BLACKPINK – ‘Born Pink’ Album Review

Try pink poison

About a month ago, the first single from the album Pink Venom came out, and it quickly became a hit around the world.

The catchiest part of the song is the chorus, where the girls tell listeners to “taste the pink poison” over the song’s addictive beat. But even if the song is not catchy, it will still be very interesting and intriguing, especially how it was made.

The song begins with an eerie rendition of “Blackpink” on traditional Korean instruments. It remains the same for the first verse, where they sample Rihanna’s “Pon De Replay”. In the second verse, they use 90s rap with hints of hyper-pop, and the song ends with a bombastic “RA TA TA TA” that is abruptly cut off. You might scratch your head sometimes.

In all honesty, the ending of “RA TA TA TA” is not one of the most puzzling parts of the song, as it is more expected than surprising. We’ve heard chanted dance breaks that end almost every Blackpink title track, making the song all too familiar even if it’s a bit different from the group’s other songs.

Pink Venom consists of verses that don’t seem to go together, but actually do because of the way they come together. Blackpink is trying a new style here, but using the same old formula for the ending will avoid that. It’s fun and catchy, and it sounds like a Blackpink song. Maybe a little too much.

B-sides: an alarmingly low number

Typa Girl is a trap/hip hop B-side with strong lyrics and an even stronger beat. It sounds like a Blackpink song, which is a trend that has been going on for a long time. With its in-your-face attitude and sinister beat drop, the song fits in with the rest of the group’s music, but it doesn’t sound too familiar.

With its simple and catchy sound, Typa Girl seems like the perfect follow-up to Shut Down. Both songs will get your attention without being too much for you.

When the sound of the record changes, there’s a pop song called “Yeah Yeah Yeah” that sounds like it was made in the 1980s. It has retro synths and a production style that feels like 80s music. Although this track is a nice change from the band’s usual B-sides, it feels like another victim of the 1980s Kpop craze, which has been a problem for the past few years.

With its old-fashioned and flat development, it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. It feels like something you have to get through to get to the next dish rather than a full meal.

Fifth on the list is “Hard to Love,” an old-sounding pop B-side sung by lead singer Rosé. Like the last track, this single is very close to the disco sound. But the bright vocals and refreshing guitar tones bring the song to a more refined and interesting ending, making it one of Born Pink’s best.

The next song is the expected The Happiest Girl, which is the requisite ballad on the record. The dark and gloomy tone of the song goes well with the members’ excellent singing, who do a good job of expressing the emotion in the lyrics.

However, the production risks being a bit boring as it doesn’t do much more than the usual plaintive piano progression. Only in the last chorus does the song reach a more developed composition that seems to be finished. It makes for a great ending, but it also makes the rest of the song seem like a chore you have to do to get to the end.

Last up for the new tracks is Tally, a pop song with elements of hip hop and a crunchy guitar tone that gives it a more rock feel. With its repetitive production and cyclic progression, this b-side is easy to listen to, but its simplicity makes it memorable and unique. Easy to love and easy to listen to.

Ready to let go

We both did the same thing with Born Pink: we put the worst part at the end. Ready For Love is the last song on the album. It was first released as a PUBG Mobile song after it was removed from the group’s first album as a B-side (for obvious reasons). And if you ask me, it should have stayed in PUBG, not in albums, and not in any of us.

The song isn’t bad, but it’s very generic and old, and it feels like the people who made it are trying to remember what a song from 2018 sounds like. But even so, I’m still not giving up because it still has some good points.

Ready For Love was so bad because it was put on the record, and especially because it was the last song on the album. Having Born Pink end with that song, of all the songs they could have chosen, feels disappointing and anti-climactic. It’s like getting stockings for Christmas. They’re not bad, but you hope for something better.

Craving more Blackpink

Overall, Born Pink works in ways its predecessor didn’t, but it also fails in the same way.

The Album is like a collection of great songs put together just to have an album with more than five songs. Born Pink, on the other hand, feels like a real album with a clear message for listeners.

Even though there are many different sounds and subgenres, Blackpink’s sound is clear in every song. In every part of the record, they stay true to who they are, showing their pink and black sides with grace.

But still, The Album and Born Pink have the same fatal flaw: they’re too short. Both albums only have eight songs, so they’re over in a flash and don’t give listeners much to look forward to.

Also, short albums make the record’s flaws stand out more because there isn’t enough time for the good parts to fill in the bad ones. Originality feels even less original, flatness even flatter, and old-fashioned even more old-fashioned. Because the songs sound the same, it’s not enough to keep the listener full and happy.

If you don’t count Ready for Love, Born Pink is a more complete body of work than The Album. However, it still leaves you with more Blackpink.

Background

On March 7, 2022, Jennie appeared on the variety show The Game Caterers in an episode with YG Entertainment artists. He said, “Blackpink will soon make a comeback. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but since I’m the only member of Blackpink here, I’ll just say it. Please look forward to it.”

“Ready for Love” was released as a promotional single from the album on July 29, 2022, along with an animated music video, in partnership with the battle royale video game PUBG Mobile. On July 31, 2022, YG Entertainment released the album trailer video through the group’s official social media accounts. They also announced that a world tour will begin in October, after a pre-release single in August and the album itself in September. The label later confirmed that two music videos were produced to support the album. According to reports, they were made with the most money ever spent on making a music video. “Pink Venom,” the album’s first single, was released on August 19. The lead single “Shut Down” was released on September 16.

Taking notes and making changes

In an interview with Rolling Stone that appeared on May 23, 2022, Blackpink said, “They’re working on the album and they’re ready to get back into the swing of things.” Ryan Tedder, who last worked with Blackpink on their first studio album, said in an interview with Good Morning America that he wrote songs for the new album with members Jennie and Rosé. Tedder said that Blackpink did most of the work, but he helped out and made some contributions. Although they worked on a few songs, none of them made it to the album.