A Wild Rose Appeared

 BLACKPINK's Rose has been the Yves Saint Laurent Global Ambassador since 2020, and though I've always known this in the back of my head, I didn't really think about it til I happened across this stunning display of Rose in the window of the Saint Laurent store in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center!

Walking past it, I did a double take and had to go back and snap a few photos of the scene- so cool and Rose as always looking so beautiful and charming!

EDIT:

Wow, went by the Ala Moana Shopping Center’s Saint Laurent store, and not only did they ALSO have Rose featured in their window, it was an electronic looping VIDEO of her besides!!!

AWESOME to see, and with our Miss Roseanne Park’s recent THREE nominations for the upcoming GRAMMYS, it looks like things are REALLY coming up ROSY!!

Random Jennie in Hawaii

Huh, just saw an old picture of BLACKPINK Jennie scampering about the Leahi area on Kilauea Avenue where I do my afternoon walk- AS ALWAYS, I gotta ask- where was I during this shoot?

Ironically enough, the googlemaps capture of this area was taken in 2019, almost exactly as the time Jennie did her shoot, so the area looked almost exactly the same! They even still had that Coldwell Banker sign up!

Going online, I found that not only Jennie, but all four members of Blackpink Lisa,  Rose and Jisoo had taken photos there, and I decided to go down to Leahi and take new photos of the places they posed in to show just what the area looks like today! Some stuff has changed including a complete repavement of the road and LOTS of the trees and shrubbery cut back, but I think you can still recognize the place....

Jennie

Same spot today:

Lisa

Same spot today:

Rose

Same spot today:

Jisoo

Same spot today:

Looks like BLACKPINK really WAS "in my area" that day!

Too bad I missed them!

I've mentioned before, but this hilltop at Leahi and the area below it is fairly popular with celebs- Little further down the road is the place which i wrote about recently where Yuno Ohara passed by my Intermediate School...

...guess it's just a pleasing place for photo shoots!

BLACKPINK's Rose and Bruno Mars Deliver a Cool and Completely CATCHY Song "APT"!

 
Though Jennie and Lisa seem to get the lion's share of BLACKPINK promotion on social media, the one people are buzzing about recently is Rose with her groovy, fun and TOTALLY CATCHY song "APT" featuring artist Bruno Mars!

A punny mashup of the Korean drinking game "Apateu" and the abbreviation of the word "Apartment", they've created a hit song which only gets BETTER with the groovy visuals of the accompanying Music Video of Rose and Bruno dancing up a storm!!

APT is the first single for Rose's upcoming solo album "Rosie" set for release in December, and with all the buzz the song is generating (the MV already has a whopping 50million+ views and counting!) it's SURE to be a smash hit!

Looking forward to it!!!

K-Pop Doing Just Fine in Hawaii

When the local Target started selling domestic releases of K-pop artists, I wasn’t sure there was going to be any actual demand for it, figuring any K-pop fan would have already bought the original CDs online. But just walking past the music section this past weekend, I was stunned to see that every album by both BTS and BLACKPINK  had sold completely out, and that included the special editions, as well!

“Wow, there’s really a fanbase here!” is all I could think seeing all those gaps on the CD shelf!

Both TWICE and BLACKPINK Running Around Honolulu and Here I Am Just Sitting At My Computer

BOY as a Hawaii resident I should be out running to each and every tourist “hotspot” so I can catch a glimpse of some of my fave K-pop acts TWICE and BLACKPINK, both who are shooting specials here!

Seems like the TWICE gals went to the same places that JTB Campaign girl Hikaru Takahashi visited when she was here, including Morey’s on Monsarrat, making me say once again, “GAHHH! They were right up my street and where was I…?!” LOL!

Scampering around Monsarrat Avenue....

 Man, I swear I was JUST at that Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a WEEK ago!

 Wait for Dahye!

They also visited the murals of Kakka’ako like Hikaru did....

I’m well aware that  TWICE may well have shot all this earlier and already flown home, but BLACKPINK are definitely here, and Jennie herself just tweeted a pic from the balcony of the Kahala Mandarin the other day!

All day long I was worried it might rain, and you can even see those threatening clouds in Jennie’s pic, LOL

Hmm, looks like I gotta get out…and better take my camera with me!
EDIT:
Holy HELL, Yeri just uploaded a ton of pics on her instagram tagged "Honolulu Hawaii":
Don't tell me RED VELVET are here, TOO? I can't take it! Where ARE they HIDING OUT???

Edit: OK, someone just commented that Yeri's uploads are old pics from an earlier trip.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Blackpink Make The Cover of Billboard!

