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Blackpink x Rolling Stone
Blackpink x Rolling Stone project officially kicked off two days after Rolling Stone released the first teaser announcing the project. The cover article titled ‘Blackpink: From Strangers to Sisters to Pop Supernovas’ finally dropped on Monday, May 23. Here’s a timeline, Twitter reactions and my personal commentary on the article. (Scroll down for my thoughts & commentary.)
Article’s TL:DR version
Excerpts from: Rolling Stone Magazine | Writer: Haeryun Kang | Photography: Peter Ashlee | Additional Photography: YG Entertainment
(p.s: Read the full article on Rolling Stone Magazine website. I only chose the parts that I thought was interesting. Some of the additional photos I used are from YGE because there were only a few shots from Rolling Stone. Layout graphics by yours truly.)
Here’s the TL:DR version of the article:
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Blackpink x Rolling Stone Timeline
23 May 2022 - Rolling Stone magazine dropped their June 2022 issue with Blackpink on the cover titled “Blackpink: From Strangers to Sisters to Pop Supernovas” along with the behind-the-scenes video of the cover shoot on their Youtube channel.
They also announced the collector’s edition box set that is available to pre-order for $129 and digital covers, exclusive interviews, and more that will be released during the week. (I do wonder what this ‘more’ will entails.)
2.5 hours later, the hashtag #BLACKPINKxRollingStone trended alongside the topic “WELCOME BACK BLACKPINK” on Twitter. It kind of feels like a comeback (but it’s not. We’re still waiting on that).
Rolling Stone then started posting individual quotes from each members from the article on their Twitter.
12 hours later, Rolling Stone shared a TikTok video of the behind-the-scenes from their cover shoot on their account.
Other than some other additional tweets they put out, that’s pretty much wrapped the first day of #BLACKPINKxRollingStone week.
My thoughts
The Cover
Okay, honestly, I was surprised that the screenshots circulated earlier on Twitter was actually the cover of the magazine. I was definitely disappointed with the looks that they picked for the cover but wasn’t all that surprised to see another minimal set for their shoot. But still, this is the Rolling Stone we’re talking about. Even if we can’t compare it to the Billboard March 2019 cover shoot or the Vogue Korea March 2020 cover shoot since the background set ups are different, I was kind of expecting something like what they did for the Elle US October 2020 cover shoot (the article’s pretty good to if you want to read it). That shoot also used a plain background but the outfits were much better in my opinion. Individually, each outfit still feels fitting for each member and collectively, it looks cohesive as a group. Plus they each got 4 looks instead of 2-3 looks they got on this article. Also, for a supposedly big project that they’ve been promoting, they surely use so little photos for their cover article. I think other magazines use more photos in one article.
Blackpink for Elle US October 2020 | Photography by: Hee June Kim
Out of the four outfits, Jennie’s Jean Paul Gaultier outfit is probably the one that stood out the most to me. It looks unique and expensive and very fitting to her style. As for the rest, if they were going for a concept here, I need some sort of explanation of what the concept was because, honestly, I don’t really get it from the end result. The looks of the three other members feel a little like stepping back in time to their rookie days, before they were global ambassadors for the respective brands they’re currently representing. Or have I gotten used to seeing them in their current style that when they changed it up, I’m not really feeling it? Perhaps. In any case, that’s that on the cover. Moving on.
The Article
My first gut reaction after reading the article was, “Oh, that’s it? Well, alrighty then.” The article was not badly written, but there wasn’t much new information that we (the ‘we’ I’m talking about here are the fans who have been following the group for a while and not new fans) haven’t already know. It almost felt like this was Rolling Stone’s first meet with Blackpink and they just starting to get to know some basic things about the group and so they didn’t delve into deeper questions. You know, like when you meet someone for the first time, you still trying to figure this person out and wouldn’t necessarily ask them personal questions kind of thing. This article kind of feels like that to me.
Since there are going to be individual articles on each members, for this one, I’m going to focus on the group aspect and some of the things that the members talked about that aren’t mentioned on their individual articles (Some things are apparently quoted from their individual articles so it’ll make more sense to talk about it later in context).
First off, the descriptions used to introduce the group and the members are similar to other articles that have been published in the past. Maybe it’s hard to come up with new variations to introduce the origin of the group but still, I thought by now at least there will be a new way to introduce the four members in a more creative way (or maybe that’s too much of an ask from me).
The parts where they talked about their trainee days are also familiar. We’ve heard the stories mentioned on countless interviews before as well as on Blackpink’s vlog diaries on their Youtube channel. I thought this was a missed opportunity to asked other questions that have never been discussed before or maybe dig deeper to the answers that they gave. (Having said that, I’m also aware that there are probably certain restrictions to questions that the interviewer can ask to the group so maybe that’s one of the reason too? Idk) Although, it is nice to read how the four retelling some of the stories together in the interview.
Jennie’s part of the interview feels fresh. Most interviews in the past, I always felt that she’s more guarded and have a set of answers that she usually use when answering interview questions. Even she admitted it herself in “Light Up The Sky” when she said, “I always avoid interviews or any questions about me because I would rather not talk about myself.” because she’s pretty shy. But in this article, it feels like she’s opening up a little more in sharing her thoughts and opinions. And her answers feel more confident than how they normally were in the past.
