Artist: Blackpink
Title: The Album
Genre: K-Pop
Release date: October 2nd 2020
Reviewer: Grace Halliday

Blackpink, otherwise known as the queens of k-pop who have been bringing out hit after hit over the past few years since their debut have finally released their long awaited first full length album titled ‘The Album’. Consisting of 8 spectacular tracks.

In 2016 Blackpink officially made their debut under the YG Label with the song ‘Boombayah’ and since then the four membered group; consisting of Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and Lisa have quickly rose to fame with record breaking songs such as ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’, ‘Kill This Love’ and ‘How you Like That’. And have only very recently brought us songs collaborating with popular artists such as Dua Lipa with the song ‘Kiss and Make Up’ and Lady Gaga with ‘Sour Candy’. 

And like the many other times before, the girls of Blackpink did not fail to impress with their new album, consisting of collaborations between Selena Gomez and Cardi B. The entire album is a masterpiece and already very popular among fans of the group. As well as this, the music video to accompany this album, ‘Lovesick Girls’ quickly reached over 13 million views within one hour of its release, proving what a powerful and popular group Blackpink truly is.

‘How You Like That’ a song which was previously released in the form of a music video back in June of 2020 has made its way onto this album and it honestly feels as though it belongs there. Like the other songs on the album its powerful and shows the unique sound that the Blackpink girls are well known for. The vocals and raps within the song flow so nicely and the lyrics are strong and empowering. It’s quite a modern sounding song and could be considered a party anthem as it really is a song which makes you want to dance. In addition to this the music video was aesthetically pleasing and the choreography to accompany it was memorable and enjoyable.

Like the first song on this album, fans were previously introduced to ‘Ice Cream’ back at the end of August where the group brought us another beautifully filmed music video and awesome song with Selena Gomez. I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of the song upon first hearing it but after giving it a few more goes I fell in love. The song is so catchy and overall just really fun to listen to. Selena Gomez’s amazing voice really fit in with that of the Blackpink members and was overall a great collaboration as the celebrities had great chemistry. 

‘Pretty Savage’ was a song that once listening to it left me wondering why it wasn’t the main song on the album.  From the catchy and edgy beat to the powerful and savage lyrics it confused me for a bit but regardless of this ‘Pretty Savage’ received quite a lot of attention from fans so shortly after its release and it’s great to see it being appreciated as it should be. The song has a sort of sass about it that can make you feel like a badass just listening to it if you’re into the song.

The fourth song on the album was another amazing collaboration, this time with Cardi B, a well-known and amazing rapper. ‘Bet You Wanna’ is a song which I personally consider really easy to just groove to and vibe with as its simply just so fun and cool. This is one of the few songs on the album fully recorded in English and its honestly a masterpiece. From my own interpretations the song is about being hard to get because if someone wants to be with you then they better work hard to earn it.

‘Lovesick Girls’ was the main song of the album, accompanied with a music video which is already a hit on Youtube which had over 21 million views within 4 hours of its release. And it’s no surprise as to why. The song is not only equipped which spectacular vocals and rap verses but the meaning behind it is one that has sent fans into a theory frenzy on twitter. Though the song has a rather upbeat tone to it, it is still very emotional and the girls voices really help to emphasise that. In addition to that, the music video itself is very pleasing to the eye and shows off the girls stunning visuals. The song is honestly so easy to listen to even if you don’t understand it and is easily my overall favourite on the album.

From my own interpretation the song ‘Crazy Over You’ is about love addiction as well as what it’s like to have a really big crush on someone, the way you really want to be with them, etc. Of course though that’s my own personal interpretation and I could be completely wrong about its meaning but either way the song is amazing. This song is another which happened to be recorded in English and it works really well. The girls of Blackpink really made the song great with the skilled vocalists and rappers really bringing a great vibe to the song. It has a really unique and spectacular sound which definitely draws listeners in.

‘Love to Hate Me’ is really a song which left me thinking of the end of relationships and breakups simply due to the way I interpreted the lyrics of this upbeat song. It is once again one of the songs on the album which was recorded in English and the girls did it justice. This song is easily one of my favourite songs Blackpink has ever created with the way the rappers and vocalists of Blackpink flowing together so well in this badass track.

It is speculated that the ballad ‘ is one which was dedicated to Blackpink’s fans, Blinks, the song has a sweet and calming sound to it which can instantly put you in a good mood despite the deep emotional lyrics which would probably make most people emotional upon learning what they are. This song is truly beautiful and from what I can understand it talks about struggling to show who you really are in such a judgemental world. I honestly believe that whoever wrote this song had in mind that being a k-pop idol, or really any type of celebrity can be hard as it can often seem as you are pretending. Being a celebrity in such a competitive industry such as K-pop comes with its own hardships and struggles like any other line of work, and the song talks about this in a way which didn’t fail to bring me to the verge of tears. This song is for everyone, even if there is a language barrier you can easily tell what the song is about from the few English lines in the song. It’s truly an amazing listen much like the rest of the album.

Though it may not appear so at first on closer examination of the song and from theories from fans it can be somewhat concluded that wrapped in the lyrics of this song is stories of the girls hardships they have faced while being idols as of course with fame comes criticism and unfortunately the members of Blackpink have had their fair share of that. I think the way they did this, if it was their intention, is really smart and shows that though they always do their best to create songs that make their fans dance and are overall just really enjoyable there is a lot more going on behind the scenes which isn’t seen. 

In saying that Blackpink is said to be partnering with Netlfix to release a documentary on themselves later this year which includes information on their rise to fame and probably many other never before seen videos, some fans are excitedly waiting to see if this album will be addressed in that.

This album really shows Blackpink’s unique sounds and how they experiment with different types of music, the collaborations in this album were also quite amazing and has left fans wondering if we’ll see any more collabs between them and other artists in the future. Even if you’re not a fan of k-pop this is an album which I would highly recommend giving a listen if you wanted to get into k-pop or simply were curious of what all the hype is about this popular genre.

Track List:

How You Like That
Ice Cream (ft Selena Gomez)
Pretty Savage
Bet You Wanna (Ft Cardi B)
Lovesick Girls
Crazy Over You
Love To Hate Me
You Never Know