In her Billboard cover story published Thursday (Nov. 14), the 27-year-old K-pop superstar gushed about her plans with groupmates ROSÉ, JENNIE and JISOO to launch back into full-band activities next year after spending the past year and a half focusing on solo projects. “I can’t wait,” she excitedly told writer Nolan Feeney of the planned comeback.
“We know each other so well and know how much energy we have to put into every single project,” she continued. “So we want to support and say, ‘You did really well!’ Like, JENNIE and Rosie just released their own songs, and we’re on texts, we’re on FaceTime. They’re like family. I’m just so happy that they’re releasing something. This is what we all wanted to do, so I just wanted to say that I really do love their songs.”
Following the July 2023 conclusion of the group’s Born Pink World Tour — which supported Billboard 200-topping album Born Pink — LISA has spent the past couple of months releasing independent singles such as Billboard Hot 100 hits “Rockstar” and “New Woman” with Rosalía. Meanwhile, ROSÉ has been gearing up to release a solo album, rosie; JENNIE filmed The Weeknd’s The Idol last year and dropped a new single titled “Mantra” in October; and JISOO has been focusing on acting in Korean TV and film projects.
Their individual paths, however, will once again intertwine at some point in 2025, with YG Entertainment announcing as much earlier this year. The company also promised that the comeback would be paired with another world tour — but that’s where they might’ve lost LISA, who seemed a bit uncertain while speaking to Billboard.
“That’s what they say?” she said — appearing slightly skeptical — of YG’s tour news. LLOUD’s Alice Kang added, “I don’t know … We’ll have to wait and see what YG confirms.”
LISA’s cover story comes a little more than a month since her last single, “New Woman,” dropped in October. On Tuesday (Nov. 12), she posted a mysterious teaser video set to “Rockstar,” with a cryptic countdown appearing on her website around the same time.
Fans were immediately hopeful that the latter was ticking down to an announcement related to her upcoming album, about which the Thai singer-rapper tells Billboard, “I’m trying to figure it out, the tracklist and everything, what I can change in there.”
“Everything’s there,” she adds. “I think they’re going to be shocked at how capable I am [at] doing so many things.”
Sources
Lisa, a member of the global K-Pop supergroup Blackpink, is Louis Vuitton‘s newest house ambassador, the luxury fashion house announced Tuesday.
The 27-year-old rapper and dancer was a guest at Louis Vuitton’s recent women’s Fall/Winter 2024 show in Paris. She joins other previously named ambassadors such as Saoirse Ronan, Stray Kids’ Felix and BTS’ J-Hope.
Lisa’s “bold sartorial choices notably reflect Nicolas Ghesquière’s own strong womenswear vision marked by individuality and empowerment,” the brand said in a release, adding that Lisa’s achievements speak to Louis Vuitton’s core values.
“I am very excited to welcome Lisa as a House Ambassador,” Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of women’s collections, said in a statement. “She has a daring spirit and charisma that I find incredibly compelling. She is as bold and creative with her music as she is with her fashion, and it is a privilege to accompany her on this journey.
The ambassador news comes amidst an already busy July for the girl group member. Earlier this month, it was announced that she would be co-headlining the 2024 Global Citizen Festival at New York’s Central Park Great Lawn in September. The concert will be Lisa’s first solo festival performance. As a member of the K-Pop supergroup Blackpink, Lisa and her fellow group members (Jennie, Jisoo and Rosé) headlined the 2023 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival. The four-piece girl group, formed under Korean entertainment company YG Entertainment, was the first K-Pop act to headline the festival.
Lisa recently released her latest solo single, “Rockstar,” at the end of June. The song is the first to come from her recently formed solo partnership with RCA Records. In December 2023, it was announced that Blackpink had renewed their exclusive contracts for group activities with YG Entertainment, however, it was later revealed that all four members decided to part ways with the label for solo activities.
In February, Lisa announced the formation of her new company LLOUD, which she described in an Instagram post as a “platform to showcase my vision in music and entertainment.” In April, RCA Records announced that Lisa and LLOUD were entering a partnership with the record label. According to a release from the label, the deal allows Lisa to release new solo music under RCA Records while maintaining full ownership of all her recordings.
Move over Prince, Bowie and Jagger — there’s a new rock star in town. LISA has shared her most in-depth teaser yet for her upcoming solo single “Rockstar,” featuring the BLACKPINK star looking like a cyberpunk queen as she dances, models edgy outfits and lurks fiercely in dark city streets.
