BLACKPINK, a new girl group set to debut this month, is
drawing much attention from K-pop fans. The group first came to the
public's attention when YG Entertainment announced on June 29 that it will
launch a new girl group seven years after the debut of 2NE1.
The news of YG Entertainment's new girl group immediately
topped real-time searches on Naver, Korea's top portal website, and articles
about BLACKPINK became the most-read stories online. The new group was
rumored to consist of five members, but this turned out to be one extra. Some
50 trainees of the company were known to have auditioned for the idol group.
"At first, producer Yang Hyun-suk planned to debut nine members in the
group but he shrank it down to the final four and concentrated on developing
their skills," the agency said. YG Entertainment's hit-song maker
Teddy, who wrote songs for company's most successful idol groups BigBang and
2NE1, is in charge of producing the group's new album. The group is undergoing
three music video shoots with four renowned choreographers from around the
world for its debut at the end of this month.
According to the agency, they put the contrasting colors of pink and black
together for the group's name to deliver the message that 'pretty things are
not everything,' and 'all is not as it seems.' The average age of the
girls is 19 and they have been trained by the company for at least four to six
years. Three members in the group have lived abroad, bringing English, Japanese
and Thai language skills to the group.
The agency unveiled four members one by one on its official blog starting June
1.
Jennie
was the first singer to be introduced. She had appeared in music videos of
rapper G-Dragon's solo album "One of a Kind" in 2012 on the track
"That XX." Another member Lisa is Thai and she was member of a
dancing crew. Apart from her native tongue, she is fluent in Korean, English
and Japanese. She's appeared in ads for YG Entertainment's fashion brand
NONAGON with singer B.I. and Bobby of hip-hop group iKON. Jisoo is a talented
singer who can dance, sing and act. She has also been appearing in music videos
for YG Entertainment artists, including Epik High's "Spoiler" and
"Happen Ending" in 2014 and Akdong Musician member Suhyun's solo
single "I'm Different."Rose is the last charismatic member of the
group, who previously participated in G-Dragon's mini-album to be featured in
the track "Without You." Rose was born in Australia and she moved to
Korea in 2012 to pursue her musical ambitions after qualifying in a local YG
audition