For Lisa’s part of the interview, the most interesting parts for me are probably when she shared her struggle as a trainee, when she talked about fighting her own voice during the period between ‘As If It’s Your Last’ and ‘Ddu-du Ddu-du’, and when she talks about how she’s still finding her own identity in her music and see how much more she can grow as an artist (all these were later discussed again in her individual article).
Jisoo’s part of the interview revolve around what she’s been up to lately as well as touching a little bit on her solo plan (which will be later discussed more in her individual article). She also revealed one of the group’s never been shared schemes to get out of practice during their trainee days. One of the most memorable part for me is when she talked about mental health and how classes and therapy weren’t helpful to them. “We had the same problems, so it was better to talk to each other,” says Jisoo. It’s definitely true that sometimes family or close friends wouldn’t understand exactly what you’re going through since they never experienced the exact same thing. With Blackpink though, I think they’re in a unique position where the four of them have very similar lives, especially since they practically grew up and work together as a group. I think there are probably some things that only the four of them understand based on their shared experiences that even professional counselor wouldn’t be able to understand.
“When I recorded something for the first time, I was so excited. I didn’t know any better, so it was fun. I envy that now. Now, no matter how hard I try, a part of me is never satisfied.” —Rosé
This is definitely something that I can relate to. I think for me, this begins after I started college and entered the graphic design program. Before that, designing and creating art were fun and everything (this was the I-didn’t-know-any better period). But after I learned more and more things about graphic design, I became aware of all the do’s and don’ts and the good and the bad things about graphic design that it makes finalizing a design so hard. Even after finalizing a design and completed a project, I’d still find things that I feel I can improve on. Same thing with my photography. There’s always something I wish I could’ve done better, something to fix or something to change. It’s a never ending process. And I think this is something that every artists feel or experience every time they’re working on their crafts.
Reading how she felt about making music was fun but other than that, Rosé’s part of the interview in this article was probably the biggest disappointment for me. It almost felt like her part is somewhat weakly written compared to the rest. The stories shared about her are mostly stories from her trainee days that we already know from other interviews and the “Light Up The Sky” documentary. The mention of her recently recovered from Covid made my eyebrows raised (like do you really need to have that printed for the world to remember, honestly?). The lack of mentions of her solo achievements was noticeable. Not to mention the whole debacle of Rosé’s name description and how to pronounce it which immediately sent Blinks into a frenzy on Twitter (when I read they wrote “…Rosé (pronounced “Rosie”)” I literally scrunched my forehead and said, “Wait, what?” because that was something that I never heard in the fandom. Unless Rosé herself made a video corroborating that statement, I’m inclined to believe that that was a mistake).
More enjoyable parts of the interview includes when the four girls shared about what they’ve been up to lately, where they were sitting around in the waiting room (probably one of my favorite part) telling how they’ve devised scheme to skip practice in the past, their creative process on how they make music, a new insight into Teddy who’s usually more in the background, Jennie’s views on hip-hop, and when Lisa and Jennie talked about Blackpink’s longevity.
The ending of the article was the weakest part of the article for me. The quote from Rosé feels a little bit awkward and I honestly thought that this was a mistake. Later on I read the quote in Rosé’s individual article and it does makes more sense in context (still, they should’ve picked a better line to quote). But honestly, I would’ve ended the article with Jennie’s quote where she says Blackpink is a part of her family. That would’ve made a nicer ending (than being hungry and eating with the people that we love).
The Collector’s Edition Box Set
Looking at the mock-up image of the collector’s edition box set, I have to say that it feels like they adopted Korean’s way of selling magazines and albums. I don’t know who started this marketing tactic, but for me, I think the first time I found out about this whole multiple-version-covers-for-one-magazine-issue was years ago from Korean magazines who usually do it when idols are on the covers. I don’t think I ever saw this from a US magazine (or maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention because honestly, I have stopped buying US printed magazines for a while now). I have to admit that it is a pretty smart tactic to increase sales because when you have multiple covers, the possibility of fans buying more than just 1 copy will increase (i.e they’ll buy 1 copy with the group shot and 1 copy with their favorite member on the cover) thus increasing the total sales for the issue. Although I’m also aware that this means printing more magazines for the sake of one different spread, which is probably excessive, as well as owning multiple copies of the same issue for that matter.
Also, the box set seems to contain things that we would get when buying a Korean singers’ album, don’t you think? Although for $129, getting 5 copies of the 44-page magazine, “images you won’t find anywhere else” (their words, not mine), four premium photo prints, a sticker sheet, and perhaps a polaroid does seems a bit pricey for me. One question that I have about this 5 magazine copies is does each version contains different interviews (i.e Blackpink cover contain only the first interview, Jisoo’s cover only contain Jisoo’s interview, and so on) or the content of the magazines will be the same just with different covers (i.e The whole group and individual interviews will be printed on every single version, the only difference is the cover)? They do mentioned “and more” on the description, but after I checked the store page, no new information is added so I can only assume that you’re only getting what are pictured on the post. With that price, plus tax, plus shipping (plus another custom tax if you’re doing international shipping), the price point is a little high in my opinion.
And if I were to based my decision to buy this box set on this first interview, I would probably pass. Why? First, as much as it pained me to say this, the photoshoot isn’t that special. (Who else is tired seeing Blackpink in front of a plain background? Raise your hand). I’ve seen way better looks and better set designs from Blackpink previous shoots (as I discussed above and in my previous blog post). Second of all, like I said earlier, the interview itself feels very surface level, which is now confusing to me knowing that they’re trying to sell this as a collector’s edition box set because people who would buy this are probably mostly long-time fans, don’t you think? But the content released on this first day doesn’t really feels like it’s targeted towards long-time fans. Although an argument could be made that this is probably targeting newer fans, who haven’t been buying a lot of merch from Blackpink in the past. In that case, yes, this is probably a good fit for them.
