South Korean girl group Blackpink has experienced an unprecedented rise in popularity since their debut in 2016, garnering all kinds of first-of-its-kind records in music and tonnes of accolades, which I won't go into or else we’ll be here a month. Suffice it to say, the title of being the "biggest girl group in the world" isn't a stretch at all.
(all photos courtesy of YG Entertainment)
They lived up to the reputation with two rounds of spectacular performances at the packed Suphachalasai Stadium over the weekend, a long-awaited return after their debut performance in Thailand in 2019 when they delivered three performances at Impact Arena as part of their first world tour “In Your Area”.
On Saturday, the opening act seemed to be the Blinks, many holding heart-shaped hammer light sticks, who occasionally sang along to music videos being played on two big screens, as they couldn’t wait for the girls to take the stage.
About 30 minutes later than the scheduled starting time, the stage lights were turned off before a short video interlude titled The Enchanted Garden was played, which was enough to send Blinks into a screaming frenzy, before Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa energetically kicked things off with How You Like That — the pre-release single with a mix of EDM, hip hop, trap, club and pop from their first studio album, The Album. They impressed with cool choreography, mini fireworks and dazzling lighting design before transitioning into Pretty Savage, also from The Album, without pause.
They performed a shortened version of Whistle next before they took a break to greet the audience. Each member introduced themselves in Thai, again sending fans into a screaming frenzy (visiting performers, take note), and you don't have to guess who got the loudest screams. Our homegirl Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban spoke in Thai about how excited Blackpink were after their more than-two-year absence from Thailand and gave a shout-out to Blinks in the back rows.
They kicked things back into high gear with the electropop Don't Know What To Do, which had Blinks waving their light sticks and singing along before they ended the first act with dance-pop Lovesick Girls.
I admit I Googled the tour's setlist beforehand and Saturday’s setlist followed pretty much the same order as the one used in October in Seoul to kick off the tour, except for a few surprises. Basically, it breaks down into four acts and one encore and each act will be preceded by a video interlude.
The second act started with a fiery performance of Kill This Love, literally. If I remember correctly, it was the first time during the night that their performance was accentuated with flame projectors on top of fireworks. The girls definitely killed with this anthemic performance and it was definitely the highlight of the night. They continued the energetic/sassy vibe with Crazy Over You and Playing With Fire.
They took another break to chitchat with fans and Lisa translated for Jennie that they had been trying to acclimate to Thai weather as they had been previously performing in Europe before the Asian leg of their tour. They introduced their four backing musicians before performing their full English language song Tally with an empowering message of being who you are unapologetically and ended the second act on a high note with an extended version of Pink Venom, which ended with a showcase of their back-up dancers and backing musicians, making the crowd go wild.
The spotlight returned to Blackpink again in the third act but this time, individually. Jisoo performed a cover of Liar by Camila Cabello (she's gearing up for her solo debut this year) before Jennie performed her pop-dance second solo single You & Me sans fireworks or flame but yet it felt focused and captivating. Rosé took to the stage next with Hard To Love and On The Ground before Lisa showed up with Lalisa and she showcased her pole dancing skills before moving on to Money, concluding the solo sessions.
They reunited on stage for the fourth act to perform Shut Down and Typa Girl before they had another chitchat with fans as the screens showed a full stadium lit up in pink from light sticks the Blinks were holding. They asked Blinks to do a Bl-ping-bong (the name for their official light stick) wave before Jennie became the bearer of bad news when she announced they would perform two "last" songs for the night — Ddu-du Ddu-du and Forever Young for a celebratory send-off.
The quotation marks are there because, obviously, the girls returned to the stage for an encore with Yeah Yeah Yeah and Stay. Jisoo had a belated happy birthday on the stage before the girls bid fans farewell for real with As If It’s Your Last.
Throughout their 24-song setlist, Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa kept the crowd going and satisfied with their high-energy performance, jovial chemistry between them, captivating background visuals, cool lighting design and all kinds of frills from mini fireworks, ribbons, fog jets and flame. A true pop phenomenon.
The “Born Pink World” tour continues in other Asian and Oceania countries until June.
