Although it may be a while before BLACKPINK reunites for an official comeback, fans are still looking forward to each member’s upcoming solo projects. The group’s main dancer Lisa (리사) previously teased fans on TikTok about her possible comeback and it was announced last week that she’ll be releasing a brand new song titled “ROCKSTAR” later this week.
While many were excited about the announcement, others were not happy about the single’s cover art along with another promotional photo that was released over the weekend. Here’s what happened:
Lisa’s cover art for her upcoming single “ROCKSTAR” as well as her new promotional photo has been met with a lot of criticism from netizens. Apparently, many accused the young rapper of blackfishing or doing blackface as her skin tone appeared too dark in the two photos.
Of course, fans wouldn’t sit back and let their idol get hit with these accusations. BLINKs and Lillies came together to defend the “Money” hitmaker by reminding everyone that she’s a Southeast Asian woman who was born with naturally tanned skin. Some brought up old photos of the performer to prove that she’s always had this skin tone while others explained that K-pop artists are usually whitewashed in photos by Korean media.
Those who were familiar with the photographer’s work explained that he’s known for saturating his subjects to make the photos more vibrant. The photos shown below are of other global celebrities who have done photoshoots with the photographer and they too appear to be as saturated as how the BLACKPINK member appeared in her photos.
Lisa has yet to address the backlash she received but it’s very unlikely that she’ll actually say something about it. For your information, the 27-year-old was not the first K-pop idol to be hit with such accusations. Previously, rapper Jessi spoke out about the countless times she was accused of blackfishing due to her skin colour which you can read more about it here.
