Disconnection to old art

As an artist, it is very common to start your craft/career in a different light to how you might shine later down the line. Your music would be based on your current feelings, mindset, personality and world. As the natural course of life unfolds, you are bound to change with it. As an artist myself, I used to write songs with recurring themes that never related to the person who I later became. I still wanted to release a single from that era to represent the beginning of where my music story starts, so I planned to do so. Since the recording of the song was an older version of me from two years ago, and my singing voice had improved since then, friends and advisers suggested that I re-recorded the song! I told them no and stood firmly on it because I believed that I would have never had the ability to sing and portray the same emotions that flowed through the song when I initially recorded it, living and feeling those raw emotions. I never regretted that decision as I value truth and rawness over perfection and buffering. The point is, I never have the same attachment to the songs that used to represent who I WAS but I will appreciate, remember and have space for the bond that I have with those songs without having the excitement of singing/performing it again, as it no longer represented the artist and person I am standing as today.

Old SHARED Art

A topic I found very interesting is the internet’s (and fans I think) rage with one of the members of global girl group, BLACKPINK. They have been in the industry since 2016 and have reached huge success all over the world. If you are not familiar, BLACKPINK is a Kpop girlgroup who were based in South Korea, consisting of four members. They are loved for their ‘girl-crush’ theme within their songs and music videos as well as their cool brand to have songs that represents their ‘Black’ side such as girl-crush, dark feminine pop and their ‘Pink’ side which would be soft, vibrant pop. They are managed by a label called YG, who is notoriously known as being apart of the ‘big 3’ with other major kpop labels like JYP and BigHit Entertainment. The group signed a 7-year contract in which they released two full studio albums, hit singles and three EPs. In between their album releases, or rather ‘comebacks’, there would be cold spaces where fans would be begging for more songs. Some started to speculate mistreatment to the members, comparing their musical journeys to one of South Korea’s girlgroup sensations, 2NE1, who were under the same label as BlackPink. Some even believed that YG used cold silence between comebacks to build the fan’s urge and anticipation for BlackPink’s comeback to maximise sales when songs, merch, concert dates are released.

Not only the fans were tired of the lack of songs, but also BlackPink member Jennie was too. Within the respects of her company, Jennie was giving a speech to their fans near the end of their concert saying “I honestly don’t wanna see anyone go home..I wanna do like 10 more songs if I had any.”

By August 2023, the girl’s 7 year contracts had ended, leaving them with the decision to choose if they want to disband. By this point, all four members had their own outbreak within acting, modelling and collaborating with global artists and brands, making themselves household names. It almost felt like BlackPink’s time was done, until they made their choice. They decided to split up…..as solo artists!

The girls decided to stay under YG as the girl group BLACKPINK but have simultaneously left the company as solo artists. This has led to all the girls focusing on their own albums and promotions, each of them dropping albums and collabs throughout the year. Jennie released her debut solo album called ‘Ruby’ under the company ‘Odd Atelier’ founded by herself. She explores themes of self-liberation, feminism, love, grief, confidence, vulnerability and self-discovery. Jennie and the rest of the members found their avenue to freely express themselves in ways that were new and different to the personas they had to maintain when they were Kpop idols.

The Deadline…

The news that every ‘Blink’ (BP fans) wanted to hear.. BlackPink is going on another world tour!……although, they have not released any new projects as a group. Many fans felt a disconnect from the girls as there were no gradual build up where the girls were making appearances for their upcoming re-grouping and the fact that nothing has been announced whilst the four have established their solo careers. In a wave of confusion and a tad of frustration, critics claimed that the group now feels like ‘models coming together’ or ‘4 soloists who are forced to be in a group’, leaving speculation of what to expect from this world tour.

The Deadline World Tour started July 5th 2025, with an exciting performance of a new song to be released, called ‘Jump’! Some Blinks speculated this single comeback to happen aligning with the tour schedule, catching on from YG’s previous routines when building up hype for the group. However, the single is all that was released…so therefore, BlackPink was just performing the same songs that they have been performing since 2016, all the way up until now.

Cash Cows?

Rightttttt….. so this company has these women performing the same setlist from when they first emerged into the industry, at every world tour. There does not seem to be any ‘era’s’ in their music, apart from when referring to the end of a project’s promotional season. There were no particular storyline to follow within the group’s music, which is not all the way bad but could lose the personal connection between the fans, the group and the music. There are no sense of growth either, despite the fact that we saw the ladies grow into their own artists, starting the industry in their late teens and young adult ages. Within music business, YG has little to no work to do when it comes to themes and building storylines so therefore they stuck to the same formula they always had from the beginning…. because if it’s not broken the why fix it right?……so then what happens if the members no longer want to perform ?

Is Jennie Kim lazy?

If you’ve kept up with the members personally, you would know that Jennie has a certain condition that halts her from performing at maximum energy 100% of the time during the shows, for the whole tour. Sometimes this would require her to catch her breath and sometimes feel a little dizzy/faint. When Jennie was a newbie, she had this fire in her. A hunger where she gave all she had every time and left the crowd and fans stunned by her talent. Evidently, that has faded but has NOT disappeared. LOADS of critics challenge and tease her by calling her lazy, when she doesn’t seem to be putting in the same work as the other members. After BlackPink released their documentary, showing their behind the stage struggles, the fans had closer insight into why Jennie sometimes ‘lack’.

Now that the new tour has commenced, those have found it evident that not only does Jennie not put her efforts into dancing, sometimes her facial expressions screams ‘I don’t wanna be here!’. There is still a divide between those who thinks it’s because of her health reasons and others who think that she is no longer interested in performing with her group. They further back up their points by comparing side by side video performances showing Jennies energy when with the group vs when she is performing solo.

Granted, when she is performing solo, she cannot lack or have lesser energy because all eyes are on her but I also believe that she is singing and performing from her heart and her passion. Her solo work (and the other members too) have shown real growth sonically, musically, literally and honestly and it truly reflects who she/they are today as artists and women. They all have creative say and control over their work and can freely experiment with their sounds whereas, being managed as a group under a company, you have little to no say over anything you create.

Overall, as a group, I doubt that they are all being forced to be together as one, since they are adults and had a choice to sign the contract or not. I feel like they probably signed to release new projects as a group and not really go on a whole world tour with the same set of songs from previous albums. I do feel like they are disconnected from their songs as a group but are also happy to share the remaining connection with the fans who fell in love with them as a group too. I really like the fact that they chose to individually branch out to have creative control over themselves and explore and expand their craft. I don’t think Jennie is lazy, but rather bored and disconnected from the music until it is time to showcase who she really is. As a music artist, I can understand if she feels likes that but I do not agree with the outwardly dis-interest in performing as she 1. agreed to tour knowing the setlist 2. knows that blinks from around the world has paid and showed up for them if this were the case.

It is difficult to fake being content with performing the same songs over and over since debut, esp when you have a burning urge for a new era. What do you think? Imagine you were performing nearly all of your songs since debut, that you’ve performed at every show and every concert. Songs that you've outgrown, how would you feel? Comment your thoughts below!