Now I’m questioning who are Rolling Stone trying to target with this project? It’s kind of all over the place and feels a little like a money grab project to me to be honest (I’m sure to more senior Blinks who are very well aware on how YG has been pushing out more merch than new music these past few years, this kind of thing will not go unnoticed).
Also, a little OOT but I have to mention that I’ve been a fan of Korean singers’ album box sets. They’re always beautifully designed and packaged.
Twitter Reactions
Now that I’m done with my thought and comments, let’s move on to Blinks’ reactions on Twitter that day. With the announcement of the time the project’s going to drop one day prior, I’m pretty sure the majority of Blinks immediately went online at the time of the release (I know I did). The first thing I noticed along with the trending hashtag was how active my timeline was. I think lots of Blinks were definitely online and about half an hour later, tweets containing their thoughts and opinions on the article started rolling in on Twitter.
First off, this warning to other fandoms to not mess with Blinks that day since everybody was online was probably accurate. Also, I learned the term ‘Rationed’ for the first time from this Twitter thread (see slide 2 above for definition). Never knew that terminology before.
The initial reactions revolved around Blinks who enjoyed reading the whole article and felt like Blackpink is more vulnerable, mature and confident in this article, which I agree with to a certain point.
If we’re talking about vulnerability, I don’t think I necessarily agree with this point. I think both in the documentary and article, the girls showed similar vulnerability (and they still feel guarded at the same time to me) but the biggest difference is probably they do sound more confident and mature in this interview. Jisoo and Rosé have always been consistently open, honest and articulate with their answers during interviews. Jennie and Lisa who (imho) usually more reserved in their answers definitely are more open and confident this time around. I also think that since they’ve been away for so long and fans have been deprived of any official updates from them, it could played a factor on why this interview feels more special and vulnerable to those who have missed them most.
The discussion about which one is better—the ‘Light Up the Sky’ documentary vs the Rolling Stone article—naturally arose in the timeline. This thread above is one of the thread I found that kind of discussing it in an interesting way since the opinions are split (although in the end, I think all of them agree that both are good, it’s just they each have a preference on which one they enjoyed more).
For me personally, I enjoyed the documentary more than the article. I think the documentary was really well made, especially as an introduction piece of Blackpink to the mainstream audience who doesn’t necessarily know them. And prior to that documentary, I don’t think there was any official mainstream media that has covered them that in-depth (cmiiw). So during the time it was released, as an introduction piece to the general public, the content and the way it’s produced, it made sense. I feel like it’s a good piece. Plus, we got to see the girls in front of the camera, answering questions with their own words while hearing their tone of voice. We also see their expressions and their body language while they’re talking. I feel that creates more of a connection with the audience as well.
While in the article, I don’t necessarily feel those little nuances are being described well enough. Most of the quotes from the girls feels exactly just that, a quote. Plus, now that it’s been three years after the documentary was shot (I believe they started shooting it in 2019 and it was release in 2020, cmiiw), Blackpink as a group has grown so much in terms of their careers and popularity across the globe. And just because of that fact, I think that’s the reason why I was expecting more from this article. I wish they would’ve introduced a now more grown Blackpink instead of focusing so much on the trainee days and the origin of the group, which I feel took a big chunk of the article.
This thread above was one of the more interesting opinions/reactions I’ve read on Twitter about the article. I think it does provide a good perspective on Blackpink’s life as idols—individually and as a group.
Blackpink x Rolling Stone Twitter Reactions | Source: @rsiieflrtz, @witchrsp, @rxseinmyarea, @Nipplesstan.
One Blink commented that the article was written like a fanfic, which immediately made me laugh. I mean, the comment is not wrong. The choice of words does sound like something you’d read on a fanfic.
Blackpink x Rolling Stone Twitter Reactions | Source: @jnrubydiaries, @liliesarerosie_, @lipfeatblinkeu, @trsrzxblckpnk.
In the midst of Blinks busy discussing the article on Twitter, I often saw these kinds of tweets on the reply sections from struggling Blinks who couldn’t access the article since it is behind a paywall. “We’re too broke to read it” got me there. LOL. There are also others who asked what they’re all talking about since they didn’t know about the published article. Some asked where they can watch the documentary on. All these also tells me that there are quite a lot of new Blinks out there.
Blackpink x Rolling Stone Twitter Reactions | Source: @delightjens, @firejennie.
Other topic that quickly rose to the top tweet category was the fact that Jennie now does boxing, which she never mentioned before (we know she does pilates and yoga regularly, boxing is definitely new). So that’s a pretty exciting brand new information.
Blackpink x Rolling Stone Twitter Reactions | Source: @delightjens, @JAILSETTER, @FairlyJennn.
Since we’re on the topic of Jennie, Blinks also noticed that Rolling Stone didn’t post Jennie’s individual quote on their social media (all three members got their individual post hours after the article was released), even 20+ hours after the article was published. At first, Blinks thought maybe they’ll release it later during the day (I could tell people were patiently waiting based on the lack of tweets protesting about this). But since nothing happened, their next theory was maybe Jennie’s going to be the first one who’ll get her cover released, thus the missing individual post. But that didn’t happen either so some Blinks were pretty disappointed by this.
