Album Review: BLACKPINK - Kill This Love EP
To deny the growing support for genres like K-pop in the Western music world is to ignore the influence some of the biggest pop stars currently alive. In a time where the charts are nearly empty of larger-than-life figures (with the possible exception of Ariana Grande), K-pop groups like LOONA and BTS are beginning to break into American culture on the back of enormous fanbases that rival those of past pop divas like Taylor Swift, and are only getting more popular. The genre's emphasis on choreography and live performances still somewhat hinders its most popular artists from producing music capable of standing on its own merit, but the style is still young, and there is plenty of room for growth and improvement.
As much attention was on BTS last year, with their album LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear' becoming the first K-pop record to debut at number one in America, the undeniable queens of this movement are BLACKPINK, the quartet assembled by YG Entertainment in 2016. To chronicle their accomplishments and sales overseas would be a lengthy endeavour, but suffice it to say that their appeal in the West is similarly groundbreaking, appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Good Morning America and soon to be the first K-pop group to ever perform at Coachella. But for those unfamiliar with international music trends, the question remains: what makes BLACKPINK so special? Unfortunately, their newest EP Kill This Love does not provide an adequate answer to their incredible popularity, and sadly lends credence to the group's fans who fear K-pop's disgustingly corporate approach to music will doom its brightest stars.
Taken at face value, the songs on Kill This Love are not awful, simply tedious and uninspired. The title track is easily the most noticeable highlight, with tight verses from every member and triumphant, assertive horns dominating the hook. Oddly, the final chorus is preceded by a breakdown of almost military drumming and rumbling bass, a decision that pays off only due to the confident vocals resonating above it all: "We all commit to love/That makes you cry/We're all making love/That kill you inside". Yet the rest of the tracks here are painfully uninspired, unremarkable in a vacuum but pitiful next to the singles that launched the group to stardom like Whistle and DDU-DU-DDU-DU (a remix of the latter closing out this EP in the most pathetic way possible). Don't Know What To Do features a dated, forgettable EDM instrumental, while Hope Not is a dreadful attempt at a ballad; as many fans have pointed out, placing one producer in charge of every BLACKPINK song is telling of how terribly the group is managed, as if they were commodities instead of artists in their own right.
That the members of BLACKPINK are among the most talented in their genre is still apparent even on this mediocre release; it is YG Entertainment's distressingly poor management of them that has earned the ire of their desperate fanbase. Despite the unprecedented hype surrounding the group, their only real output after three years is the occasional single or two, repackaged into a few EPs that serve only to tease eager fans with the promise of full-length projects that never arrive. The most abhorrent example was their debut album from last year, any hopes of new songs shattered with the reveal that said album contained only previously heard tracks redone in Japanese, in a blatantly profit-driven move to milk even more money out of an already strained discography.
With every new release, BLACKPINK's popularity both at home and the West continues to grow, and yet simultaneously established fans are turned away by the group's inability to develop their sound or release a more substantial project. Kill This Love is no different; many will likely give up on the group after having been let down so many times in the past, yet the singles off of this EP will no doubt do incredibly well, out of sheer inertia more than anything else. Unfortunately, the message that this sends to the group's management cannot be ignored: why bother putting effort into creating better music, when the simplest, most lackadaisical songs will still do well. Many have given up on ever hearing quality material from BLACKPINK ever again; for those that have not, this EP is far from reassuring.
4/10
Favourite Tracks: Kill This Love, Kick It
https://open.spotify.com/album/7viSsSKXrDa95CtUcuc1Iv