BLACKPINK Slayed With Debut But Did YG Entertainment’s New K-Pop Girl Group Call Out Competition In ‘Whistle’ And ‘Boombayah’ Music Videos?

For months, YG Entertainment teased the K-pop fans of an upcoming new K-pop girl group they were about to debut. Such news was monumental in the K-pop community because it has been almost seven years since YG Entertainment debuted a K-pop girl group. The last time they did was back in 2009 when they introduced the world to 2NE1, a four-member group consisting of CL, Dara, Bom, and Minzy.

Even though the new YG Entertainment K-pop girl group was a big deal, the entertainment label did its best to help build hype. Over the course of 2016, YG Entertainment released numerous teaser pictures of the group’s members, Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé. Eventually, we would learn the four-member group was officially called Black Pink in which the two colors represent that they are the very pretty (pink), but there is more to them than what meets the eye (black). Needless to say, K-pop fans were hyped, wondering when Black Pink would make their debut in which some thought it would happen right after Red Velvet’s comeback.

YG Entertainment eventually revealed Black Pink’s debut through a series of teaser images which led up to today, August 8. As part of their debut, Black Pink released two songs, “Whistle” and “Boombayah.” From what K-pop fans are saying, Black Pink slayed with their debut. Yet, if we were to look closely at the music videos for the two songs, did Black Pink call out their competition in them?

Before analyzing the music videos, it is best to show them right? According to AllKpop, the two songs, “Whistle” and “Boombayah,” were produced by Teddy Park with Future Bounce also producing on the former. Both Teddy and Bekuh Boom wrote for the two songs too.

Anyways, the music videos for “Whistle” and “Boombayah” are attached below. “Whistle” is on the top, “Boombayah” is on the bottom.

Without really detailing all that is happening in both music videos, the vibe and feel Black Pink is showing is almost identical to 2NE1. This was technically done on purpose as the vibe and feel 2NE1 had is not exclusive to them but considered just a part of the whole that makes YG Entertainment different from other K-pop artists signed under other labels. Even Yang Hyun Suk, the CEO of YG Entertainment, made it known that he did not try to distinguish a difference between 2NE1 and Black Pink, as reported by Korean news outlet Naver.

“We didn’t try too hard to create a difference between Black Pink and 2NE1. It was the same when we created 2NE1. YG has its own unique sound so we focused on making the music sound the most like us.”

Though the vibe and sound of Black Pink is very similar to 2NE1, their music video’s stylistic content seems to borrow from other K-pop girl groups, ones who might be considered competition. This might be YG Entertainment’s way of having Black Pink “call out” their competition, specifically Red Velvet, Twice, and GFriend. The music video for “Whistle” seems to utilize a lot of stylistic elements from Red Velvet music videos especially “Dumb Dumb” and “One Of These Nights.” As for “Boombayah,” not only does it have stylistic elements from Red Velvet’s “Happiness,” but uses stylistic elements from Twice music videos, “Like OHH-AHH” and “Cheer Up,” and GFriend’s “Navillera.”

The aforementioned, however, is stipulation but the fact both of Black Pink’s music videos seems to use stylistic elements prominently featured in other K-pop girl groups’ music videos cannot be ignored. If this is a means to start a healthy dose of competition, then, by all means, it should happen. However, if doing such is inconsiderate business conduct, it seems YG Entertainment might be heading in such a direction already.