- BLACKPINK is an all-female Korean pop (k-pop) group
- Its most recent single “Kill This Love” has been watched by more than 135 million people
- It earned more than 56.7 million views in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-watched music video in history
- BLACKPINK has replaced Ariana Grande’s “Thank You Next” (which did 55.4 views in 24-hours)
The worldwide phenomenon that is K-Pop is at it again, this time dethroning seasoned popstars like Ariana Grande from the charts.
BLACKPINK – the all-female South Korean pop group – released its single last weekend, which was then watched by more than 56.7 million people in its first 24 hours. That makes it = the fastest-watched music video in history.
The previous record holder was Grande’s “Thank You, Next” which earned 55.4 million over its first day of release.
This isn’t BLACKPINK’s first number one spot, either. Earlier in the gear the group’s bafflingly-named ‘Ddu-du Dhd-du’ music video became the most viewed music video in all of K-Pop, garnering more than 700 million views.
Okay, so who/what is BLACKPINK?
BLACKPINK is the first girl group to debut under YG entertainment in the last seven years. For those of you not up to speed with your K-Pop trivia, YG entertainment were behind all-girl pop group 2NE1 – which themselves became quite a big deal in their native Korea.
Until recently, YG Entertainment also looked after K-Pop’s number one son: Psy.
BLACKPINK released its first single back in August of 2016, and hasn’t looked back since. The group has already announced major collaborations with US artists – including Dua Lipa (they were first introduced on Twitter).
Later this month, BLACKPINK will become the first K-Pop group to play Coachella, and afterwards they will begin a North American Tour.
What are BLACKPINK’s best songs?
As popular as they are, BLACKPINK only has nine songs to its name. It appears one of the first times that the music industry has gone for quality and not quantity, which the group taking its time to launch and promote each track, rather than releasing an entire album in one go.
BLACKPINK has re-released several of its songs in Japanese.
Who is in BLACKPINK?
K-Pop groups are put together with more precision than Premiere League teams, and just as in football each member has a particular role to play.
There are four women in BLACKPINK – Jennie, Ji Soo, Lisa and Rosé – and each brings something slightly different to the team. All of them sing and dance, but Jennie and Lisa are the rappers of the group, while Rosé and Ji Soo go more old-school pop.
Each also has their own personal style, and have served as models for a number of high-end fashion brands, both home-grown in Korea and internationally.
Is BLACKPINK Korean?
While they are K-Pop through-and-through, BLACKPINK was built for global superstardom.
Rosé is from Australia and Jennie studied in New Zealand, while Lisa is from Thailand. This makes them something of an anomaly in K-Pop circles, as it allows the band to communicate directly with English-speaking fans.
What are BLACKPINK fans called?
Fans of BLACKPINK are dubbed, “Blinks” which rolls off the tongue rather nicely. Blinks are rather dedicated to the group, including taking to social media to brag about how many times they’ve watched the most recent music video (hence, taking credit for why it’s now at the number one spot).
There’s not a BLACKPINK television show, is there?
Of course there is! This is K-Pop. ‘BLACKPINK House’ is a reality television show (because of course it is) that airs in Korea. A total of 12 episodes have been released, each showing the stars in their own natural (so they say) habitat.
What does BLACKPINK’s fame mean for the music industry in general?
Well, this marks a major milestone for YouTube, which has often said its wants to be the cornerstone of the music industry in the 21st century. Already, of the top 30 most viewed videos 28 of them are music videos.
It also means that record labels can safely say that the world of music is no longer dominated by western musicians and celebrities, which is no bad thing.
Will BLACKPINK be coming to Dubai anytime soon?
We wouldn’t put it past them. Last year K-Pop sensation EXO showed up at the Burj Khalifa, to show off their personal lightshow on the side of the Burj Khalifa. Then they did a bit of shopping and brought Dubai Mall – the largest mall by total area – to a virtual standstill.
It’s not an IF BLACKPINK will be coming to Dubai, but a when.
