[talk] [Article] Rosé to the Black? Blackpink's solo career accelerates... Full group 'question mark'

[Star News | Reporter Sang-geun Yoon]

Blackpink / Photo courtesy of YG Entertainment

The popular girl group Blackpink (Jisoo, Rosé, Jennie, Lisa) is set to debut as a solo act with all members. There is also interest in their future plans after renewing their contract with their agency, YG Entertainment.

An official from her agency, The Black Label, cautiously stated to Star News on the 17th, "We are discussing an exclusive contract with Rosé."

[Cupertino=AP/Newsis] Rosé of girl group Blackpink speaks at a mental health event for spouses of leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. on the 17th (local time). Rosé shared her own experience of struggling mentally and talked about the importance of mental health. 2023.11.18. / Photo = Min Kyung-chan

The Black Label is a label under YG Entertainment. It was founded in 2018 by Teddy, a former member of 1TYM who then transitioned into a producer. The label houses Big Bang's Taeyang, Jeon So-mi, Zion. T, and actors Park Bo-gum and Lee Jong-won. Even before founding The Black Label, Teddy produced major hit songs for YG artists and was also in charge of Blackpink's album, which Rosé is a part of. Rosé also showed her loyalty by saying, "Teddy is the fifth member of Blackpink," so attention is focused on whether or not he will sign an exclusive contract with her this time.


Initially, Rosé was the only member of Blackpink to be rumored to have renewed her contract with YG. However, YG stated, "Nothing has been confirmed yet and we are in the middle of negotiations." Later, Rosé was also caught on camera talking with Ron Penny, the president of Columbia Records, a major American record label that includes Adele and Beyoncé.

BLACKPINK's contract expired in August 2023, seven years after their official debut on August 8, 2016, and even completed a large-scale world tour, but failed to renew the contracts of each member, barely agreeing to maintain the tone of 'Team BLACKPINK'.

Although this announcement did briefly raise expectations for a full Blackpink album comeback, questions have arisen once again as the members' individual agency establishments are announced one after another.

/Photo = Jenny

/Photo = Lisa

/Photo = Jisoo

However, YG and BLACKPINK's 'separate but together' policy brought about various reactions. They had long discussions to keep all four members who had grown into world-class artists, but they could not see all of them remaining in YG, and they barely reached an agreement to maintain the 'Team BLACKPINK' policy.

Even when YG announced the renewal of BLACKPINK's team contract, there were still expectations for a full BLACKPINK album comeback, and it was even affecting their stock price. However, let alone a full group comeback, the IP called BLACKPINK is gradually disappearing from the K-pop scene. Jennie founded a label called Odd Atelier with her mother, Jisoo joined hands with her older brother, and Rosé and Lisa hinted at their plans to stand on their own with an overseas presence through their respective SNS.

Following Jennie's establishment of her own label 'ODD ATELIER' in November 2023, Lisa established LLOUD Co. in February and signed a new partnership with RCA Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music in the U.S. in April. Jisoo also officially established her personal label 'BLISSOO' in February.