One release per year was once standard in K-pop, when there were fewer groups fighting for a share of a small domestic market. These milestones came via a fandom that had grown rapidly since late 2016, but who had to wait eight months for 2017’s single “As If It’s Your Last”, then an entire year for its follow-up “Square Up”. The four-track EP, Square Up, would go platinum in South Korea, “DDDD” would reach gold in the US, becoming their first billion-view video, and “ Kill This Love” would make them the first-ever Korean girl group to enter the UK singles chart. Success lay in the catchy titular refrain, the memorable finger-gun dance and a gloriously excessive video, but also in Blackpink themselves as aspirational but emulatable, aesthetically fierce but not intimidating, killer on stage but adorable off it. Nineteen-year-old Ally (not her real name), a Singaporean who runs a sizeable fan account on Twitter calls “DDDD” “their total breakthrough”. Their debut, Square One, was an overnight smash, the insistent build of “ Whistle” and cocky chorus on “ Boombayah” making for a short but thrilling introduction. There were big shoes to fill the beloved, trailblazing four-member girl group 2NE1 were over and Blackpink were expected to revive the bold EDM pop sound they’d embodied. How on earth did they do it? New-gen girl bandĪs the first girl group in seven years out of YG Entertainment (home to K-pop legends Bagbang, 2NE1 and formerly, Psy), excitement prior to Blackpink’s August 2016 debut had built to fever pitch. And all this with just a handful of songs in their repertoire. They’ve been front-row fixtures at runway shows and the faces of mega brands including Chanel, Puma, Louis Vuitton and Dior. That same year they also undertook the most financially successful concert tour by a Korean female group. Read more: 7 K-Pop Stars Shaping Fashion In 2020 In 2019, they broke three Guinness World Records with the single “ Kill This Love”, which has had more than 312 million plays on Spotify and over 824 million YouTube views - a mere fraction of the quartet’s billions of streams, downloads, views and followers. They were the first K-pop girl group to play at Coachella and to reach 1 billion YouTube views - now they’re the most-subscribed-to music group on the platform - as well as being the first girl group from any country to feature on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list. It’s taken just four years for Blackpink to become one of the biggest girl bands in the world, with members Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa continuing to smash new records and forge new ground.
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