From a branding and consistency perspective, I have to say that Rolling Stone dropped the ball on this one. I don’t know if it was overlooked or a conscious decision (if it was a conscious decision, I really would like to know the reason why), but not giving each members the same set of deliverables is weird, especially in the world of fandom where you certainly don’t want to instigate things accidentally (fair treatment to all members in a group is a big thing in fandoms. If you haven’t known by now, believe it or not, fans do keep track of things, even little things). Plus there are only 4 members in Blackpink, so it shouldn’t be that hard to keep track right? There’s spreadsheet or checklist that could help with that, just saying (‘cause I too use spreadsheet to keep track of all these information).
Blackpink x Rolling Stone Twitter Reactions | Source: @kylericedesign.
One and a half hours later, Kyle Rice, the senior multimedia editor at Rolling Stone tweeted that OG Blinks have catching mistakes and sending them in the DMs, which I noticed too since I was monitoring Twitter at the time. When there’s a mistake or inaccuracy, Blinks were quick to point them out on tweets so it was pretty noticeable, especially when the topic and hashtag were trending on Twitter.
The first mistake that one Blink noticed was how the banner of the Rolling Stone facebook page cropped out Rosé out of the picture on the mobile version. Almost two hours later, it was fixed, reported by another Blink who was probably keeping an eye on it.
And then, a little bit of drama started to arise regarding Rosé’s part of the interview. I think right off the bat, Blinks collectively noticed the “Rosé (pronounced Rosie)” sentence that was mentioned in the article was a problem since it’s wildly inaccurate. Blinks started to tag Rolling Stone and the writer of the article, requesting them to correct it. At some point, the writer replied to one of the tweet addressing the issue and said, “Rosé’s nickname among friends is supposed to be Rose (pronounced ‘Rosie’) without the accent.”, which is still wrong because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rosé addressed herself as Rose (pronounced ‘Rosie’). Blinks quickly replied and quote retweeted the tweet, explaining Rosé’s full name, stage name, and nickname in various different ways. It was hilarious and entertaining to read, honestly.
The whole pronunciation issue ended up being a slightly larger on-going issue since it wasn’t addressed immediately. Clout News Media even ended up writing an article about how upset fans are with this mistake. I think if the mispronunciation is the only thing that Blinks were upset about on Rosé’s part of the interview, the issue wouldn’t be as big as it was. But since there were other things that Blinks were disappointed about, it became one of the thing that Blinks were adamant to get fix. I mean, a name is pretty important for your introduction to the world. I’d probably wouldn’t be happy if somebody calls me by the wrong name.
And then Blinks whose favorite member is Rosé quickly pointed out the high number of mistakes the Rolling Stone made regarding Rosé, as well as the lack of mention of Rosé’s solo achievements. They also questioned why the interview revolved so much around her early years instead of her recent ones. Apparently, Blinks have the same thoughts as me regarding Rosé’s part of the interview. Also, I have to say, these Blinks who voiced their opinions and disappointment are very articulate and they do have some great points and questions that definitely could make the article better if they were taken into consideration during the planning or the actual interview. With Rosé’s individual article coming up, I do wonder if the Rolling Stone team will make adjustments to the upcoming article based on how Blinks reacted on today’s article.
“Whole week of content” Statement
Remember this tweet by Rolling Stone’s director of social media where he said “Whole week of content taking over the timeline”?
Recapping the first day, the actual “new” contents are:
The Rolling Stone Article: How Blackpink Went From Strangers to Sisters to Pop Supernovas
Behind-the-Scenes video of BLACKPINK Cover Shoot for Rolling Stone Magazine
Pre-order announcement for the Collector’s Edition Box Set
I’m not including the follow up tweets on their Twitter account and the TikTok video because both are just taken from the article and the Youtube video, so technically, they’re not new content (more like mirrored content). Seeing this, I think the next day’s new content is probably going to be the same thing, but for individual members. Unless they really prepared more new things, which I highly doubt at this point.
Although I’m still reserving my judgement at least until I see what day two is going to look like, I already felt that this project is probably going to be another one of those overpromised underdelivered project. Or maybe I just had too much expectation from one of the biggest brand in music. I mean it’s the Rolling Stone. The brand still means something big right? Or has it changed recently? (Somebody please let me know if it has changed).
Read Part 1: Blackpink x Rolling Stone Announcement here.
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Blackpink x Rolling Stone Announcement
Around the end of May, Rolling Stone magazine made an announcement that they have recently completed a project with Blackpink that soon will be published. The project itself garnered a lot of attention from Blinks that have been looking forward to see Blackpink appears together as a group since their last official appearance in January 2021 during their online concert, The Show.
Since then, there were only a number of instances where they appeared together including on the cover of Vogue Korea in June 2021 (cmiiw but I think this was the last magazine cover Blackpink appeared together on), during Blackpink 5th Anniversary VLive in August 2021, when they were hanging out wearing Lisa’s solo merch in September 2021, Lisa’s Instastory update in November 2021, and during Blackpink WeVerse Global Official Fanclub video call event which followed by their impromptu VLive Ch+ in January 2022. Most of their recent appearances are almost all solo activities so it’s rare to see them appear together as a group.
