Rosé (BlackPink) Outshines Lisa and Jennie in Recent Popularity Surge

Lisa, Jennie, and Rosé all entered the music race in 2024 as solo artists. While the first two heavily promoted their comebacks, Rosé was more discreet but brought a big bang, breaking all the records previously set by all BlackPink members.

Impressive achievements

On October 18, Rosé released the single APT , collaborating with Bruno Mars. In just a short time, this song quickly became a huge hit, sweeping all global charts and setting countless impressive records.

On the morning of October 21, AllKpop reported that APT reached over 6.85 million streams upon its release, ranking third on Spotify’s global chart. With this figure, the main vocalist of BlackPink positioned herself as the most listened to new song and the only newcomer to enter the top 10 of the week.

The 1997-born idol also won the title of “biggest debut by a female Kpop solo artist on Spotify” from Lisa’s New Woman .

Rosé sets a series of records on Spotify, surpassing Lisa and Jennie.

APT also helped Bruno Mars achieve the title of the biggest digital debut of his career, after surpassing his other hit of the year, Die With A Smile (featuring Lady Gaga), with 4.8 million streams.

The record doesn’t stop there, as on its second day of release, APT continued to skyrocket, reaching over 10.18 million streams and holding the number 2 position on Spotify’s global chart, just behind Die With A Smile (10.32 million).

With this new achievement, Rosé, along with Jennie, became the only female Kpop solo artists to reach No. 2 on Spotify’s global chart – an achievement that any Korean female singer dreams of.

Not only that, Rosé is the first Asian artist to reach over 10 million streams in a day. She also broke the record previously held by Pink Venom (BlackPink) as the biggest streaming day for a song by a female K-pop artist in Spotify history.

Moreover, Korea and Thailand had to celebrate when for the first time, 3 female Kpop solo artists entered the top 15 of Spotify’s global chart at the same time and all came from BlackPink.

Rosé’s APT ranked 2nd with 10.18 million streams, Jennie’s Mantra ranked 11th with 3.95 million, and Lisa’s Moon Floor ranked 15th with 3.74 million.

Rosé helped Bruno break his own record previously set with Lady Gaga.

Korean music listeners could not hide their surprise and excitement at the many records APT achieved.

On online forums, people are discussing this topic enthusiastically: “This is impressive. I love this song”, “This is definitely the best song released by an Asian artist this year, surpassing other members of BlackPink and BTS”, “This song is a big hit”, “Let’s go for number 1”, “It’s unbelievable that Rosé, Lisa and Jennie are so successful”, “Since leaving YG Entertainment, the girls have been very active in music and it’s amazing that they are doing well on the charts. It’s definitely a great year for Blinks”…

Rosé’s strategy

In terms of numbers, Rosé’s success is undeniable. On YouTube, the APT MV has garnered over 66.5 million views after just 2 days of release, far surpassing Jennie’s Mantra (over 49 million views as of the morning of October 21) despite being released a week later.

It is worth mentioning that Rosé did not promote her “brainchild” much before its release. It was only a day before it was uploaded to YouTube that the audience learned about the collaboration between the 1997-born beauty and the Hawaiian pop icon.

On the evening of October 16, Rosé posted a photo with Bruno on Instagram with the caption: “The night I taught Bruno how to play a Korean drinking game.”

In the comments section, the male singer born in 1985 replied: “So much fun! Remember when you tried to kiss me? That was so weird, different from that photo”. Immediately after that, Rosé responded to the teasing and hinted at the new music product of both: “I will kill you. Take that back or I will not release the song, Bruno”.

This interaction immediately aroused curiosity from the audience, with countless questions being asked below the post. Not keeping fans waiting long, The Black Label then posted an official announcement on Twitter about the single ATP . More than a day later, the song was released.

Rosé didn’t promote much but APT still became a big hit thanks to many factors.

Rosé and The Black Label’s promotional methods are completely different from Lisa, Jennie and their team. Previously, Lisa and Jennie spent a lot of time teasing new products such as releasing posters and teasers.

Of course, each method worked well. However, compared to the other two members, Rosé’s reputation and coverage were somewhat weaker, and she also quietly released new songs, but in the end, she was the winner.

Korean and international audiences both recognize APT as BlackPink’s best solo song ever. According to them, Rosé is the only member of the group who is truly serious about music.

In fact, Rosé is the main vocalist in BlackPink, possessing a rich and powerful voice. Not only does she sing well, she also knows how to play instruments and compose. These are things that Lisa and Jennie lack. Lisa has been criticized many times for not knowing how to compose, for her silly lyrics, for plagiarism, and for lip-syncing.

The obvious difference from Rosé’s MV is the simple setting, confined to a studio to focus entirely on the vocals to shine. On the contrary, Lisa rented the entire Chinatown in Thailand to film the MV Rock Star , Jennie constantly changed dresses and cars in Mantra . They also used many dancers, sexy choreography and fully exploited their seductive looks. Both understood that singing has never been their advantage, so they need to apply different formulas to attract viewers.

Under the post listing Rosé’s impressive achievements, an audience member did not acknowledge Rosé’s talent, instead claiming that she took advantage of Bruno’s popularity and released music at a time when only collaborations could easily become hits.

However, this is also a smart strategy from Rosé’s team. If your collaborator is an artist who has won 15 Grammys and is ranked by Billboard as one of the Greatest Artists of All Time, why not take advantage of that resource?

The question is, why did a pop icon like Bruno agree to “collaborate” with Rosé? Isn’t it because she recognizes the talent of her Gen Z junior? In a radio interview, Rosé revealed that Bruno personally chose APT to be their collaboration song. She sent the male singer 3 songs for Bruno and thought he might reject them, but in the end, APT convinced him.

The theme that Rosé chose is also one of the plus points for the song. Bruno was excited to know that it was inspired by a drinking game in Korean culture. The audience also found this an interesting topic. Meanwhile, Lisa and Jennie were criticized for not being creative in the song because they mainly focused on the image of a fashionable, rich and confident girl.

Also in an effort to escape the Kpop label, Rosé is clearly smarter when she still knows how to incorporate Korean elements to appease Korean netizens. Lisa and Jennie are completely European-Americanized, making some audiences unable to adapt.