By John Ezekiel J. Hirro
How you like that? BLACKPINK is finally back in your area!
After a year-long hiatus, K-pop quartet BLACKPINK is back with “How You Like That,” the first single from the group’s first-ever full studio album coming out in September.
“How You Like That,” co-produced by YG Entertainment hitmaker Teddy Park, highlights the group’s familiar hip-hop style.
Although using strong trap synths, the single has a positive message: no matter how deep your rock bottom is, you can always soar higher.
In fact, one can soar so high, the group’s main vocalist Rosé has to look up at the sky: “It’s a bird, it’s a plane!”
In the music video, the members can be seen dancing in dark places, only to shift to more colorful ones during choruses and beat drops.
Lisa, main dancer and lead rapper of the group, comes through with her usual chic in a modern Cleopatra-like setting in a 13-second rap part accompanied by a hybrid of Indian melodies and heavy trap 808s.
The song shifts to a more bouncy, upbeat sound during the third drop, after Rosé’s part which seemingly represents resurgence.
“This might seem large-scale, but I want to deliver a positive and hopeful message. We sang to give the message of not being daunted by dark situations and to not lose the confidence and strength to stand up again,” lead vocalist Jisoo said during a live countdown, according to a Soompi report.
During the same live countdown, main rapper Jennie said the feline-like themes present in the video and choreography represent how cats can look so calm at first, but can transform to something fierce and strong.
The music video became the group’s fastest to surpass 10 million views, doing so in just 3 hours and 36 minutes.
The group had been posting photo and video teasers in their social media pages ahead of the song’s release. The final teaser for the song surpassed 19 million views before the official release.
Following the music video launch, BLACKPINK unveiled their official Twitter account, @BLACKPINK, with a surprise tweet:
HELLO TWITTER ???????? pic.twitter.com/Mc49A57uHd
— BLACKPINKOFFICIAL (@BLACKPINK) June 26, 2020
The group’s previous comeback song, “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” recently surpassed one billion views, becoming the most-viewed music video by a K-pop group in history.
The quartet also recently collaborated with Lady Gaga on “Sour Candy,” which topped the Spotify Philippines Top 50 Chart in less than 24 hours.
BLACKPINK will have a “three-step” comeback, according to Soompi, with “How You Like That” as the pre-release track, a single to be released in July or August and the full-length album in September. It will reportedly have more than 10 songs.