Lisa Still Lacks Musical Innovation Despite Her Attempts To Transform From K-pop Idol To Pop Star
While “ROCKSTAR” is gaining explosive interest, some expressed disappointment in Lisa’s repeated music color
Lisa released her single “ROCKSTAR” at 9 a.m. on June 28th (KST). The female idol participated in writing the lyrics and composing the song with OneRepublic member Ryan Tedder and producer Sam Homaee.
The music video for “ROCKSTAR”, known to have been filmed in Yaowarat Road, one of the tourist attractions in Bangkok, Thailand, received positive responses. Most of the compliments were about Lisa making good use of her identity as a Thai and the culture of her home country Thailand.
In addition, Lisa’s styling also drew attention. In the album cover and concept photos for “ROCKSTAR”, the youngest of BLACKPINK showcased her bold charm with a wolf cut that she has never shown before and various props such as goggles, chains, and tooth gem. Regarding Lisa’s styling, the public poured compliments, such as “It’s a brand new image. She gives off the feeling of a pop star, like Rihanna. I’m looking forward to the song”, “Lisa is no longer an idol. She’s a pop star”, “I think Lisa is trying to show Lisa’s pop, not just K-pop”, “I was a little startled at first, but the more I look at it, the more she looks like a pop star”, etc.
Pop music critic Kim Do-heon commented, “By going beyond the image of a K-pop idol and doing the music she wants in her own way, Lisa has proved her identity as an artist. This has given her the image of a ‘pop star’”.
Following the trend, Lisa also released sped up and slowed down versions of “ROCKSTAR”. As such, the song quickly became popular on short-form platforms such as TikTok, especially the sped up version, and emerged as a global trend. In this regard, critic Kim Do-heon believed that she released several versions to make it easier for DJs to use her song in their remixes at clubs and parties.
Raising expectations for Lisa’s collaborations with other pop stars in the future, the critic said, “Until now, collaborations between K-pop artists and pop stars have rarely featured music based on the artists’ identity beyond their fame. However, through this album, Lisa has established her own identity as an artist and this can widen her scope of activity. Combining her musical identity and status as an Asian solo female star, collaborations ‘because it’s Lisa’ are possible.”
Among favorable reviews, some people raised doubts about Lisa’s musicality as they pointed out that “ROCKSTAR” reminded them of her previous hit song “MONEY”.
In fact, “ROCKSTAR” has the same genre as the previous song “MONEY”. These two tracks also have similar BPM, bass rhythm at the beginning of the song, and rap composition. In addition, the bass element repeated in “ROCKSTAR” is the 808 bass with distortion apple to low-frequency synth wave. The bass melody is composed of a single note, which is also similar to that of “MONEY”.
Some people commented that Lisa is still greatly influenced by her previous work, which also became popular with her participation in writing song lyrics and composing, and therefore, created a similar outcome.
As Lisa’s first music release under her personal label after leaving YG, “ROCKSTAR” is a significant song as it shows Lisa’s efforts to take off the ‘K-pop artist’ label and solidifies her presence as a ‘pop star’ or an ‘artist’, from her styling to the music video. The song indeed gained many favorable reviews. However, some still expressed regret that she lacks changes and challenges in making music compared to other fields.
