The announcement of BLACKPINK’s comeback plan just a “bait”?

At exactly midnight on July 22nd (Korean time), YG Entertainment shocked fans by announcing that 2NE1 will officially make a comeback with concerts in Seoul (South Korea) and Osaka – Tokyo (Japan). Additionally, Yang Hyun Suk, the executive producer of YG, revealed a series of grand plans for 2025. Among these, the news that BLACKPINK will officially return with a world tour has the global fandom of the four girls on edge.

Yang Hyun Suk’s announcement that BLACKPINK will return in 2025 with a world tour immediately caused a “shock” on social media. This is because after concluding their BORN PINK world tour in September 2023 and with all four members having their own companies, the idea of BLACKPINK returning so soon seemed “unthinkable” to many fans.

On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), numerous trending tags welcoming BLACKPINK’s comeback quickly became trends. The international online community and long-time fan bases of BLACKPINK were extremely excited as the news of the four girls’ comeback was finally announced.

However, many BLACKPINK fans are skeptical about Yang Hyun Suk’s seemingly unbelievable plan. According to the announcement, not only BLACKPINK but also BABYMONSTER, TREASURE, AKMU, and 2NE1 are all set for world tours in 2025. Additionally, a new rookie group called “Next Monster” will be debuting. With such an enormous workload, the idea of BLACKPINK coming back with a world tour raises suspicions that this information might just be “bait” to help YG’s stock prices recover amidst bankruptcy threats.

As of now, more than half a year has passed, and while all four BLACKPINK members have their own companies, only Lisa has made a solo comeback with ROCKSTAR. She also revealed plans for an album in 2024. Therefore, in the latter half of this year, all BLACKPINK members will continue to focus on individual activities and invest in solo albums as promised to their fans.

To be able to have a world tour in 2025, YG needs to release another full album for BLACKPINK. This seems necessary because the four global girls cannot perform the same setlist from the BORN PINK world tour for their next tour.

However, with their busy individual schedules, this is a significant challenge for both YG and BLACKPINK. Both the four members and the management company need to arrange their schedules appropriately and dedicate their full effort to group activities in 2025. Due to this difficult task, many are expressing doubt, believing that YG is merely making empty promises to boost stock prices and will only believe it when a poster is released.

BLACKPINK fans’ skepticism towards YG’s announcement is not without reason. In their seven years of activity under the company, BLACKPINK has only released 2 full albums, 5 mini albums, and a total of 33 Korean songs. This is a very small number compared to other top-tier K-pop girl groups and falls far short of groups like BTS (218 songs) and TWICE (132 songs).

Even when compared to junior groups like TREASURE, aespa, and NewJeans, the number of products YG has produced for BLACKPINK is quite disappointing. Therefore, with Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa all establishing their own companies, bringing the four girls together for a group project is a thousand times more challenging.

Nonetheless, BLACKPINK’s fan community still places their trust and hope in Yang Hyun Suk’s strong promises. They hope that after a “desolate” year due to BLACKPINK’s absence and YG’s plummeting stock prices, YG will bring the four global girls back at the promised time and create a “world-shaking” explosion in 2025.