‘How You Like That?’: Blackpink announces comeback and world tour

K-pop superstars Blackpink returned yesterday, announcing new music dropping in August and the launch of a world tour this year.

As reported by Billboard via a press release from YG Entertainment, Blackpink are in the “final stages of recording a new album” that will start “a continuous large-scale project which will extend through the second half of the year.”

According to the report, an international world tour is in the works that promises to be “the “largest world tour in the history of a K-pop girl group.” YG Entertainment also mentions that “a lot of Blackpink-esque music has been prepared over a long period of time.”

No details were given about the contents or length of the album, but YG’s hint about music in the works may suggest the inclusion of some previously teased and unreleased tracks.

In the Netflix documentary “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” the girls can be seen recording a yet-to-be-released song called “Ready for Love,” which Jisoo and Jennie may have had a hand in co-writing.

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In July of 2021, Hypebae reported producer LIL 27 Club, who has worked with groups like BTS and TXT, took to Instagram to share the full version of a demo song originally meant for a Hybe artist. During the Instagram Q&A, he said, “Touchdown’ is a song for girls, but what I uploaded was the first sketch version demo and this version was not sung by Blackpink.

Around the same time, NME reported media outlets spotted Jennie and Rosé together in Los Angeles, causing frenzy among fans and speculation as to what they were doing there. YG later confirmed “Rosé and Jennie are currently in America to work on music.”

Another supposed leak came from YG labelmate Somi during an Instagram Live last March. Somi was walking around a building and accidently opened the door to an occupied studio playing a song that featured a distinct voice that fans thought could be Jennie’s.

Somi then said during the Instagram Live, “I hope you guys didn’t hear anything”

“I’m very hot right now cos i was very surprised my heart dropped that seconds.”

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YG Entertainment later took down videos and clips of Somi’s Instagram Live, causing further speculation.

Teases for the quartet’s long-awaited comeback have been plentiful. Jennie herself confirmed the comeback back in March during an episode of a popular Korean variety show called “The Game Caterers,” saying, “Blackpink is also making a comeback soon. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but since I’m the only Blackpink member here, I’ll just say it, please look forward to it. Thank you very much.”

Blackpink’s last comeback was 21 months ago with the release of their first full-length album, “The Album,” in October 2020. They also held their first online concert “The Show” in January of last year. Since then, all four members — Jisoo, Rosé, Jennie and Lisa — have kept busy with a variety of fashion deals for brands like Celine, Dior, Cartier, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent and events like Paris Fashion Week. The global superstars were also named U.N. goodwill ambassadors for climate change last year for the 26th U.N. Climate Change conference. They made history in May by becoming the first Asian girl group to grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Individually, the members have been busy with their own activities. Rosé released her debut solo album “R” in March 2021 with the tracks “On the Ground” and “Gone.” She also performed nine songs on the show “Sea of Hope,” covering an assortment of English songs like John Mayer’s “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” to Korean tracks with other artists like labelmate Lee Su-hyun of AKMU.

Lisa followed Rosé with her own solo album titled “Lalisa” in September last year, featuring the music video “Lalisa.”

Jisoo debuted in her first lead K-drama role in “Snowdrop” in December last year and became an ambassador to the popular online game “Maplestory.” She is the only member yet to make a solo music project debut.

Jennie has mostly kept to fashion or magazine projects, appearing on the cover of W Magazine last month. In April, she broke the internet with her bright new orange hair before making a stop in Los Angeles to promote designer glasses brand Gentle Monster and attend Coachella. She made a brief appearance in Grimes’ music video “Shinigami Eyes” five months ago.

Last week, the group furthered their lead as the most-subscribed music act on YouTube with 75 million subscribers.

Featured Image via MBCkpop

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