Posted Tuesday night (June 25), the video shows several clips flashing in and out as a snippet of LISA’s percussive, synthy single plays. “Baby, I’m a rock star,” she asserts on the track as she performs choreography with a swarm of dancers dressed in white and flashes a star-shaped decal on her teeth.
At one point, the Thai rapper looks like edgy as she models a star crop top and leather jacket, catwalking past cars and neon signs. At the end, she mimes strumming an electric guitar in a shimmering silver top-and-pants combo.
The teaser follows weeks of LISA teasing the arrival of “Rockstar,” which will mark her first proper solo release since 2021’s dual singles “Lalisa” and “Money.” At the beginning of June, she launched her TikTok account to start posting seconds-long clips of the new single; according to a recent release from her team, she set a Guinness World Record by gaining a million followers in just two hours and 18 minutes after her first post.
Last week, LISA finally told fans when the track will drop: Thursday (June 27). She also shared the “Rockstar” cover art, which features her with a shaggy haircut and huge hoop earrings, and modeling a pair of biker glasses.
The song will also mark the artist’s first release since signing with RCA Records in anticipation of her upcoming solo era, inking a deal in partnership with her own LLOUD company that will allow her to retain ownership of her master recordings. “I’m super excited to be joining the RCA family, and I am confident they are the best team to create a bigger movement in my solo career,” she said in a statement in April. “Looking forward to showing the world everything we have been preparing.”
LISA’S “ROCKSTAR” ERA is here. On Tuesday, the Blackpink star’s management company LLOUD announced that Lisa will be releasing her highly-anticipated single “Rockstar” on June 27.
The company announced “Rockstar” on Instagram posting a cartoonish, electric sound, seemingly teasing the new track. Lisa recently made a TikTok account, where she gained a million followers in just over 2 hours, setting a Guinness World Record.
Lisa’s first two videos on the platform, which tease the new era of music, see Lisa posing for the camera in her OOTD, garnering nearly 20 million likes across both posts. She’s already reached 9.5 million followers on the platform.
“Rockstar” will mark the first solo release from Lisa since joining DJ Snake, Ozuna, and Megan Thee Stallion on “SG” back in 2021. She also dropped a pair of singles, “Lalisa” and “Money,” that year. (She performed her solo tracks while Blackpink headlined Coachella last year.)
Lisa signed a solo deal with RCA, which was announced in April. Earlier this month, she teased new music on her social media, writing, “Coming soon: Lisa.”
Lisa, the breakout singer, dancer and actress from the hugely successful K-pop group BLACKPINK, has signed with RCA Records for solo recordings, the parties announced Wednesday (April 10). The deal, a partnership between Lisa and her LLOUD Co. management and creative company with RCA, will allow her to retain ownership of her master recordings.
In addition to her chart-topping work with BLACKPINK, Lisa has made waves with two solo singles, “Lalisa” and “Money,” both of which reached the Billboard Hot 100. She will continue to record for Interscope as part of BLACKPINK.
“I’m super excited to be joining the RCA family, and I am confident they are the best team to create a bigger movement in my solo career,” Lisa said in a statement about the news. “Looking forward to showing the world everything we have been preparing.”
Lisa’s most celebrated work so far has been with BLACKPINK, which has released two studio albums in the past few years under YG Entertainment/Interscope: The Album in 2021, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and Born Pink in 2022, which reached No. 1 on the chart. The group went on to make history as the first K-pop act to headline Coachella in 2023.
As a solo artist, Lisa has also set a few records of her own, including four Guinness World Records, the latest for “Money” becoming the first solo K-pop track to cross the 1 billion streams threshold on Spotify. And earlier this year, an HBO spokesperson confirmed that Lisa will be part of the cast for the forthcoming third season of the hit show The White Lotus, which will mark her acting debut.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with Lisa and LLOUD Co.,” RCA chairman/CEO Peter Edge and president/COO John Fleckenstein said in a joint statement. “Lisa is a multidimensional talent and an irrefutable global force. We are thrilled to welcome her and her team to the RCA Records family.”
Blackpink member Lisa has joined the cast of “The White Lotus” Season 3, Variety has learned exclusively.
