A few days after their debut last Aug. 8, YG Entertainment's BLACKPINK has been faced with criticisms. According to K-pop fans, the new group is not unique and is very much like 2NE1, another girl group also from the same entertainment agency.
K-pop fans have characterized BLACKPINK as "another version" of 2NE1, YG Entertainment's first all-female group which debuted seven years ago, according to The Jakarta Post.
Just like 2NE1, the new group is composed of four women - Korean Jennie and Jisoo, Thai national Lisa and Australian Rose. Jakarta Post also noted how BLACKPINK's singing and dancing style is the same as 2NE1. In addition, fans have compared Rose's singing to 2NE1's Park Bom and BLACKPINK's rapping style to 2NE1's CL and Minzy, who has since left the group.
According to The Korea Times, BLACKPINK's edge over 2NE1 will be their looks. This was confirmed by the entertainment agency's founder Yang Hyun-suk in the group's debut press conference held in Moss Studio, Gangnam in Seoul.
"If you ask me to distinguish BLACKPINK from 2NE1, I want to say I did not try to make them different," he said. "If you ask me what differentiates them from other girl groups, I will say I did not form them with that in mind. I tried to make the YG version of a girl group like I did with 2NE1. But this time, I wanted the girls to look pretty too, with skills."
Despite these criticisms, BLACKPINK continues to dominate local and international music charts. Last Monday, the group also unveiled lead singles "Boombayah" and "Whistle" from their first mini-album "Square One".
According to K-pop news website Soompi, BLACKPINK's new songs has topped four real-time music charts within an hour since it was released last Monday. Both songs respectively placed first and second on Bugs, Genie, Mnet Music and Olleh Music. These songs ranked 6th and 10th on Naver Music and settled at 11th and 12th place on Melon. "Whistle" also placed 8th on monkey3.
Aside from the local charts, BLACKPINK's new tracks also took over music charts in other parts of the world like Hong Kong, Finland and Indonesia, KPOP Herald reported.
Here's a music video of "Whistle", one of BLACKPINK's new single from their first mini album "Square One".