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I ended up following how the Blackpink ✕ Rolling Stone week-long project unfold through Twitter and it was fun to see the events leading up to it as well as the reactions from the fans during the week and after the project is finally revealed in its entirety. Since there were a couple of interesting of things that happened, thought it’d be fun to share my thoughts on this project.
Before I start, let me say a couple of disclaimers so you know where I’m coming from. For those of you who are a long-time follower of my Instagram or this blog, you probably already know by now that I am a Blink, so I’m looking at this project simply from a fan perspective. Do I know everything about Blackpink? Of course not. I think there are lots of veteran Blinks out there who know way more about Blackpink than I do (even to this day, I still learn a lot of new things about the group from other Blinks on Twitter). But I do think I’m quite well-read in things related to Blackpink since I’ve been following them for a good couple of years now.
This series is just meant to document the project and to share my personal observations and opinions on things that I find interesting. I tried my best to include/link all the sources of the things I found online. Most of the original posts came from Rolling Stone magazine and Twitter and the layout graphics used on this blog post are designed by yours truly. With that said let’s begin the first part of this series: The Blackpink ✕ Rolling Stone Announcement. And here’s the table of content (of some sort) for this post:
The Announcement
21 May 2022 — Rolling Stone magazine posted a teaser of their upcoming project with Blackpink on their Twitter. The tweet that consists of the hashtag #BLACKPINKxRollingStone and the words ‘Coming Soon’ was quickly noticed by Blinks minutes after it was posted.
Honestly for me, when I first saw this, I was like, oh okay. Probably just another magazine article. It didn’t feel like it’s anything big or special just looking at the image they uploaded. But the mood was quite different on Twittersphere when I checked on what others were thinking hours later. First thing that I noticed was there were a lot of Blinks that were active on Twitter that day, which I guess spread the news even faster.
I literally chuckled when I saw these kind of tweets. It almost felt like the notifications on every single Blinks’ phones went off. Everybody be like, “This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Everybody get up and see this Rolling Stone tweet!” Lol. I mean, it’s kind of fitting since the tweet was posted at 8 am (GMT+7) on a Saturday. So everybody in Asia was probably still in bed considering it’s the weekend.
Twitter Theories & Comments
After Blinks on Twitter were awaken, that’s when things started to get interesting. Like every other teaser release, there will always be theories and guesses from Blinks on what the main event is as well as reactions and comments about them. Here are some of the theories and comments I found during the next 24-hours after the teaser was released.
Cover Feature Theory
One major theory that quickly rose on the top tweet category was that Blackpink is going to be on the cover of the next issue of Rolling Stone magazine. And if it’s true, they would be the first girl group to do so since Spice Girls in 2007 and Destiny’s Child in 2001, which I gotta admit is pretty epic.
But then there were some Blinks in the reply section (see slide two above) who were skeptical to this theory since there’s no single updates from Blackpink/YG side about the project. Plus, we’ve been clowned so much this year with comeback rumors every month so I think the skepticism is warranted for (I feel some Blinks now have major trust issue with unconfirmed news).
Cover Feature Outfit Theory
Following the cover feature theory, naturally Blinks started to speculate what the girls are going to wear. Some hopeful Blinks already have a vision in mind that the four will slay with their outfits while realistic Blinks, who I’m pretty sure have been keeping a close eye on every single photoshoot Blackpink has ever done, quickly commented that the girls probably just going to wear simple outfit with a plain background.
This prediction is not too far off than what I expect to be honest. Looking at the shoots the group has done in the past (including their individual shoots), their set usually mostly consist of plain backgrounds with minimal props and neutral (black/white/grey) outfits. The girls look beautiful of course, but sometimes I do wish that they’d do something more with the set other than plain backgrounds. Something like the Billboard March 2019 cover shoot or the Vogue Korea March 2020 cover shoot.
Blackpink for Vogue Korea March 2020 Issue | Photography by Petra Collins
I also found this one outfit related tweet that made me raise my eyebrows. I don’t know wether this person was being serious or not (I sure hope that this was a joke) but reading the replies made me laughed. People was quick to shut down this idea and pointed out that the outfits on the photos are definitely outdated and not the style the girls would ever go for.
New Album Announcement Theory
If we’re basing this theory off of Blackpink’s last two big releases, it kind of make sense. ‘Kill This Love’ was released in April 2019, following Billboard’s feature article in March 2019 while ‘The Album’ was released in October 2020 following Elle US’s cover feature for October 2020 issue that was released mid September 2020. And with the rumors circulating these past couple of months about Blackpink releasing new music in Q3/Q4, this theory is very plausible.
Comeback Theory
Related to the new album announcement theory, fans also speculated that Blackpink might announce their comeback in this Rolling Stone project. Whether they are coming back with a single, an EP or a full album, or simply coming back to the public’s radar by doing this appearance, we don’t know. But at the very least, I do have the same hope as @Borleh2’s tweet (see slide 2 below). Really hoping that the interview questions will be more substantial than surface level questions like ‘What’s your favorite color?’. Also, some Blinks took the opportunity to tease other Blink who were late to the party and asked if Blackpink is coming back on the reply section (see slide 3 below) which is pretty funny.
This Whole Excitement
With Blackpink having no music activity since their last comeback in October 2020, many Blinks’ and fanbases twitter accounts sometimes went into hibernation or became inactive. This announcement surely has an effect on the whole fandom seeing the high number of active Blinks on Twitter who were talking about this project in the matter of hours after the announcement was released.