She will be credited under her given name, Lalisa Manobal, in the third season of the hit HBO series. As with all castings for the third season, her role is being kept under wraps. “The White Lotus” is set to begin production in and around Koh Samui, Phuket, and Bangkok, Thailand, in February. Exact plot details are being kept under wraps aside from the fact it will follow a new group of guests at a White Lotus resort property.
The expansive ensemble cast already includes: Leslie Bibb, Dom Hetrakul, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Tayme Thapthimthong, Christian Friedel, Julian Kostov, Morgana O’Reilly, Lek Patravadi, Shalini Peiris, Carrie Coon, Scott Glenn, Francesca Corney, Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravičius, Natasha Rothwell, Walton Goggins, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola.
Manobal’s role in “The White Lotus” will mark her acting debut. She is now the second member of Blackpink to appear in an HBO series. Jennie (credited as Jennie Ruby Jane) made her own acting debut in the drama “The Idol,” which premiered in June 2023.
Blackpink — consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa — is one of the most popular musical groups in the world. They launched in August 2016 with the single album “Square One” under YG Entertainment. Their single “Boombayah” reached No. 1 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, setting the record as the most-viewed debut music video by a Korean act. They became the highest-charting female K-pop group on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ddu-Du Ddu Du,” peaking at No. 55, and were the first K-pop girl group to enter and top the Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. The group later collaborated with artists like Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Selena Gomez.
Manobal, who recently established her own management company named Lloud Co., has broken several individual records herself. With the release of her solo album “Lalisa” in 2021, she was the first female artist to sell 736,999 copies in the first week in South Korea. Both her singles from the album — “Lalisa” and “Money” — charted in the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200, the latter becoming the longest-charting song by a female K-pop soloist on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and U.K. Singles Chart. She broke three Guinness World Records in 2023 as the Most Instagram followers for a K-pop artist and the first solo K-pop winner at both the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Manobal is repped by Lloud Co.
Mike White created “The White Lotus” and serves as executive producer and director. David Bernad and Mark Kamine also executive produce. HBO has partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to support the filming and promotion of the third installment.
“The White Lotus” proved to be an immediate hit for HBO when it debuted in 2021. The first season, set in Hawaii, received 20 Emmy nominations and ten wins, including best limited or anthology series. The second installment, which premiered in December 2022 and was set in Sicily, earned 23 Emmy nominations, including best drama series, ultimately winning five awards.
Following a 2023 that included major solo moves like featuring on Korea’s legend Taeyang’s single “Shoong!,” a residency at Paris’ famous cabaret Crazy Horse, and a slew of new Guinness World Records to her name, including K-pop’s first solo record to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, Lisa is ready to make this year even louder—or, should we say, LLOUD-er.
On February 8, Lisa posted to her 100 million Instagram followers with an account named LLOUD, at the handle @wearelloudd, and declared it “a platform to showcase my vision in music and entertainment” alongside a stunning new shot of her in a black suit and tie accessorized with bold rings and a colored French manicure. Lisa asked fans to “join me on this exciting journey to push through new boundaries together.”
Lisa also shared a link to LLOUD’s website, which included its official social media accounts across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, as well as the following mission statement:
THE FUSION OF SOUND & INNOVATION
At LLOUD, our passion as an artist management company is to create experiences that transcend genres and connect generations. Our core lies in relentless innovation and a commitment to authenticity. We’re not just pushing boundaries; we’re redefining them, crafting chart-topping and genre-defying music. Embrace the beginning of the LLOUD era with us.
Indeed, Lisa’s career so far can be defined as both “chart-toping” and “genre-defying.” Not only has the Thai singer-rapper broke chart records with Blackpink—becoming the first female group to top the Billboard 200 since 2008 and score K-pop’s highest-charting girl group single—but with her solo work as well on tracks like her debut single “Lalisa” going to No. 1 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart as well as “SG” with DJ Snake, Ozuna and Megan Thee Stallion that was No. 1 on the Latin Airplay radio chart.
BLACKPINK’s Lisa has revealed mysterious black-and-white teaser posters.
Ever since Lisa revealed the teasers, fans have been speculating about what could possibly be “coming soon” tomorrow on February 8 KST. Some are expecting the BLACKPINK member to announce her own clothing or makeup brand or possibly her own one-man label for her solo activities.
However, nothing has been confirmed, so everyone will have to wait until February 8.
