The South Korean K-pop girls group BLACKPINK will participate in the upcoming YouTube Originals special event Dear Earth on October 23.
Dear Earth was announced as a part of YouTube's October sustainability-centered programming on Thursday (Sept. 23) during the 2021 Summer TCA press tour. The campaign centers around climate change.
Global leaders including Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, former U.S. President Barack Obama, and Pope Francis will attend the event. The campaign will also feature international celebrities such as Jaden Smith, Anitta, and Billie Eilish.
The campaign will follow a format similar to YouTube Originals' Dear Class of 2020 all-star commencement special that was aired during the pandemic last year. It will feature comedic shorts, special appearances, musical performances, and keynote addresses.
According to YouTube's global head of original content Susanne Daniels, Dear Earth will motivate and inspire audiences to create a healthier, better existence for the planet through contributions from a wide range of global musicians, celebrities, leaders, and creators.
Other artists to be featured during the event include Tinashe, GaTa, and Lil Dicky. Iconic characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Muppets, and Marsai Martin will also be part of the campaign along with YouTube creators ZHC, PhysicsGirl, TheOdd1sOut, Jack Harries, Dream, Bretman Rock, Brave Wilderness, and AsapSCIENCE.
The only K-pop artist to be part of Dear Earth, BLACKPINK will feature in the campaign as special speakers. The popular group will deliver a message related to improving awareness of climate change to fans all over the globe. They will also put up an extravagant performance.
BLACKPINK is taking the forefront in numerous social contribution activities and public campaign awareness. The girls' group has also recently been chosen to be the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocate, becoming the first Asian artist to get this honor. Earlier this year, the K-pop group was also appointed as the UN's Climate Change Conference (COP26) advocates.
On Thursday, BLACKPINK's super hit single DDU-DU-DDU-DU crossed more than 1.7 billion views at around 7 PM KST, attaining a great milestone in three years and three months. BLACKPINK is the only K-Pop group and second Korean artist to achieve this milestone after PSY for Gangnam style.
BLACKPINK has produced multiple hit songs and established themselves as an international top girl group since their debut in August 2016. The K-pop group is the number one artist on YouTube with 67.1 million subscribers, the highest for any musical artist. In addition, the total number of Instagram followers, including the official page and those of the individual members, is more than 245 million.