Black Pink

One listen to Boombayah and you know this is music that you would want to listen to again and again, while Ddu-Du Ddu-Du with its hard hitting sound lingers in your mind. Black Pink are a band for the youth of India who can’t get enough of them. After BTS got girls swooning over them, it’s Black Pink out to get the boys!

Since September 2017 youngsters have been glued to VH1 after the music channel devoted a special slot for K-pop music videos. But K-pop culture had already made its way into India almost five years ago. It is said that the North East is the K-pop capital of India. After Hindi entertainment media was banned by the Revolutionary People’s Front as a protest against Indian discrimination against the North East, researchers Otojit Kshetrimayum and Ningombam Victoria Chanu, who studied the Korean wave in the North East, said that it was the cultural proximity between the North East and Korea that had added to this craze. K-pop slowly moved on to other states in India. The craze extends to K-pop festivals with youngsters emulating the fashion of their favourite artists and nationwide K-pop singing contests doing the rounds.

Black Pink comprises Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa, who at a very young age are breaking records on YouTube with most of their tracks being viewed millions of times, thus becoming the fastest-selling K-pop girl group on the planet, confirming that they truly are one of this generation’s most-followed acts.

The quartet who debuted in August 2016, was formed by YG Entertainment, and combined the talents of lead vocalist Jisoo Kim, main rapper/vocalist Jennie Kim, main vocalist Rose Park Chae Young, and lead rapper Lalisa Manoban aka Lisa, born Pranpriya Manoban.

As Rosé is from Australia and Jennie studied in New Zealand for several years, the girl group has a bit of an edge on the international K-pop scene because both are able to communicate directly with English-speaking fans.

The band debuted with their EP Square One, featuring the hits Boombayah and Whistle. Boombayah set the record as the most-viewed debut music video by a Korean artist on Billboard World Digital charts. Both tracks climbed the charts in the U.S. and South Korea, even breaking into the French singles chart. Whistle topped the digital, download, streaming, and mobile charts on Gaon in August 2016, earning Black Pink the Best of Next Artist and Best Music Video awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards and the Best New Artist award at the Melon Music Awards. Months later, they released Square Two which entered the U.S. Heatseekers chart at No. 13 and the World Albums chart at No. 2. The song also became the first debut for a K-pop girl group on the Canadian charts.

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