WHOA, I'm going to have to grab this one for myself!!!

Jennie and the Kpop Club

Both Red Velvet and Blackpink are in the States right now and Jennie, Lisa and Irene were spotted by a lucky fan having lunch in LA this weekend!

Not sure if they could get away with eating in public this casually in Korea but since they're only semi-well known in  America it's nice to see them having such a relaxed and casual meal! 

!

The girls are looking great and it was so, so sweet to see Irene and Jennie fighting over the check at the end of the lunch! "Let Me Get this..." "Oh No, No NO, Let ME get it!"

LOL!

BLACKPINK In (My) Area

Well, it only took be two years since their debut back in August of 2016, but I’m finally getting into YG act BLACKPINK. Truthfully, I was actively resisting checking them out because they seemed SO MUCH like YG’s “replacement” for 2NE1, who were treated so shabbily by YG Head Honcho Yang Hyunsuk before the group disbanded. He’d regularly stated how much he wanted a “pretty” group over his “uglier” (in his own words) 2NE1 act, and once I saw and heard Blackpink, I knew that’s exactly what he'd made: A group that followed the same ‘formula” as 2NE1, but with more “model-looking” members. So I pretty much ignored them on principle, if only for loyalty towards 2NE1.

Ahhh, but good music is good music, and by the time the group dropped “DDU-DDU-DU”, I had already come around to liking the individual members (through a guest appearance on Running Man) and by the time member Jennie had gone solo, I decided it was time to give them a real listen.

Well, what I heard knocked me out. Not only that, but when I went back and lent an ear to their earlier songs like “As If It’s Your Last”, “Playing With Fire” and…drumroll, the mighty “BOOMBAYAH”, they all blew me away!

I mean, of course I should have realized I’d love these songs- they were still written and produced by the team that made 2NE1 so great (Teddy still calling the shots there) and the girls were practically hand-picked to sound like 2NE1, so of COURSE the end product would be something I’d DIG, but I didn’t know how MUCH I’d LOVE it!!

And then naturally came the next step: watching the girls on variety shows like Weekly Idol, Knowing Brothers and their own reality series BlackPink House where I really got to know their personalities! And I have to say, once I dug in, I was completely TAKEN!

As usual when I’m getting into a group I spend entire nights watching every clip and video I could of the girls, and in just a few weeks, had realized how much I LOVED them!

The first member I took to was Jennie because she reminded me so much of APink’s Naeun. At first she seemed cold and stiff, but then I discovered her droll and soft-spoken sense of humor and realized that was just her way!

Jisoo struck me because she reminded me of Japanese actress Yuriko Yoshitaka. But then i saw how playful and silly she was and saw her in a whole new light! Now she gives me the “best friend” vibe, much like Dahyun in TWICE or even Erika Haneda all the way back in the CoCo days!

Rather than an outgoing, zany personality, beautiful member Rose seems more like the “straight”  person against the other members’ total wackiness, reacting in a hilarious and often endearing way. A very sweet natured girl with a wonderful singing voice…and man, can she EAT!

Every member has their charms about them, but the member that really knocked me out with her outgoing , fun and ZANY personality was Thai member Lisa. Always laughing and goofing around, the other members sum her up thusly: “She acts this way because she wants to be a media star” Well, if that’s her intent, it’s working!!! Such a big and bold personality, and as you can see from the screencaps, is very, very beautiful to boot! (well, ALL of Blackpink are beautiful, but Lisa’s got that Maki Goto/Namie Amuro vibe that just transcends!

The Great Acorn Heist

A great example of the wonderful relationship the members have with each other is in the Rose fanmeet video. Because of her chubby cheeks, Lisa nicknamed her “Chipmunk Rose”, and one thoughtful fan either bought or hand-made a giant plush acorn for her.

She REALLY loves this acorn and holds it throughout the fanmeet, even remembering to take it with her as they leave. But one look at Rose hugging her acorn and naughty Lisa just HAS to try and steal it from her, resulting in a hilarious tug of war!

 Ah, but its all in fun, and though Lisa does wrest it away from Rose for awhile, she gives it back once Rose has forgotten about it. Clearly, the only reason she wanted it was to tease Rose!

This is one charming and funny group of girls with some definitely KICK-BUTT songs, and I'm going to make sure to pay attention to them from now on!

PS: Got a minor thrill when Blackpink paid a visit to Japan to promote their Nihongo Debut and was interviewed by none other than the original dancing Queen herself, Chisato Moritaka, who blessed them summarily with “They’re Really Kawaii!”

 

 

High praise from the Queen!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com