Baby Blinks’ Excitement
Having been following Blackpink since their debut, I forgot how many new fans they’ve gained these past few years (especially after K-pop and K-drama sort of blew up outside Asia) who never even experienced a Blackpink comeback since their hiatus period is pretty long this time around. It’s nice to see that they can feel and experience the excitement even when the comeback rumor has yet to be confirmed.
For me, after I saw the Rolling Stone’s team retweeted the original announcement tweet, that’s when I started to think that maybe this project could be big. The Rolling Stone team trying to hype this up could be a sign of something different that they’re making. Even so, I still have my reservation about this whole project because sometimes (most of the time, really) the hype for Blackpink’s past projects didn’t always match the actual main event that was delivered. But let’s see how things go.
22 May 2022 - 35 hours later, another teaser dropped on Rolling Stone’s Twitter and Instagram account, followed by a quote tweet by Rolling Stone’s director of social media, Waiss Aramesh.
After seeing the words ‘Whole week of content taking over the timeline’, not gonna lie, I was starting to get excited. Well, cautiously excited that is because I know how all these magazines usually overhype things up. But the sentence clearly caught Blinks’ attention because a lot of people were expressing excitement and expectations after being starved of OT4 content this past year.
45 minutes later, the hashtag #BLACKPINKxRollingStone started to trend on Twitter and the image was quickly reposted and retweeted by Blinks, which then lead to the reactions that I found below.
Some Blinks thought it was a tour announcement because of the different city names and time, which if you look at it at a glance, it kind of does look like one. Some questioned why Blackpink & YG sides were so silent about this whole project since they didn’t post anything related to it. But then again, silence from their part is not necessarily new since they’re usually late with posts and updates. Some wondered what Blackpink’s next comeback is going to look like when only a magazine cover announcement could send Twitter into this frenzy.
23 May 2022 - On the D-day, 9 hours before the project was suppose to drop, a series of low-res screenshots and screen recordings of what seems to be the behind-the-scenes video of Blackpink’s photoshoot with Rolling Stone from their website started to circulate on Twitter.
After the hype over the weekend and knowing that Blackpink members can and have pulled some stunning looks in the past, seeing what they are wearing on these screenshots, I was honestly disappointed. I was expecting more than the looks that they have on which seem a little, dare I say, basic? And for a magazine as big as Rolling Stone, I was expecting a little bit more I guess. Majority of Blinks also seemed to agree with me seeing that many quickly voiced their disappointment of the styling of the group after seeing the low-res photos and videos.
Shortly after, the hashtag #YGteamStylistUneed2Rest started trending on Twitter alongside #BLACKPINKxRollingStone as a result of Blinks’ disappointment towards the outfit the girls are wearing. Here are some reactions I found on Twitter:
The disappointment and frustration were apparent on Twitter, especially if you read the tweets under the trending hashtag. But then again, this has happened multiple times in the past too. Every time Blinks were extremely unhappy with the outfits that Blackpink wore to an event, the complaints usually went immediately to the stylist. I don’t exactly know who get to decide what the girls would wear to an event or who has the finally say to approve the outfits. Whether it’s decided solely by the stylists, by the girls themselves, the brands they’re working with or a collaborative effort between the all of them (if anybody knows how this usually work, let me know. Would really like to learn about the process of a magazine shoot), I have no idea. So I don’t think I can make that judgement. But I do understand why the group’s stylist(s) is always under fire since the stylist’s main job is to style the group.
At this point, I was still holding to a small hope that there will be other looks than the two sets of looks that we’ve seen. User @Annaeeeel on twitter (see slide 4 above) also brought up a good theory on her tweet saying that these might not be the looks for the cover. I mean with the hype that they’ve been creating, there is a possibility that Rolling Stone probably going to do a big reveal for the cover, hopefully with outfits better than this one. But this definitely is not a good start to the project. I was starting to think that this is probably going to be another one of those overhyped Blackpink’s project (not that it’s a surprise or anything. I was kind of expecting that in the beginning). But I’ll hold my judgement for now to see what they meant by ‘Whole week of content taking over the timeline.’
To be continued in part 2 of this series (will be published soon).
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Blackpink Jennie Debuts Orange Hair Color
(Last Update: May 27, 2020. Scroll down for latest updates.)
10 April 2022 — Blackpink Jennie surprised the world with her new orange hair through a series pictures she posted on her Instagram. Captioned “Don’t talk to me or my new hair”, the post then quickly became viral and her name and her new hair became the trending topics on Twitter.
On the same day, Jennie also shared on her Instagram stories two images of scenes from the movie “Fifth Element” featuring Milla Jovovich’s “Leeloo” which made fans speculate that this is where the inspiration for her new hair came from. A couple of fans quickly pointed out that Jennie has mentioned that she’s a fan of the movie during Blackpink’s August 2018 Vogue Korea interview (see the full article here or the English translation here).
Source: @official_jensoo
“I watch about 4-5 movies in a week. One of my favorite movies is The Fifth Element. Each piece of the designer’s (Jean Paul Gaultier) clothing were beautiful. It doesn’t just end in admiration, I also spend time thinking how we could utilize it for BLACKPINK.” —Jennie, Vogue Korea August 2018
Just like any other times when there’s a new (major) update on Blackpink’s social media, I immediately went to Twitter to see what the reactions are from the fans. It’s always fun to read the comments from Blinks who share their funny reactions, insightful (and sometimes absurd, albeit entertaining) theories and keen observations.
