Every year there is an artist or group that comes right out of left field, and when I say left field, in this instance I mean K-Pop. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you read that right, the illustrious and heat seeking genre of K-Pop. Over here at Frankenculture, we leave no genre out, we explore all types of music! This week on this issue of What’s Spinning Me, I cover the white hot K-Pop group BlackPink and their debut Japanese album BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA, strap in because you are about to meet your new favorite addiction!
BlackPink, is a K-Pop group from Seoul, South Korea and was formed by YG Entertainment in 2016. The group consist of members; Roseanne Park, Kim Jisoo, Jennie Kim, and Lisa Manoban. BlackPink released their first Japanese EP BlackPink back in the summer of 2017, followed by their debut Korean EP Square Up in June of 2018. Fast forward to October 2018, BlackPink drops their debut Japanese studio album, BlackPink In Your Area, which is the focus of this WSM issue.
The album features nine fun, easy listening, and heart pumping K-Pop tracks. No album would be complete without a slow ballad, so, no worries, even in that department of creating a heat seeking, chart topping album. BlackPink explores all type of music on this album. You have your typical K-Pop anthem like the song DDU-DU DDU-DU or the bop PLAYING WITH FIRE . They also feature Hip Hop/rap heavy songs like BOOMBAYAH and WHISTLE, which became the group’s first number one track in South Korea. The group even delves in love and heartache tunes like REALLY and STAY.
BlackPink has made a big statement in not only K-Pop, but in all of music across the board. The group has been gaining popularity over here in the U.S. at warp speed, proving that they are a global celebrated act. BlackPink has been gaining so much popularity that even one of the members (Jennie Kim) has recently released a solo project aptly named Solo. One can only speculate but new music from the star group, come 2019 is inevitable, Be on the look out Blinks!(fandom name)
Here is how I discovered BlackPink, let me set the scene. My roommate and I were lounging around one day discovering random music on Spotify and I said to him as I was scrolling through moods and genres, ” Yo, I should give this K-Pop music a shot” and without skipping a beat this dude said “Of course you would dive down that rabbit hole”. Well folks, I would say rabbit hole is an understatement, that was almost a month ago and still haven’t played enough BlackPink to satisfy my K-Pop addiction. As I searched through the random groups of K-Pop, male and female, my eye caught these four women who went by the name BlackPink. I have been a blink since the day I discovered this gem of an all female K-Pop group. I am huge fan of pop music in general, I grew up loving Britney Spears, O-Town, Dream, NSYNC, and Backstreet Boys, so naturally I would gravitate towards something like BlackPink. Like most typical pop group fans, I have favorite members, my favorite members of BlackPink are rapper Lisa Manoban and singer Kim Jisoo. Every member of BlackPink brings a different flavor and vocal style but those two ladies stick out the most in my eyes and ears. This part of the issue of usually share favorite lyrics but most of their lyrics are in Korean and I wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of deciphering it. I am just here to tell you to check out a fun pop group who sing fun-feel good pop tunes.
My personal favorite songs on BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA are; REALLY, WHISTLE, PLAYING WITH FIRE, and FOREVER YOUNG. I know some of y’all are like “Really David, K-Pop???” Say what you want but there is always room for feel good music no matter the stigma attached to a group or genre. I give BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA, five out five spins, for it’s catchy singalongs, and ability to get you to move your body, a great album to do chores to! Give BlackPink a shot and let them hit you with that DDU-DU DDU-DU!
FrankenCulture 
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