BLACKPINK has become a goliath force in the music industry since they hit the scene. Being the most subscribed musical act on YouTube, it’s no wonder that the group’s upcoming album is buzzing through everyone’s heads. Rolling Stone actually got to travel to Seoul to talk to BLACKPINK about their upcoming record and what makes this album feel so special to them. What they discovered is that the group is way more involved in the creative process this time around than they have been in previous projects.
“We don’t just receive a completed song,” says Jisoo, the lead vocalist who grew up less than 20 miles away from the headquarters of their management company, YG Entertainment. “We are involved from the beginning, building the blocks, adding this or that feeling, exchanging feedback — and this process of creating makes me feel proud of our music. If we just received pre-made songs, it would feel mechanical. I feel more love for the process because we say, ‘How about adding this in the lyrics? How about adding this move in the choreography?’”
The multilingual rapper of the group, Lisa, also discusses how their leading producer, Teddy Park, is a firm but fair taskmaster in their studio sessions. “Oppa directs all of BLACKPINK. He knows us incredibly well. He pushes us hard. ‘Again, again, again,’ he’d say.”
This only adds to the infamous training that comes with building a traditional K-Pop group. This includes intensive series of auditions, call-backs, vocal and dance lessons, choreography drills, performing in front of panels of judges, and endless rehearsals that have helped parent company YG Entertainment spin-off previous global stars such as Big Bang and 2NE1.
Despite the massive level of stardom they’ve achieved in their career in Seoul and around the world, BLACKPINK talks about wanting to be “ordinary girls” that want to be treated commonly and asked about things such as their cats, dogs, pretty places, and favorite foods instead of what influences helped create their records. On top of their desire for the mundane, they are also interested in amplifying and perhaps revolutionizing how hip-hop reaches a global audience in 2022.
While BLACKPINK is taking the reins of the creative process for their upcoming record, it’ll be refreshing for them and the group’s fans to experience an album that the girls, themselves, heavily handled. Possibly being their most personal record to date, 2022 might become BLACKPINK’s world again, and we’ll all just be living in it.
Featured Image: YG Entertainment