This prediction of Jennie setting the new trend for hair color in Korea is definitely not too far-fetched. As one of the most influential idols in Korea, Jennie does has the track record of setting trends with her various looks and fashion styles. I think it’s just a matter of time for the the orange hair to become the new trend in Korea.
Although many were praising her new look, there were some fans who voiced their doubts on Jennie’s new orange hair and suspected her hair to be a wig. Of course this was done by Blinks in a rather playful way, referring to (what Blinks would since then called) Jennie’s biggest scam to date when her “Kill This Love” teaser poster was released back in March 26, 2019 where she went blonde and practically shook the entire fandom with how good she look with the new hair color. But two weeks later, it became clear that she didn’t actually color her hair blonde when she appeared with a brown hair during the “Kill This Love” VLive Countdown Live. Safe to say, many were disappointed, although not for very long because who can be when Blackpink is having a comeback, right? Jennie herself confirmed months later that the blonde hair was indeed a wig when she shared a behind-the-scenes photo from the shoot on her Instagram captioned “This was a wig and my favorite look for KTL”.
Source: @JNK1RIGHTS | @13chnwar
Having mentioned on different occasions that her hair is sensitive and that’s why she usually sticks with a more natural hair colors, Blinks started to wonder how long Jennie’s orange hair will stay for, especially after Jennie’s last two-toned hairstyle, also known as the “hairband bangs”, that she wore during Blackpink’s “How You Like That” comeback was short-lived. The blond streak that was inspired by her previous looks, only lasted for a couple of weeks before she colored it back to black, stating that maintaining it was too hard.
The question of how long it took Jennie to color her hair orange honestly crossed my mind too. Having shared that it took her 18 hours to color her HYLT blonde hairband bangs, I can only imagine the number of hours she must have sat through to get the orange look. Watch the “How You Like That” VLive Countdown where Jennie talks about coloring her hair with Rosé (starts at 10:24-10:53) and Blackpink’s hairstylist breaking down the process of achieving Jennie’s look below.
UPDATES:
21 April 2022 — Just as predicted, Jennie’s orange hair shade became popular in Korea weeks later.
26 May 2022 — Jennie’s orange hair era officially ended with her appearance at the British Embassy in Seoul with the rest of Blackpink’s members to propose the toast to Her Majesty The Queen to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee with her new brown hair. Blinks who were hoping that she’ll keep her orange hair until Blackpink’s next comeback definitely think that it’s the end of an era.
Photo: Courtesy of Newsis
Photo: Courtesy of Newsis
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Lisa on Harper's Bazaar Hong Kong April 2022 Issue
25 March 2022 - Blackpink Lisa debuts on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong April 2022 issue and talks about her solo album and her runway debut with Celine in the interview. The following are translations of some of the excerpts from the article on Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong website, translated via Google Translate and DeepL with adjustments.
Source: Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong | Photography by: Kim Hee-jun for Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong/Celine.
p.s: You can tap through the image gallery to read the interview or if you prefer the text only version, it’ll be placed under the Youtube video links.
p.p.s: Allow time to load the images in the gallery.
LISA released her solo single “LALISA” for the first time in September last year. With precise dance skills, catchy lyrics, unique milky rap style, as well as record-breaking music video, LISA has successfully captured fans around the world by crossing cultural boundaries.
From a Thai girl who went to South Korea alone to her unrivaled status in the international music scene today, LISA seems to have an unstoppable energy in her body and full of firepower as she strides to the top.
This year, she is only 24 years old. Her future is limitless.
LALISA
The new song ‘LALISA’ is inspired by LISA’s original name. At first, the online review for the music video that features 14 eye-catching looks were mixed. But then the fans said no, the body of the music is still very honest. The music video has now garnered 500 million+ views on YouTube.
“The response was absolutely beyond my expectations. The original intention of conceiving the single was to create something that would make the fans happy. After I figured out the general direction, I started to concentrate on writing. I think the success of the song is probably due to the fact that my name rhymes very well with the lyrics. And the short dance video challenge on TikTok has also brought a lot of popularity to this song.” —LISA
Each girl group has its own division of labor, and it is often that the power of one plus one is greater than two. For the first time being alone, LISA realized how precious the company of her bandmates is.
“I was involved in every part of the process of preparing the single. When choosing the promotional photos and the album jacket, I miss my bandmates very much. I was a little nervous when I did a solo live broadcast on VLive recently because I was the only one. Fortunately, there were many BLINKs who cheered for me, which made me regain my confidence.” —LISA
HER HOMETOWN
LISA’s hometown is Thailand and in her new music video, she puts on traditional Thai costumes to promote the local culture. Many people who work hard in a foreign land miss the food, language and life of their hometown. But for LISA, the so-called nostalgia is nothing more than the quality times she spent with her family.
“Every weekend we would go out as a family. Even if it was just to go to an ice cream shop and eat ice cream together, it was so memorable. Or when I was a kid, my father and I would bake rye cookies together every Christmas. My father was a chef, and as a Swiss, he has an obsession with rye cookies.” —LISA
BEING A TRAINEE IN KOREA
The life of a trainee in Korea is notoriously difficult. On top of the grueling daily practice schedule that she had to attend to improve her skills, LISA as a foreign trainee also had a language barrier that she had to overcome which added to the difficulty of her trainee life.
