Check their Velvet concept songs: Bad Boy, and definitely check the parent album Perfect Velvet. This is their r&b side, whereas their Red side is their more bonkers (and cutesy) one. Check also one of their earlier tracks, Automatic. Red Velvet have a really great discography, even if you don’t like their crazier title tracks, there’s always really good album tracks (Body Talk, You Better Know, Butterflies). Groups closer to Blackpink in sound and style could be CLC (single: No, mini album: No1); and GIDLE (check their singles Latata, Hann, Señorita); maybe try LOONA ODD EYE CIRCLE (mini album: Max & Match). Another cool group with more mature sound would be EXID.
None. Out of all the currently active groups, I'd say (G)I-DLE is the closest in feel to BP, but their music is very different. If you're interested in groups with a more "mature" sound, you should check Brown Eyed Girls and EXID out.
I do feel like, despite the repetitiveness of TEDDY producing all of their tracks, BP's music has a unique marketability toward western/US listeners. An article about them on Billboard or a similar source said that their songs sound like they would play on US radio stations and I agree, like I could easily see songs like Boombayah, Don't Know What To Do, As If It's Your Last, etc. being big hits if they had been produced by Western artists/if they had been in English. Interesting to think about.
Everyone here forgetting to mention 2NE1? Literally BLACKPINK's older sisters musically and they have the same main producer, Teddy. If one is not into "cutesy" then 2NE1 literally broke the mold in the genre and carved out the lane BP currently occupy. Brown Eyed Girls, EXID, 4minute, AOA, f(x) and After School would be other non-cutesy groups. Unfortunately post Apink cutesy became the trend again so there are a lot more cute concept groups these days than not, but even Apink has abandoned that sound with their recent singles so I think a shift is coming again.
Have been meaning to say, but saw them live at Coachella last weekend & it was the highlight of the entire event for me. I’d become intrigued by Blackpink in the last few months after initially brushing off their material for being ‘too noisy,’ but they fully converted me after seeing them in person. The choreo, the energy, the charisma, the big beats....it all makes for an incredible live show. The massive crowd around me was hung on their every word & it was infectious; I had a shirtless gay on one side of me & a ‘primary school age’ girl on her dad’s shoulders on the other, and seeing the pure joy on both their faces as they recited every single lyric left me with an immense amount of feels. I knew this crowd of Blinks was something I wanted part of, and while I’ve stanned the occasional KPop track, this is the first group with an entire discography I can get behind. I’m excited to see if they inspire me to be more open to the genre, and I’ll stan all things Lisa in the meantime.
f(x) is great, even if they are essentially a defunct group... They aren’t quite as edgy as Blackpink sound-wise, but SM allowed them to stray pretty far from cutesy concepts...
f(x) was damn "edgy" in their time. More than BP is now, to be honest. Their sound and visuals may seem less special or even mundane in the current era now that Red Velvet, LOONA, BTS and many, many others have followed behind them with the whole avant garde/art film aesthetic, but at the time of release these were genuinely a breath of fresh air in K-Pop: If anything I'd like to see more groups who are similarly transgressive with the boundaries of the genre, rather than simply replicating the past. Especially within YG, as much as Iove and enjoy BP, the YG aesthetic and sound has essentially been fossilized in amber for about a decade now. What was once genuinely aggressive and even dangerous about 2NE1 has largely become toothless now, which isn't BP's fault but rather the label's. But, even that being said, it took f(x) a few years to finally arrive at Red Light and 4 walls, so it's not like BP can't do the same. The only thing that worries me is how their global fame might constrain more experimental approaches going forward. But, then again then again, not every group needs to be the quirky bitch. If they can just deliver MEGA-bops like BBY or DDDD on a consistent basis that's fine too.
My original post was going to include a dissertation about Amber being among the great revolutionaries of human history but I figured most people take a casual suggestion more seriously...
It's nice for a MeU to hear a Blink give f(x) some props. Blackpink does remind me a little of them from time to time, mostly in their chemistry and swagger more than their sound. f(x) did things that nobody else would touch, going back even further than Pink Tape - their Electric Shock E.P. is about as stunning and perfect as a mini-album gets, and reminds me a little of Square Up. They were also tremendously charismatic on stage, which I saw from BP for the first time in the Coachella stream.
I know the Blackpink thread isn’t the place to post this, but for anyone else looking to explore K-pop after getting into Blackpink, f(x) is incredible and 4 Walls is one of my all-time favorite albums...
When he retweeted the ‘gay music supervisor intern’ comment. Sis loves a bait. Blackpink are living their best life right now, despite all their resources they’re still quite the underdogs to root for, given there’s no successful girl groups active in America at the moment.
The shriek I let out when Dua came out last night. They were amazing! I was already a stan before the concert, but I'm properly obsessed now. Really going to need YG to get it together and actually put out Rosé's solo and another comeback this year.
