Starting with a live performance at Coachella and becoming the debut of YG’s (a word for executive director in Korea) newest girl group in seven years, Blackpink becomes the best-charting female Korean group of all time and ranks at the top of K-pop girl groups in South Korea. Then introducing Teddy Park who is their songwriter as well as producer. He’s been working with Blackpink for four years. He had written every single song that came out so far. Their initial approach was like ‘single, smash, single, hit’. Blackpink members and Oppa (Teddy park) meet at the studio to record a new song that’s about to come; Lady Gaga feat. Blackpink, ‘Sour Candy’. Blackpink has become so huge and successful. Sometimes it gets to them like “how do we live up to this hype?”. Then they try to re-record certain parts of their song, ‘Crazy over you’. The main thing is the combination that makes them so unique and different from K-pop groups.
Then the members try to pick a fitting that suits them best for their new album. It is one of the craziest parts that they like to do. If they pick a particular outfit, they try to see how it fits as a group. Well, it’s like case by case. They think that it’s so hard to define a style. They don’t go, “This is Korean and this is Western. This is Asian”. Fashion is just international. If there aren’t any boundaries, then we get more creative. Then we join them in watching their performance at Coachella. Each one of them finds out their mistakes like “I missed my note here. I went high at this point. It should have eh not ah.” and so on. This is why they can’t watch their footage.
Let’s get on to the personal background of each member of Blackpink.
Jennie, born in Korea, is a singer and rapper who was a trainee for six years. She is the only child in her family. It’s just her and her mom. She was raised in Seoul until she was ten. Jennie went to Australia and New Zealand to travel with her mom and by the time they got to New Zealand, it was so nice and peaceful. So, from ten to fifteen, she was in New Zealand all by herself. She’s super clear with her emotions and her opinions. She’s a perfectionist. Her personality is quite good. She is loyal, sweet, and friendly. Jessie Yeo is her pilates instructor whom Jennie considers her Unnie (sister). She always enjoys singing, dancing, and rapping all the time but she and her other members have to be on stage looking perfect and performing the same thing. It’s like working out for two hours every day. It never gets easy.
Lisa, born in Thailand and then moved to Korea, is a rapper and lead dancer who was a trainee for five years. She was born in Buriram Province(one of Thailand’s seventy-six provinces in lower northeastern Thailand also called Isan). Then she moved to Bangkok when she was three. Her mom knew she loved dancing so she signed up for a course when she was in kindergarten. She’s always calm and cool. But at certain moments, when the music starts, when it’s crunch time, she has this executioner killer instinct. She loves to wear vintage clothes. She always tries to look for vintage shops. She didn’t speak English. She only knew to say ‘Hello’. So, it was a new start for her. Then she met Jennie who taught her to speak English and they both got along very well.
Jisoo, a straight-up Korean girl who grew up in Korea, is the oldest in the group. She was a trainee for five years. She grew up in Sanbon in Gunpo city, Gyeonggi-do region. She lived with her parents, her brother, sister, and her grandparents. She wanted to be a writer or a painter although she couldn’t paint well. Then in 11th grade, she joined a drama club. She does have that professional poker face. She’s super smart. A lot of other people might say she’s book smart, but she’s street smart. Myungsun Lee is a makeup artist who does her makeup whenever she goes to perform in front of the public. When she was younger, her relatives treated her as an outcast because she looked ugly. Now she is the prettiest of all members of her team.
Rose, a Korean girl who was born in New Zealand and then moved to Australia when she was eight, is a singer and dancer. She was a trainee for four years. She has a really hard time falling asleep. She has a lot of thoughts running through her head. And singing is a kind of stress relief for her. She went to church every Sunday and had lots of Korean friends there.
At such a young age they can absorb all the techniques that they need for the next ten years.
In August 2016, YG entertainment is expected to showcase its first new girl group in seven years since 2NE1 debuted. Its members and songs have been shrouded in secrecy. They reached number one only 14 days after their debut, performing the song ‘Whistle’, which is the shortest time for a girl group to reach number one. ‘Whistle’ also reached number one on the music charts. Then it was a big day for Blackpink as their song ‘Du-du-Du-du’ has become the most-viewed Korean music video in 24 hours. Then they went on a World tour for about nine months starting from Asia but Coachella marked the start of their tour in North America. Girl group Blackpink had their first world tour stop in Bangkok, Thailand. Then they performed in Jakarta, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hamilton, Newark, Atlanta, Manchester, London, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Macao, Melbourne, and Sydney.
We all have our dreams, and hunger to make them. When you’re invested in what you do, that’s what makes things happen.
By: Asmita Roy
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