“Looking back on those days now, although it was hard, it was also very fun. I looked forward to the next rest day with my teammates, planned where to eat, drink and have fun. We would also watch the morning movie together before class. I’m really lucky that I have a group of good friends around me who support each other.” —LISA
LIVING AS AN IDOL
Not everyone can handle the high pressure and tight schedule of an idol, but LISA can always laugh about it.
“I always feel like during the days when I’m smiling less, the members will be affected and become depressed. It’s a waste of youth to not smile, so I always try to make my friends happy, especially when I’m with the members. When we’re tired from practicing, we’d make fun of each other. And this element of happiness is a necessary motivation.” —LISA
RELIEVING STRESS
LISA actually has another way to reduce stress and that is to interact with BLINKs.
“They are really creative. They often make memes of me and my cat. Every time I change my hairstyle, they will photoshop my face to a cat. I save these cute memes as my phone wallpaper. I’m looking forward to what their next memes will be.” —LISA
BEING A DANCER
As the lead dancer of BLACKPINK, LISA’s dancing skill is recognized as excellent and she has the talent to remember all the movements of a routine just by watching it once. The Chinese idol talent show “Youth With You” has even invited her twice as a mentor. In the show, LISA was guiding the contestants very seriously and rigorously too at times and we could see that dancing is definitelynot a play for her.
“I first came to dance class when I was 4 or 5 years old. At that time, I didn’t know what dancing was about. I remember wearing a skirt to class and was extremely happy in class. Then I began to practice seriously, participated in some competitions and won first place. Since then, I became more and more enthusiastic about dancing and even looked forward to going to dance class as soon as possible after school every day.” —LISA
RUNWAY DEBUT
In addition to releasing her first solo single, LISA also made her debut as a runway model for Celine’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection. Walking the catwalk set around the Nice Observatory was even more nerve-racking than any other stage performance she said.
“I have confidence in controlling the rhythm and intensity of a dance, but I was a bit overwhelmed walking the runway. So I decided to walk following the rhythm of the background music. Hedi also suggested that I do some free movements. After all, I am a singer and not a professional model. The whole process was very fresh and interesting.” —LISA
CELINE AMBASSADOR
Hedi Slimane, the creative director of Celine, has a soft spot for musicians. He hit it off with LISA and invited her to be the brand ambassador and perfume spokesperson.
“Hedi is a very attentive person andI feel very comfortable working with him. He allows me to express myself without restraint. He also has a very keen eye and every time we meet, he notices what I’m wearing.” —LISA
PERSONAL STYLE
Music and fashion are closely related. The influence of idols’ fashion is not limited to the stage. Airports and red carpets are all battlefields. As a post-95 idol star, Lisa talks about her personal style behind the camera.
“They are all based on comfortable and lightweight styles. For example, today I wore an oversized T-shirt and jeans with a pair of sneakers. The most common item I wear is sweaters. Sometimes I also choose items with bright colors or with prints of cats or white rabbits. When I wear items with cartoon prints, my mood immediately becomes very happy. If I want to dress more confidently, I will wear an all-black outfit with a pair of high heels.
I feel like a playful Celine girl who likes elegant classic designs as well as cute styles. I love Celine’s menswear series, which I use to mix and match to create a layered look. I also love vintage clothes. I usually go to vintage stores to search for some vintage Celine, which is fun to find.” —LISA
Credits:
Article Writer: 芭姐
Photographer: Kim Heejune
Celebrity Visual Director: Choi Youjin, Yoon Hyunjoo
Production: YW Lee
Stylist: Park Minhee
Hair: Lee Seonyoung
Makeup: Lee Myungsun
Manicure: Park Eunkyung
Set Stylist: Yoo Yeojung
Wardrobe: CELINE Spring Summer 2022 Collection.
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K-Drama Thirty Nine (서른, 아홉) Ep.02
Episode two continues with more developments and growing conflicts between the characters. The introduction of the additional supporting characters were also done in this episode where Hyeon-Jun’s (the chef) girlfriend, Mi-jo’s parents and Seon-U’s sister (Kim So-Won) made their appearances.
Starting the episode with Mi-jo and Seon-U’s unexpected connection through work that puts the two of them in a slightly awkward position, Chan-young trying to end the relationship she has with Jin-Seok, Joo-hee’s attraction to the chef that’s quickly squashed by the arrival of his girlfriend, Mi-jo’s struggle with panic attack revelation, Seon-u and So-won’s family problems and ending it with Mi-jo finding out that Chan-young has stage four cancer, this episode definitely doesn’t lack in the conflict department. The tone of this episode is also slightly more somber than the previous episode, although there are still comedic reliefs that are peppered throughout the story that help lifting the mood up a little.
A couple of slightly happier parts were probably the opening scene where the three women were discussing about Chan-young’s recent eyeliner purchase (which I certainly can relate to), Chan-young teasing Mi-jo about Seon-U after Mi-jo told her the story, Seon-U’s drunken, whiny (and slightly adorable) confession to Mi-jo and Mi-jo’s close relationship with her family.
There’s also seems to be more to the story behind Jin-seok’s marriage which I’m curious to find out. My current theories are either the wife blackmailed Jin-seok to marry her or she purposefully get herself pregnant so Jin-seok will marry her. But we’ll see if any of my guesses is right.
Looking at the ending of this episode, I have a feeling that things will go south or at least become sadder from this point forward. I’m hoping it' won’t be too sad, but we’ll see.
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