Lisa (BLACKPINK): A once small Thai dancer, now a superstar with a historic win at the VMAs
After 10 years of contribution, Lisa has her biggest win yet, as “Best Kpop” at the VMAs 2022.
A small girl surpassed 4.000 competitors and the harsh reality at YG’s “training ground”
Lisa’s full name is Lalisa Manoban, born in 1997 in Thailand. Her birth name is Pranpriya, but was changed to Lalisa. Her name means “a person who receives praise”, embodying her entire career up to this point.
Ever since she was little, Lisa showed a strong passion for stage, music and dancing. When she was 10, Lisa participated in all kinds of competitions on different scales. She was a member of a dance crew called “We Zaa Cool”, where she met her close peer – GOT7’s BamBam. In 2010, she reached her first turning point when she overtook 4.000 contestants to become a trainee of “industry giant” YG Entertainment.
At 14, Lisa traveled to an entirely new country on her own and started jer journey of realizing her dream. The journey held much hardship, uncertainty and no guarantee of the future. Lisa came across obstacles arising from language barriers, musical lessons, complex choreographies and, especially, the month-end examinations, every trainee’s greatest fear. However, according to BLACKPINK’s accounts, Lisa always topped every test and never showed her reluctance in the face of challenges at YG. Lisa showed her bravery early on during her training period.
Five years of training was seemingly without end. Lisa was said to cry by herself because she was homesick and the training was too tough. However, she never gave up and always stood up after every fall. In 2016, Lisa’s hardship earned herself the first ever fruit. She debuted as a member of BLACKPINK and became the first ever overseas female idol under YG Entertainment.
Not only an accomplished artist but also a global fashion icon
BLACKPINK is a “monster rookie” who received a whole lot of attention. However, that did not equal an easy route. Often criticized by netizens as lacking originality, Lisa had to carry the weight of isolation from the public for her foreign nationality. However, the group gradually opened up a new era and became the #1 group in Kpop and on a global scale, influencing far and wide on social media and the fields of music and fashion.
Together with BLACKPINK, Lisa also became a global star. She captured the audience with her visuals and top-notch performance and diverse fashion styles. Until now, she is the female idol Kpop with the most followers on Instagram with 81.5 million followers. Her posts receive approximately 7 to 10 “hearts” on Instagram and her fancams always attract huge viewership, on the same par with that of official MV. Her every movement becomes the talk of the town on social media.
In 2021, Lisa officially made a solo debut with the songs “LALISA” and “Money”. Immediately, the two songs took the world by storm, breaking records and charts. “LALISA” helped Lisa become a solo artist with the fastest MV to reach 100 million views on YouTube, and Money helped the “Thai princess” to become the Kpop female artist with the fastest song to reach 500 million streams on Spotify. .
Not only successful in the music field, Lisa is also highly sought-after in commercial endorsements. She is on the covers and the “muse” of many famous fashion brands, namely Celine and Bvlgari. The female idol has become a fashion icon, led many fashion trends, and regularly appeared in world-class events. Celine even sent a private plane to welcome the ambassador with Park Bo Gum, BTS’s V to their show in Paris, France.
Lisa’s historic win at the MTV VMAs 2022, opening new opportunities for “Singer Lisa”
August 28, 2022 will go down in history as a remarkable day for Lisa, in particular, and BLACKPINK, in general. On the stage of the MTV VMAs 2022, Lisa surpassed heavyweight names such as BTS, TWICE, ITZY, SEVENTEEN, to become the first solo artist to win the “Best Kpop” MV award with the debut solo titled “LALISA”.
This victory is significant for Lisa because before that, BTS was the only artist to win this award for 3 consecutive years from 2019 to 2021. But with the global boom of “LALISA”, the solo artist won this award with a spectacular win. The keyword “Lisa” in the VMAs also reached tens of millions of access for each keyword and topic, leaving behind BLACKPINK and other world superstars. This clearly shows the global public interest in Lisa as an artist and her miraculous win in the awards ceremony.
On the stage of the prestigious awards ceremony, Lisa could not hide her emotion. She spoke in 3 languages, starting with English – Korean and, of course, not forgetting to show gratitude in her native language – Thai. Lisa moved to express her gratitude to music producer Teddy, especially the fans who helped her reach this award, and her 3 best friends, the 3 members of BLACKPINK. Jisoo, Jennie and Rosé could not stop clapping for Lisa, even Jisoo shed tears of joy because she was so touched by Lisa’s growth.
The image became the most beautiful moment in the MTV VMAs 2022. “August 8th, 2022” also marked a memorable moment for Lisa and her fans. From a small girl with a dream from Thailand, Lisa has become a global star after 10 years of continuing contributions.
