On Monday, August 8, at exactly midnight KST, YG Entertainment — the Korean entertainment company and agency known for K-pop acts Sechskies, Big Bang, 2NE1, Winner, and iKon, as well as Korean television and film stars like Lee Jong Suk and Lee Sung Kyung — debuted their newest K-pop girl group, Black Pink. The four-member group consisting of Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa broke away from K-pop debut tradition by releasing not one, but two debut title songs : “Whistle” and “Boombayah.” Apparently, Black Pink was so popular that it took less than a week for them to achieve multiple accolades, including an “All-Kill” and “Perfect All-Kill.”
Black Pink continued to dominate the K-pop music scene, scoring multiple first-place trophies on music competition shows. But now, it seems they are ready for a second K-pop comeback less than two months after their debut. To prove Black Pink is making their return, YG Entertainment founder and CEO Yang Hyun Suk was the one to reveal the news.
Yang Hyun Suk revealed the news of Black Pink’s comeback the easiest and quickest way possible, through social media. According to AllKpop , Hyun Suk revealed Black Pink would make their K-pop comeback on both his Twitter and Instagram. In the posts, he reveals that the upcoming album — whether it’s a full studio album, extended play (EP), or mini-album, or even a single album — would be titled Square Two . It was also revealed that the release date for the comeback will be on Tuesday, November 1.
#BLACKPINK #SQUARETWO #20161101 #NEWRELEASE #YG pic.twitter.com/5Abd1kfLSQ
— FROM YG (@FROMREALYG) October 20, 2016
Black Pink making their K-pop comeback so early after their debut means they, or at least YG Entertainment, want to remain on top as they compete against their primary competition, JYP Entertainment girl group Twice and SM Entertainment girl group Red Velvet. As a matter of fact, Red Velvet’s latest comeback, Russian Roulette , was one of the contributing reasons why Black Pink’s Square One dropped out of the top chart’s ratings. Despite the fact Black Pink hit hard with their debut, they are still establishing themselves; they are technically still underwhelming compared to Red Velvet, who has been around since 2014.
Also, Black Pink’s K-pop comeback is a means for them to stay relevant when news reports show that Twice will be making their K-pop comeback very soon too, as they already released two teaser videos for its title track. The JYP Entertainment girl group made a major impact with “Like OOH-AHH” last year and an even bigger impact earlier this year with “Cheer Up.”
https://www.facebook.com/JYPETWICE/photos/a.1597898153825293.1073741829.1577673735847735/1831589460456160/?type=3&theater
Competition aside, it was made known by Yang Hyun Suk prior to Black Pink’s debut that he would like for them to release about four songs this year. As he detailed in describing Black Pink, the K-pop girl group will not be traditional in their comebacks because he wanted every single song they perform to be treated as if they were the title track. In order to pull off such a task, Black Pink’s albums should remain minimal, as in the songs listed should be two to three tops. If YG Entertainment allows Black Pink to make a traditional studio album, it may be very hard for them to feature all the songs, especially when studio albums usually have between eight to 12 songs.
Presently, Black Pink has halted their music show promotions to concentrate on photo shoots and other solo endeavors. This includes a shoot in the October issue of Singapore’s popular teen girls magazine TEENAGE .
[Featured Image by YG Entertainment]