hip hop is not rebellious, but it is cool music. What kind of hip hop is this? I don’t know either. “It’s just great music.” (Jenny)
“My parents are proud of me, but I don’t feel like I’m a world star. It’s no different from being a trainee in high school. “My position may have changed, but I am still me.” (Jisoo)
Reporter Moon Young-hoon [email protected]
Freelance reporter Yoon Hye-jin [email protected]
