BLACKPINK Explain ‘Pink Venom’ Meaning, Tease New Album & Tour: ‘All Our Songs Are Really Good’
BLACKPINK celebrated their long-awaited new single “Pink Venom” by holding a private online press conference in Seoul on Friday (Aug. 19) to share more about the track, their group’s musical identity, and preview their upcoming Born Pink album and tour.
Looking sophisticated in black dresses that each member added her own sparkle to (Jennie’s strapless dress incorporated a multicolored-gray pattern while Lisa donned knee-high boots), BLACKPINK spoke excitedly about being back together for new music and how “Venom” represents them as a group.
More from Billboard
BLACKPINK's 'Pink Venom' Has Officially Arrived: Stream It Now
BLACKPINK's Jennie Goes Clubbing in New Teaser for The Weeknd's 'The Idol': Watch
Bebe Rexha Joins ITZY's Yeji & Ryujin for Surprise 'Break My Heart Myself' Performance at KCON 2022
“Since our album’s title is Born Pink, we wanted to relay our identity in the song as much as we could,” Jennie said. “Since ‘pink’ and ‘venom’ have contradicting images, we thought they were kind of reminiscent of us… we are named BLACKPINK and contradiction is our charm — we wanted to show that. It’s pink venom, a lovely poison, it’s words that most express us.” Later, Jennie doubled down on that sentiment adding that the “essence” of BLACKPINK is “confidence.” She explained, “Some worry that we might stray away from our identity, but we believe it’s the most distinct and clear way to represent us.”
Jisoo described the track’s production as combining modern-day hip-hop sounds with the traditional Korean instrumental geomungo (which viewers can see played in the “Venom” music video). Rosé said the sound excited the group. “I remember the first time I listened to the song in the studio; it was really new and sounds we never attempted before,” the singer shared. “I just really wanted to record the song right away and show our performance.”
BLACKPINK’s standout dancer Lisa shared her excitement about the song’s “powerful” choreography, including their TikTok-ready “fang dance.” Lisa continued, “We visualized a fang with our hands which most intuitively expresses the ‘Pink Venom’ concept; Everybody can follow it easily… there’s an impactful dance break at the end [of the music video], and the set is just amazing.”
And even when the MC for the press conference tried fluffing the girls up by touting their multiple records broken as a group, BLACKPINK stayed humble and focused on music. “Rather than breaking records,” Rosé said, “We have really focused on our new songs.”
Lisa echoed the excitement for the future material, giving another tiny tease of Born Pink saying, “All our songs are really good,” but added that “we wanted to show this [song] first to BLINKs,” shouting out their dedicated fanbase.
BLINKs worldwide will soon get to see these songs in person as the group sets off on their “Born Pink” world tour this fall with dates already set for North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Jisoo said it best that the group is “ready to give everything we have.” Jennie added, “It’s our first [tour] in a very long time, so we’d like to focus on our originality and include a lot of new songs.” Lisa mentioned that the group hopes to visit more cities and play bigger stages on this trek.
With more than 35 million views in less than six hours after release, the “Pink Venom” music video is already on its way to helping the group break more records and set up another major era for BLACKPINK.
Watch the “Pink Venom” video below.
