Blackpink recently came back from a very lengthy absence with Ddu-du Ddu-du. To be quite honest, I don’t think it’s their best, so here’s one of their previous tracks, which has earned its spot on my Favorites playlist ever since its release.
As the newest girl group hailing from YG Entertainment — the label behind Big Bang, 2NE1, WINNER, and so many more — Blackpink has a definite, definable YG style that any K-Pop fan worth his or her salt will be able to distinguish. YG Entertainment has a tendency to take any budding artist and infuse them with a healthy dose of showmanship, hip-hop and an ironic anti-establishment style (see: Epik High’s transformation after their induction into the agency), and Blackpink is just the latest in their line of artists engineered to appeal to the K-Pop fan who’s looking for something different.
But while Blackpink is trademark YG swag, the quartet of Rose, Jennie, Lisa and Jisoo has that aura of je ne sais quoi, backed up with a healthy amount of talent, that continues that other YG tradition of producing, well, amazing music. Blackpink made waves with their Boombayah debut, and it looks like they’ll be worthy successors to continue holding aloft 2NE1's legacy — a perfect marriage of hip-hop and girl group charm.
(An aside: my Mac keeps auto-correcting Jisoo to Jason, and now I am imagining Jason Schreier as part of a K-Pop girl group and oh god please save me)