Blackpink is the hottest act in global music right now. They have evolved into a K-pop act like no other, soaring in popularity around the world. From their 57.8 million YouTube subscribers and winning a total of 71 awards, it is clear that this girl group is redefining the genre, and with the audience to make it happen.
As K-pop became a global phenomenon in the last two decades, the philanthropic efforts of its South Korean stars, from donating to orphanages to planting trees, have pushed fans to adopt similar approaches to social and environmental problems. Recently K-pop superstars Blackpink have emerged as the latest force in the global fight against climate change. The all-female group, who have billions of fans around the world, have decided to speak out just months before a major conference on climate change will be held in Britain.
BLACKPINK is not only global superstars, they're in fact change-makers! BLACKPINK members Lisa, Jennie, Jisoo, and Rosé batted for positive action against global climate change via an inspiring video uploaded on their official YouTube channel. They first created a video regarding this in December 2020, when Jennie called out to the group's followers, BLINKS, saying that "Each and every one of them could make a difference and we need to act now." Lisa added saying, "This is our planet. This is our future. Climate change affects us all."
In their latest video, Rosé described how their eyes were opened after watching the documentary “A Life on Our Planet,” by David Attenborough. “The documentary has helped us a lot and various other platforms have helped to actually learn more about what we could actually do to sustain our beautiful planet,” Rose added. “I think we’ve all still got so much more to learn but if it feels good that we can be able to participate in such an important cause.” Jennie agreed in unison, saying that the earth is in a very vulnerable state right now and time is running out.
For those uninitiated, six years ago, a United Nations conference on global climate change in Paris was seen as a turning point. Several countries signed up to limit global warming to no over two-degree Celsius. The discussion that took place in the Paris Agreement, 2015, will happen again this year at Glasgow in November. BLACKPINK has decided to offer their support to this cause and hopes BLINKS does the same too.
The forthcoming climate change temperature change conference, which is scheduled to take place in the UK in November 2021, can bring together world leaders with the goal of accelerating the urgent action required to combat global climate change. BLACKPINK has officially been named advocates for the upcoming UN climate change Conference (COP26)! On February 25, the members of the girl-group, BLACKPINK attended a proper appointment ceremony at the British Ambassador’s residence in Seoul. They additionally received a personal letter written by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In his letter, Boris Johnson congratulated BLACKPINK on the success of their recent video, raising awareness about climate change, writing, “Your recent video ‘Climate Action in Your Area #COP26’ was a huge success, being viewed over 10 million times across social media platforms. Climate change is the most important issue of our time… it is fantastic that you have chosen this moment to lend your voices to this critical issue.”
Simon Smith, the British ambassador to South Korea, commented, “The British Embassy Seoul is excited to be working with BLACKPINK and YG entertainment before COP26. We need to act now to shield our planet for future generations. We hope all the BLINKs around the world will join us on this journey.” At the event, BLACKPINK also spoke to the BBC about their advocacy work and why they felt compelled to speak up. “We’re losing more of the natural world every day and time is running out. We just really felt like we need to say something,” said Jennie. Jisoo later noted that the group’s message to fans is that “it’s not too late” to deal with global climate change, and urged others to “learn more and work to make it better”. Lisa additionally declared that “the first step is to understand what’s happening with climate change as a result of it affects all of us. We want to learn more and we hope our fans do too”.
Last month, BLACKPINK hit another new milestone. Their label YG Entertainment announced on Wednesday (February 24) that Blackpink became the first K-pop artiste to have a music video that was viewed more than 1.5 billion times. The music video of its 2018 hit Ddu-du Ddu-du surpassed the 1.5 billion viewing milestones on YouTube. It was the most-viewed K-pop music video in 2018 and has been setting records ever since.
They are already a hit together but the members have also tried their hand at stand-alone projects in music and on television. Like, Rosé of BLACKPINK has announced that March 12 will be the release date for her solo debut project. The K-pop group's social media accounts shared two images with the date and hashtags #TEASERPOSTER #20210312 #RELEASE. While the title has not yet been revealed, one of the preview images had a few words in English embedded into its hazy image. Just barely visible through the smoke under the K-pop icon's name in huge letters are the words "No Way Out" and "You Are Now”. The singer also gave a sneak preview of the solo effort during January's Livestream concert “The Show”, during which she performed the track "Gone."
Recently Jennie started her own YouTube channel and it only took one video for Jennie to sail past the five million subscriber mark. The K-pop singer achieved the breakthrough over two weeks after she posted a video titled “Hello world From Jennie” on January 16, which was also her 25th birthday. The multitalented idol was recently revealed to have taken an active part in the photoshoot for Vogue Korea’s March issue. According to the magazine, she has made her debut as a fashion editor for Vogue Korea!
Currently, Lisa is a mentor on the Chinese reality dance show "Youth with You Season 3" Last season, Lisa surprised and left the audience impressed on how meticulous she is with mentoring the trainees in dancing. Even though it was Lisa’s first foray into the Chinese entertainment scene, she managed to win the audience’s hearts with her responsible attitude and cute personality.
The talented member Jisoo will be playing the lead role in the forth-coming JTBC drama called ‘Snowdrop’ alongside "Something in the Rain" star Jung Hae In and “Extraordinary You” star Kim Hye Yoon. The show is written by Yoo Hyun Mi and directed by Jo Hyun Tak, the hit drama SKY Castle’s frequent collaborators. Snowdrop is scheduled to drop sometime in the year 2021. Fans are really excited to see Jisoo being an actress. Hoping that you will support them in their solo paths as well.
In conclusion, calling Blinks all over the world! The members of BLACKPINK want to help prevent climate change and they can’t do it without your help. BLACKPINK is speaking up now so that their audiences all around the world can help take the first step to raise awareness of the cause.
Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 10th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka