It's a tale as old as time (or at least as long as pop groups have existed, so somewhere in the mid-1900s, probably): members of a pop group start feeling restricted by the confines of said group and start to forge their own paths. K-pop, one big marketing step ahead of the West, foresees this and uses the time members have within the group to set them up for a successful solo career beyond the group contract.
The members of any given K-pop group are often encouraged to explore their solo artist capabilities while maintaining a loaded group schedule, releasing solo singles and performing solo 'stages' on the group's live tours. It's a choice, particularly when you break down why a group works and why those people were chosen to be in a group; generally speaking, the members aren't strong enough as solo artists and the group dynamic allows someone else to fill in the gaps, which isn't exclusive to South Korea, and anyone whose seen a bootcamp episode of The X Factor knows the basic building blocks.
Still, it's inevitable that they'll go their separate ways one day and have a go at a solo career. Sometimes, it turns out they had what it takes all along (Hi, Harry Styles! Robbie Williams! Cheryl Cole!), some crash and burn and never bother doing music again (Sorry, Posh Spice), and it's come to the time where the Certified World's Biggest Girl Group have a whack at it.
BLACKPINK, the South Korean girl group who looked at the pop group landscape, which at the time of their debut in 2016 featured the withered remains of Fifth Harmony, Little Mix's inability to crack America, and, well, very little else, decided to bulldoze over it and finally take K-pop to the global stages it deserved. Expertly merging the genre-clashing badassery of their predecessors like 2NE1 and 4MINUTE with a bubblegum crossover appeal that landed them on everything from Radio 1 playlists to Coachella lineups, BLACKPINK were the first K-Pop girl group to properly soar in the West, meaning that when those solo ventures came, there were more eyes on them than usual.
With all four members, JENNIE, ROSÉ, LISA and JISOO, having now released solo projects, what does the future of BLACKPINK look like, given that for so long, they were clearly the future of K-Pop?
First out the gate in 2018 was JENNIE, the on-the-nose single 'SOLO' immediately establishing her as a girl who could do it all: sugary vocals and fierce rap verses. She was also the last of the four to drop her solo full length, but blimey, it's true what they say about saving the best 'til last. 'Ruby', her middle name, according to her Instagram handle, shows she's still the girl who can do it all, snagging hot features in the form of Dua Lipa, Doechii, Dominic Fike, Childish Gambino, and Kali Uchis, never getting overshadowed. She can bring as much attitude as Doechii on the braggadocios 'ExtraL' and as much smoky retro flavour as our Dua on lovesick 'Handlebars'. Flying solo, the uber-catchy lead single 'Mantra' still punches through 'Ruby''s mid-section, while opening banger 'like JENNIE' is impossible to ignore. Of the four, JENNIE seems the most willing to do something weirder, earning herself a 'most promising new pop star' rosette.
Wriggling her way in between the diaristic pop starlets like Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams is ROSÉ, whose debut solo album 'rosie' arrived last December. Led by the international smash 'APT.' featuring Bruno Mars (the only feature on the LP and a bit of a red herring), 'rosie' reveals the quietly kept personal life of ROSÉ. A balladeer at heart, most of the album follows a tried and true Swiftian formula of Antonoffish electro-heartbreak songs; look at 'number one girl' or 'two years'. Having written her own songs during her time in BLACKPINK and proved her solo chops on single 'On The Ground' and 'Born Pink' track 'Hard To Love', ROSÉ fits right into that group of top-tier pop girlies who aren't just performing their hits but masterminding them too.
On the other end of the spectrum is LISA, choosing not to bare all but rather hide behind five characters on album 'Alter Ego'. LISA was the first to have a viral solo smash with 2021's 'MONEY', and the features she's chosen on 'Alter Ego' have all had similar brushes with virality, specifically Doja Cat, Raye, Megan Thee Stallion and Tyla, but the standout collaboration comes from Rosalía. It's a purpose-built superstar album, all hands on deck to create a manufactured-to-the-max pop-rap record, with contributions from all-time greats like Max Martin, Stargate and Ryan Tedder; it's pretty failsafe.
Flying slightly under the radar is JISOO, who dropped the short and sweet EP 'AMORTAGE' on Valentine's Day. On it, she stays the truest to her K-Pop roots, not aiming for the Western market with big features or even many English lyrics. As the last to release a solo single while in the group, when she did, it was the wonky electro 'Flower' in 2023, 'AMORTAGE' sticks to a similar sound: zippy, bright, synthy electronic pop, it's wonderfully fresh. The EP format is a gorgeous appetiser of what JISOO could do on a full-length album: throw in the belting heartfelt ballad she's surely got in her, and you've got a winning pop record. While the other three might seem like clear front runners in the post-BLACKPINK solo race, JISOO is a dark horse worth placing a bet on.
So the paving slabs are laid down for four very different solo careers, but while the cement is still wet, they've got some BLACKPINK activities to finish doing. When their contracts with their Korean entertainment company YG came to an end in August 2023, the girls chose not to re-sign them as solo artists, instead choosing to go their separate ways to different labels. They did, however, renew a contract for group activities, which is quite non-specific but so far includes the promise of a new album and the guarantee of a world tour, kicking off in Seoul in July and wrapping up with two nights at London's Wembley Stadium in August.
It'll be their fourth time in the capital, following steadily increasing capacities from Wembley Arena in 2019 to The O2 in 2022 and, most recently, Hyde Park in 2023. It's hard to say if the album will arrive before then, but with so much individual activity, it's not likely the girls have had time to get themselves in a studio to actually do one. Historically, pop groups have always gotten back together at some point (even Beyoncé asked Kelly and Michelle to come back for a performance); getting back up on stage with the people who've had the same intense experience as you is an obvious comfort after taking on the daunting world of pop alone. With major events coming up soon like LISA and JENNIE doing solo Coachella slots, that fact isn't going to evade BLACKPINK.
