Blackpink’s Jisoo: We needed to show a more honest side of ourselves

Blackpink’s Jisoo: We needed to show a more honest side of ourselves
PHOTO: Instagram/ blackpinkofficial

"Oh my gosh, I'm gonna cry," Rosé Park blurts, valiantly attempting to smile through the tears.

Nevertheless, her voice breaks as she recalls leaving her family in Australia in 2012 to pursue her K-pop dream. She was only 15 at that time. Before then, the longest she'd ever spent away from home was two weeks.

The emotional moment — rare for the usually polished and composed 23-year-old — is included in Blackpink's newest release.

Nope, not their record-breaking debut album that recently cemented their crown as the highest-charting Korean girl group on the US Billboard albums chart.

I'm talking about their Netflix documentary Blackpink: Light Up The Sky. Premiering today (Oct 14), the 119-minute film is chock full of never-before-seen footage of the quartet, whose other members are Jisoo, Jennie, and Lisa.

ALSO READ: From teens to superstars: Netflix film tracks Blackpink's rise

Pulling back the curtain on one of K-pop's top girl groups

From Jennie's revelation of her struggle to "keep everything together" when faced with harsh criticism to the girls' confession that they thought only "100 people or 200 people" would turn up for their Coachella performance (they ended up attracting thousands to their tent), the documentary offers fans an unfiltered look at the girls' inner thoughts and insecurities.

"I didn't think that I would make it [into the group]. I was on the verge of letting go," the group's Thai-born dancer and rapper Lisa, 23, admits at one point. (Today, she's the most popular K-pop star on Instagram with a whopping 40.4 million followers.)

ALSO READ: Blackpink's Lisa scammed of $1.1 million by ex-manager

Blackpink's unprecedented candidness is no coincidence.

Speaking to international media at a virtual press conference yesterday, Jisoo, 25, explained: "We started out on this project thinking that we wanted to show a more honest side of ourselves, a more genuine side of ourselves.

"Through having heart-to-hearts and through very genuine and honest conversations, we were able to get to know each other even deeper and I think we realised just how much we mean to each other."

Between their curated social media feeds and precious few television appearances in their four-year career, it's no secret that the group's fans, collectively known as Blinks, have been starved for content.

ALSO READ: Fashion in pictures: Why French designer labels love Blackpink

They've even made their discontent known through protest trucks parked outside the group's management building, blasting their demands for more music, more variety show gigs, and more social media activity to anyone within earshot.

Well, it seems like Blinks' hunger might finally be satiated.

"For Blinks, we really wanted to share more of us with them, and that's why we started this project. And I think it was very needed for us," Jisoo shared.

A 10-year bond

Of course, it isn't all doom and gloom. The film's heavier moments are interspersed with heartwarming clips of the girls reminiscing about their pre-debut life and goofing off together.

ALSO READ: How to dress like Blackpink Rose and exude K-pop star factor

The girls, who spent an average of five years training together for their 2016 debut, are "like family" now, Jennie, 24, told reporters.

"We can just look one another in the eye and know immediately what we need to do for them and what we need to do for the team," she said, tearing up as she added, "Because we have this really special and strong teamwork, I think a lot of the fans are able to kind of experience that positive energy."

"Sometimes we are tired and sometimes we want to give up, but each time, we are together and we remind ourselves we are headed for the same goal," Jisoo also revealed.

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Brutal competition and difficult trainee period

According to the girls, their sisterhood was forged as a result of the intense training they went through — 14-hour days packed with vocal and dance lessons, along with monthly performances and evaluations.

After every month's evaluation, they'd have to bid farewell to their friends who failed to make the cut.

With the brutal competition, it was hard to enjoy their trainee period at the time, Jennie admitted.

But when asked if she could offer some words of advice to her younger self, she responded: "I would like to say 'enjoy the moment' if I were to go back in time. I think not just me but for all of us.

"We often say to each other, we had a lot of fun back then. And we got so close to one another because of that time that we went through together. So I would like to say 'do well' and 'keep going' because you will become Blackpink."

With previously-unseen clips revealing the girls' childhood and pre-debut days — which director Caroline Suh said was painstakingly selected from "hundreds and hundreds of hours" of footage provided by their management company YG Entertainment — the documentary offers both the girls and fans the opportunity to retrace their journey to global superstardom.

For the girls, it was an opportunity to revisit moments that they'd forgotten, Jennie revealed.

"That brought back a lot of memories, from our trainee period to our debut, to today.

"We wanted to show all the hard work manifested on the glamorous stage of Blackpink while also sharing the more authentic moments off-stage that we didn't really get to share with the fans before."

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Blackpink: Light Up The Sky is now available on Netflix

kimberlylim@asiaone.com

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