26 April 2021 - Rosé - On The Ground

Roseanne Park was born 11 February 1997.... in Auckland, New Zealand.

She lived in New Zealand, and then Australia, until she was 15, and she had an audition with YG Entertainment, the famed K-Pop label.  Two weeks later, she was in Seoul, and she hasn't really looked back.  

The way K-Pop works, when a label signs you, you usually train with them in singing and acting and dancing until you are ready to join a group.  With Rosé , that happened four years later, in 2016, when she was paired with Jennie, Jisoo and Lisa - which the world knows better as BLACKPINK, who are likely in your area.  

K-Pop groups often have a set beginning, middle, and end.  I don't think BLACKPINK is done, and since the debut of Rosé as a solo artist happened AT a BLACKPINK concert, I think the group has a future.  

That doesn't mean that Rosé isn't a great artist in her own right.  Internationally, this song, released on 12 March, 2021, has been huge.  Its debut on YouTube has been the largest ever by a South Korean solo artist - with nearly 42 million views in its first day.  This song has so far peaked at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100, far higher than any other Korean female solo artist.   Worldwide, it's done even better.  Universally, this song is loved and respected.

Two things of note with this song.

1) The song is 100% in English.  100%.  Since it's Rosé's first language, it makes sense that she would cross over and do that.

2) Her first single probably could have been light and fun pop music.  This isn't.... and in fact, Rosé is listed as a co-writer of this deep and meaningful song.

I add this "live" performance to illustrate a piece of the K-pop machine that I don't really enjoy.  There's several videos like this. Rosé CLEARLY wants to sing her song.  She's fully capable of singing her song.  The helper track is turned up so high she can't.  When she can break through that track, you can hear the absolute passion in her voice.  

Here she is on the Tonight Show.  Pretty much the same performance.  She doesn't break through as much.