Just weeks ago, I came across a random post on the internet. A nine-year-old moaned: “How is it possible for you to mix up Rosé and Jisoo, mom!” The mother was speechless. It made me smile because I used to find it hard to identify those two girls. Apparently, the complaining daughter is a Blink. The word Blink is a combination of black and pink and it is the official fandom name for Blackpink.

Unless you are living under a rock, you would know about the Korean wave and perhaps heard of megastars such as BTS and Blackpink. This girl group consisting of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa, has taken the world by storm. In August 2022, Blackpink released a new music video “Pink Venom” on their YouTube channel and it reached over 90 million views in 24 hours. Then they became the first all-female K-pop group to perform in the MTV Video Music Awards held in the United States. There is more, the group won the Best Metaverse Performance award and Lisa took home the Best K-pop award. With their record-breaking success and millions of fans around the globe, it is quite safe to say that Blackpink is K-pop’s number one girl group.

This book profiled each of the group members, their character and talent, as well as the special bond they shared. In loose chronological order, the author documented the group’s trainee days, debut, television shows, award ceremonies and first worldwide concert tour. Vivid depictions of their stage outfits make reading enjoyable. Some individual stories of the members are really sweet and funny. The one about a blind audience waving back to them in a concert literally teared me up.

Readers will also have a glimpse of why the entertainment industry in Korea is so prosperous. As charming and brilliant as Blackpink, they would not be where they are now without the joint efforts of a large team of staff, including producers, marketing executives, choreographers, stylists and all those who work in the background.