![After the Raider's first goal of the game, scored by senior captain Luke Galizio, the players pile onto the glass by the student section to celebrate, igniting the crowd into a roar. "The atmosphere was incredible, having two towns that both come to support us is amazing," Galizio said. "When [the crowd] started chanting 'Raider nation' it made [the game] feel like it wasn't just one team against another, we had a whole building of fans supporting us."](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/06FBB04E-4C03-408A-B554-FE6C06CE8C08_1_105_c.jpeg)
When people think of K-pop (Korean pop), they may think about the various K-pop groups, dances and Korean lyrics. But for some, they think about Blackpink–the K-pop girl group that made a large imprint on pop culture, not only in Korea, but all over the world.
Blackpink is a K-pop girl group that is composed of four girls, Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo and Rosé. It was created under the company YG Entertainment in 2016. They debuted the same year with their album “Square Up.”
In the following years, Blackpink released “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” “Kill This Love,” “How You Like That,” “Pink Venom,” “Shut Down” and many more songs. The members also released solo singles and albums with YG entertainment.
What other accomplishments did Blackpink achieve? Well, three of their songs are in the top 10 most viewed Youtube music videos (as of Feb. 14), and they also have the most subscribed official artist Youtube channel with a whopping 95.9 million subscribers (as of Feb. 14). They have collaborated with other big name stars: Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa. Nine of their songs have made the Billboard 100 list. They were the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella in 2019, as well as being the first K-Pop girl group to win a MTV VMA award. All these awards and accomplishments that they have achieved show how big of an impact Blackpink has had on pop culture all around the world.
To continue their reign, Blackpink went on their Born Pink World Tour. However, after their tour, speculation started to rise that Blackpink was going to split up. On Dec. 29, 2023, YG entertainment confirmed Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rosé were going to continue their musical journey as soloists apart from the YG entertainment company, but they will remain signed as a group.
“We will do our utmost to support BLACKPINK’s activities, and we will cheer on the members’ individual activities with warm hearts,” YG entertainment said.
However, even though the group is still signed as a group; fans noticed that Blackpink wasn’t putting out group songs anymore. Instead, they were each going through their musical journey as soloists.
Where is each member now?
Rosé:
Rosé recently released her hit single “APT” with Bruno Mars on Oct. 18, 2024. APT is a song inspired by a Korean drinking game. When “APT” was released, it quickly made its way around social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram. The song was such a hit that it climbed to the number one spot on the Billboard Global 200 chart. Rosé was the first female K-pop artist to reach the number one spot on the chart.
Later, on Dec. 6, 2024, Rosé released her album “rosie” which included 12 songs, including APT. The song reached number three on the Billboard Top Album Sales. The songs in the album were meant to reflect Rosé’s personal experiences. For example, her opening song, “Number One Girl” is a song to remember when she received hate comments after she attended a “fancy, star-studded” event.
“Sometimes I think I feel like I want to be the girl who promotes self-confidence and says, don’t listen to what people say,” Rosé said to NPR. “But [receiving hate comments] wasn’t like that at all.”
Lisa:
Lisa delivered her song, “Rock Star,” on June 27, 2024. The song quickly skyrocketed to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition to “Rock Star,” she also dropped her song “New Woman,” in collaboration with ROSALíA and “Moonlit Floor” and “New Woman” in collaboration with Doja Cat and Raye. Lisa performed “Rock Star” and “New Woman” at the 2024 MTV’s VMAs.
Not only did she make herself a name as a soloist, she also made herself known as an actor by acting in “White Lotus.” Lisa plays the character “Mook,” in the HBO TV series.
Lisa just released her album, “Alter Ego,” on Feb. 28, 2025. In her new album, she has 15 tracks including “Born Again,” “New Woman” and “Rockstar.” In the album, she collaborated with five artists: Doja Cat, RAYE, ROSALíA, Future, Megan Thee Stallion and Tyla.
Jennie:
Jennie dropped many songs in collaboration with other artists. She released “One of the Girls” with the Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp, “Slow Motion” with Matt Champion, “SPOT!” with ZICO, “Love Hangover” with Dominic Fike and “ExtraL” with Doechii.
Jennie also released a hit single, “Mantra.” The song hit the number three spot on the Billboard Hot 200. The song is a way to commemorate “her drama-free existence.”
She is releasing her highly anticipated album “Ruby” on March 7, 2025. The album will consist of 15 songs including her already released songs: “ExtraL,” “Mantra” and “Love Hangover.”
Jisoo:
Jisoo recently released her new album, “Amortage” on Feb. 14. Her album consists of four tracks, “earthquake,” “Your Love,” “Tears” and “Hugs & Kisses.” Jisoo created a Tiktok dance to her song, “earthquake,” that had influencers hopping onto the trend.
Like Lisa, Jisoo made a name for herself in the acting world on Newtopia, a zombie Korean drama. In the film, Jisoo plays Kang Young Joo.
Plans for the future:
On Feb. 5, Blackpink released an official teaser for their 2025 world tour, even though the band hasn’t collaborated in over a year with each other. Majority of the comments were happy that the four girls are coming back together. The tour will go through many cities including New York, Chicago, California, Paris, Canada, London and Barcelona. May this be the start of a new era for Blackpink? Who knows, but based on the comments, many people hope that this marks a fresh start to the Blackpink reign.
