Pomegranate Seeds 8/10

Blackpink, the biggest girl group in the world has made a comeback after two years since their previous album dropped in October 2020. Blackpink fans have been anxiously waiting and on August 19, Blackpink released the single “Pink Venom” along with a music video to make their long-awaited return, followed by a full-length album called “Born Pink” which already broke records with 1.5 million pre-orders. While I was hoping for more than 8 songs, the songs we did get were great.

Starting with the first song in the album “Pink Venom”, the pre-release single, I think that this song got hate for no reason. I love the intro to the song where Jisoo played the geomungo. The anti-drop in the chorus instead of the big drop that Blackpink usually does was great and I especially loved Jennie’s lines in the first verse. The two parts I hated though were Jennie and Lisa’s rap in the second verse and the final chorus didn’t make any sense. The next song is their title track called “Shut Down” which I loved. The instrumentals were absolutely amazing and Jisoo rapped for once which I loved. I honestly loved all the raps especially, Lisa’s which is rare for me because I rarely love her raps. The instrumental break at the end was so cool, probably one of their best title tracks for me.

Next are the b-sides in the album. “Typa Girl” and “Tally” are both empowering songs about being an independent woman and never pleasing anyone else but yourself. All of Blackpink’s gorgeous voices, plus the beat make them both addicting songs, they give you so much confidence. “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” which Jisoo and Rosé helped write, gives the 80s or 90s vibes. It’s just a fun song and I’m happy that Blackpink actually got to write it. Rosé’s solo song “Hard to Love” is my favourite b-side in the whole album. Rosé’s voice is just so satisfying to listen to, she put so much emotion into her singing, plus the beat just sounds good. The other two tracks weren’t mind-blowing for me, but I liked them.

I’m still waiting for Jisoo to get her own solo song since everyone else in Blackpink has at least one. That was probably the biggest disappointment for me along with the small number of songs when everyone knows there are more songs somewhere that Blackpink’s company, YG just won’t release. The title tracks were amazing and I loved most of the b-sides. One thing about Blackpink is while they don’t release that many songs, the songs they do release are always good. It’s a solid comeback and I’m excited for Blackpink to finally be back in kpop.