Since earlier this year, rumors spread among the K-pop community that YG Entertainment was preparing a new K-pop girl group since 2NE1 back in 2009. As the year went by, teasers of the new K-pop girl group were systematically released to help build hype prior to their reveal. Eventually, YG Entertainment revealed their new girl group, known as Black Pink , as reported by Soompi . Just like 2NE1 originally, Black Pink consists of four members. They are Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé.
YG Entertainment would continue the promotions for Black Pink, which includes detailed individual profiles on Instagram, numerous group photo shoots (like the one attached above), and even a dance practice video uploaded on July 5 on their official YouTube page , one that has already amassed over four million views . Of course, all of these promotions are meant to build hype for their eventual debut, a date or time range K-pop fans are in the dark about. However, some K-pop fans have come to the conclusion that Black Pink’s debut is purposely being delayed because of one other K-pop girl group. That girl group is SM Entertainment’s Red Velvet.
From what many K-pop fans have discerned and concluded, YG Entertainment is waiting for SM Entertainment for Red Velvet to make their comeback before having Black Pink debut. According to AllKpop, it is speculated that Black Pink’s debut around the same time period as Red Velvet’s comeback is a means to create a rivalry. The technique was apparently used back in 2014 when YG Entertainment released the second studio album of 2NE1, Crush, just three days after SM Entertainment released the fourth extended play (EP) of Girls’ Generation, a mini-album titled Mr.Mr.
If the aforementioned news proves to be true, than it negates previous news that Black Pink will be making their debut sometime this month, as reported by Yibada. According to YG Entertainment themselves, Black Pink was reportedly going to release five new songs, which will have full music videos before the year’s end. The first song was expected to be revealed by the end of July. The other four songs would be spread out across the remainder of the year concluding in December. This plan was to establish that all of Black Pink’s songs were of the highest quality and not just a singular “title track.”
It was also reported that Teddy Park has been hard at work in taking care of Black Pink specifically on their debut album. He’s been creating songs that fit the K-pop girl group perfectly for the past two years. Also, Black Pink has already filmed two music videos for two of their songs and are in the middle of filming their third.
Though K-pop fans anticipating Black Pink to debut this month are saddened that they may have to wait longer, it is smart on YG Entertainment’s behalf to have Black Pink debut alongside Red Velvet’s comeback. Many K-pop groups, especially the girl groups, have been made stronger through rivalries. For Girls’ Generation, it was first against Wonder Girls followed by 2NE1. With Red Velvet considered SM Entertainment’s K-pop girl group of the current generation, it is only fitting the other entertainment agencies follow suit. JYP Entertainment already entered the fray with Twice, eventually YG Entertainment will enter too with Black Pink, but they are just being tactical about it.
[Image via YG Entertainment Promotions for Black Pink]