If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, then you’ve heard BlackPink. Their hit singles “Pink Venom” and “Shut Down” were the soundtrack to millions of dance routines this summer, but the K-pop superstars have proven to be more than just social media famous.
Two sold-out shows at State Farm Arena on Wednesday and Thursday night brought out thousands of fans wielding blinking heart-shaped glowsticks to cheer on the quartet of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa.
BlackPink has risen to global fame like their South Korean counterparts BTS, selling millions of albums and earning top spots on the Billboard charts here in America. The “Born Pink Tour” is making multiple stops across the country before heading to the rest of the world.
The group’s devoted fans were treated to two nights of slickly produced pop, complete with pyrotechnics, excellent choreography, and a tight backing band who expertly reproduced the sounds of BlackPink’s mix of Korean and English tunes.
The two-hour show was broken down into four distinctive acts like a theatre production, with the visuals, lights, and costumes adjusting to the tone of the songs. The evening opened with the band in cute pink miniskirts and performing their more straightforward pop hits like “How You Like That,” “Whistle” and “Lovesick Girls.”
After an interlude with dramatic video images of the band projected on giant stage screens, the band re-emerged to perform some of their more hard-hitting tunes like “Kill This Love,” “Playing With Fire,” and an extended version of “Pink Venom,” which gave the troupe of dancers a chance to show off their skills.
For the third act, each individual member got a chance to showcase their solo songs. Only Jisoo has yet to release a solo album, so she opened the act with a cover of Camilla Cabello’s “Liar” and totally made it her own. Jennie was bold enough to introduce a brand new, unreleased song called “You and Me,” which will surely be a hit when it’s released.
The biggest cheers were reserved for Lisa, who performed her two big hit solo singles “LaLisa” and another social media staple, “Money.” The grittier hip-hop and rap style of “Money” has found its way into BlackPink’s overall sound on the new “Born Pink” album.
For the final act, BlackPink dropped some of their other biggest hits including “Shut Down,” “Typa Girl,” “Ddu-Du Ddu-du,” and “Forever Young.” But that wasn’t the end of the show. After an extended break – which gave the audience time for multiple chants of the band’s name – the ladies returned for an encore set.
The four had changed into comfortable street clothes – hoodies, cargo pants, casual skirts – as if they weren’t planning to return but were on their way back to the hotel. This toned-down look and atmosphere also gave the band a chance to interact with the adoring audience, playing a funny game of “I Spy” and picking out costumed or elaborately dressed members of the audience who were then shown on the big video screens.
One of the appeals of BlackPink is that they come across as down-to-earth, accessible people rather than the big pop stars they are. Their interactions with the fans and on-stage cameras were cute and often goofy, but the crowd ate it up. They even posed on stage so fans could take “selfies” with them.
BlackPink closed the evening with their hit “As If It’s Your Last” – which had the arena up and waving their arms and bouncing to the beat – but chances are the band will be back to Atlanta soon judging by the ticket sales and obvious love from the fans.