Lisa is the biggest Asian popstar currently around

“This is just the beginning,” she writes, a little threateningly, on social media, to the delight of her 103 million followers (there’s also Damiano David of Maneskin). “It’s been three years since my last song, so I hope you guys enjoy the ‘Rockstar’ era as much as I do. I’ve been working on this project for quite some time now and I’ve had a lot of fun making it,” she adds. If this is the premise, from the album with which Lisa will sweep away the Blackpink – why is this going to happen, shall we bet? – we should expect something truly shocking.

And no, it has nothing to do with the numbers.Rockstar”, the single with which the 27-year-old Thai singer, who moved to South Korea at just fourteen after passing an audition among 4,000 candidates to enter as an apprentice at the South Korean record label YG Entertainment (from whose laboratories Blackpink would emerge), is climbing the world charts, which we summarize for completeness of information: 111 million total streams on Spotify in less than a month (the song was released on June 27) and 111 million views on YouTube, first place in the highly coveted Billboard Global Excl. USthe ranking drawn up by the “bible” of the star-spangled music biz of the most popular songs worldwide outside the States. There is something that goes beyond the numbers, the data, the records: it is the attitude. From real popstar. Perhaps the greatest Asian pop star currently around, for ideas and artistic proposal.

You watch the video for “Rockstar” and you It feels like watching a Rihanna or Beyoncé perform at the Super Bowl: now she lets loose among a hundred dancers, now she dances among motorcyclists who whizz around her on a single wheel making sparks on the asphalt, like “Fast and Furious” so to speak (is there a touch of artificial intelligence? It makes you wonder), now she marches angrily down the street together with her companions. And in the meantime she sings: “I’m a rockstar, I’m a rockstar / it’s not hype, hype, baby, make you rock-hard”.

A user writes in the comments: “.What I love about this comeback is how different the sound is. And I’m not just saying that Lisa sounds different, but the overall quality of the song is no longer k-pop-ish. She’s going in a direction that suits her, finding her own style.The video clip was directed by Henry Scholfieldalready behind the commercials of some big brands and the videos of artists such as Dua Lipa (“Break my heart”, “New rules”, “IDGAF”), Rosalía (“Di mi nombre”), Stromae (“Fils de joie”), Billie Eilish (“Hostage”), Stormzy (“Vossi Bop”), Ed Sheeran (“2Step”). The choreographies instead bear the signature of Sean Bankheadwho has already collaborated with Lil Nas X, Normai, Cardi B, Sam Smith, FKA Twigs, as well as having curated Usher’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl.

The song – sung entirely in English – goes beyond the clichés of k-pop: mixes hyperpop, r&b, hip hop, with a catchy, pounding sound that has nothing to envy to that of certain superstars of the American music biz. After all, production has a hand in it Ryan Teddera genius of star-spangled pop of the last twenty years, author of some of the biggest hits by Madonna, Lady Gaga, U2, Adele, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Maroon 5 and Katy Perry. And, little surprise, “Rockstar” Sample Tame Impala. It’s all true: Lisa’s song uses a sample of “New person, same old mistakes,” one of the tracks from “Currents,” the album that the king of psychedelic pop Kevin Parker released in 2015.

“Rockstar” is Lisa’s first solo single released under the new partnership between her company Lloud Co. and RCA Records (Sony Music), after leaving YG Entertainment. Last December, none of the four Blackpink chose to renew their individual contracts with the label that has followed them since their debut in 2016 and that will continue to follow only their collective projects (but will there still be any?). In the meantime the story of Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie and Rosé is about to hit the cinemas in 110 countries, from July 31st to August 4th thanks to “Born Pink”the film that tells the story of the latest world tour of the K-pop phenomenon girl band. And that It could represent a closing of the circle.