Kiwi Singer Becomes Huge K-Pop Star After Her Father’s Simple Suggestion

As a member of the massively popular K-pop group BlackPink, Roseanne Park has so far achieved global success along with bandmates Lisa Manoban, Jennie Kim, and Ji Soo Kim since the group launched in August 2016.

The Kiwi-Korean singer, who’s born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, revealed that it was her father’s suggestion that launched her foray into K-pop stardom.

While she thought her dad was just kidding at that time, she eventually joined when Korean entertainment company YG Entertainment held auditions in Australia back in 2012.

“I always played music for more as a hobby,” the singer told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“In Australia, I didn’t think that there was much of a chance for me to become a singer – especially to become a K-pop star … I was living so far from the country that it never really occurred to me as a possibility.”

The then 16-year-old impressed the selection committee and was placed first during the tryout.

Two months later, she was signed as a talent by one of Korea’s “big three” music companies and was immediately flown to Seoul to begin her training.

Today, she is simply known as Rosé, a member of the fast-rising K-pop group BlackPink, which has so far achieved global stardom since they launched in August 2016.

Their recently released music video, “As If It’s Your Last”, already reached over 45 million views, barely two weeks after it was uploaded on YouTube:

The female group, which became the first to debut under YG Entertainment seven years after 2NE1, is currently on top of the iTunes charts in 18 countries.

While she and her bandmates are breaking a lot of K-pop records these days, Park revealed that the road to success for her was not without challenges.

“Coming to YG Entertainment as a trainee was one of the most challenging yet most life-changing periods of my life,” she was quoted as saying.

She and her group mates were subjected to four years of a busy training schedule consisting of vocals, dance, guitar lessons as well as Japanese and Korean language trainings.

“We would have these tests at the end of every month with YG and we would prepare a dance and song performance as a group and individually,” she revealed.

All the members’ hard work paid off as Black Pink’s successful debut year earned them several awards for Best New Artist of the Year at Melon Music Awards, the Golden Disc Awards and at the Seoul Music Awards. Billboard also named them the second best new K-pop group of 2016.

Park now dreams of taking her fame back home.

“I’m just dreaming that one day I’ll be able to come back to my home town and perform for everyone,” she said.

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