Yang Hyun Suk Shares Plans For BLACKPINK's Comeback, Solo Releases, And U.S. Promotions

YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun Suk took to the agency’s blog YG Life on February 8 to answer questions about BLACKPINK’s upcoming activities, including comebacks, solo activities, and plans for branching out into the U.S.

Regarding the question of when BLACKPINK will be releasing a new song, Yang Hyun Suk wrote, “We plan to have BLACKPINK release a new song in mid to late March. It will be an EP album with many new songs.” He continued to write, “As BLACKPINK does not have many songs compared to the amount of time they have been active, I am fully aware of and understand fans’ desires for the group to release new songs more often and for them to release a full-length studio album. I am always apologetic that I have not been able to fulfill your requests.”

He went on to say, “Of course, although it is important to release new songs often, I believe BLACKPINK is at a very important point in time where they must release even more high-quality songs and music videos. The new songs that are set to be released in March will be their first EP album in nine months since last June’s “DDU-DU DDU-DU. If I were to remember my reaction to hearing BLACKPINK’s new songs by Teddy, I remember breathing a deep sigh of relief as they were songs that went above and beyond my expectations. I believe there will be much to be excited for.”

Yang Hyun Suk also touched on plans for member Rosé and her talked-about solo release. He stated, “Rosé’s solo song will most likely be released after BLACKPINK’s EP album. We have finished selecting a song that best fits Rosé’s vocals, and both Lisa and Jisoo are also working hard to prepare for solo tracks. In 2019, my hope and goal is for BLACKPINK to have two comebacks and for the remaining three members to release solo tracks, in the order of Rosé, Lisa, and Jisoo.”

Finally, he spoke about plans for BLACKPINK to branch out into the U.S. and said, “This is just my personal analysis, but it has been hard to find popular girl groups in the U.S. and Europe for many years, with the last girl group I remember to be Spice Girls, who made their debut in 1996. I believe that may be because there have not been many girl groups to debut as a result of the cultural system. Because of this, I believe the American and European markets are like a blue ocean for BLACKPINK.”

He went on to say, “This is based on anticipation from data analysis. If we look at YouTube statistics for BLACKPINK’s latest release ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU,’ the U.S. is the biggest revenue source, and in terms of view count, the U.S. comes in fifth place. Brazil and Mexico are seventh and ninth, with France, Russia, U.K., and Germany all in the top 20 list of countries. We believe that if BLACKPINK continues their overseas promotions, they will see rises in these countries.”

Yang Hyun Suk wrote, “I recently met with Universal Music Group Chairman, Lucian Grainge and Interscope Records Chairman, John Janick, and during our discussions, I was able to reaffirm their deep affection for BLACKPINK and their dedication towards ensuring successful promotions for the group.”

Yang Hyun Suk concluded his post by stating, “I will return next Monday with news about new song releases for our artists such as WINNER and iKON. Thank you.”

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