The group BLACKPINK celebrates its 7th anniversary on the 8th. Although it is meaningful in itself that it is the 7th anniversary of the girl group that marked a mark in K-pop history, attention is also being paid to whether BLACKPINK will be able to overcome the “seven years of evil” and continue its companionship as the flagship content of its agency YG Entertainment.A YG Entertainment official said on the 7th, “We are still discussing the renewal of BLACKPINK.” “We don’t know when it will be confirmed and announced,” he said cautiously.
Seven years is the period of the rookie contract stipulated in the standard exclusive contract between pop culture artists and agencies recommended by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This is why most idol groups are given the expression “seven years of evil.” This is because the existence of the group is outlined over this period.In particular, BLACKPINK has been observed to account for an absolute proportion of YG Entertainment’s sales due to world tours and advertisements. Therefore, whenever there was a positive or negative outlook regarding the renewal of the contract, it also affected YG Entertainment’s stock price. For entertainment companies, whether major celebrities will renew their contracts is a major issue that should be disclosed. BLACKPINK debuted on August 8, 2016, releasing their first single album, “Square One,” featuring double title songs “Whistle” and “Boombaya.” Since then, he has emerged as a world star by making hits such as “Playing With Fire,” “As If It’s Your Last,” “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” “How You Like That,” and “Pink Venom.”It also set numerous “first” records in overseas related charts such as Billboard, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Time magazine, Bloomberg, and Oricon, Japan. In 2020, she became the first K-pop girl group to become a million-selling artist with her first full-length album The Album, ranking 13th on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in K-pop girl group history with “Ice Cream” worked with Selena Gomez.His second full-length album “Born Pink” was also impressive. It became the first double million seller artist of a K-pop girl group, and its total sales volume was about 2.8 million. It also topped both Billboard’s main album chart “Billboard 200” and the UK’s official album chart Top 100. Black Pink was the first Asian girl group to win two charts at the same time. Thanks to this, it also topped the Billboard Artist 100.
In April and July, he took the stage as the first headliner of a K-pop artist at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the U.S. and the British Summer Time Festival in the U.K., respectively. Currently, BLACKPINK is conducting the largest world tour of K-pop girl groups with about 1.5 million people.While attention is being paid to what BLACKPINK will choose, there are various talks such as moving to The Black Label led by Teddy, who has been working with BLACKPINK for a long time, and the establishment of a private agency, but nothing has been decided so far. However, regardless of whether to renew the contract immediately, BLACKPINK is expected to continue its activities as a group for the time being. This is because the world tour schedule is still left.
This is because in the case of the official schedule decided before the renewal of the contract, it is customary to continue even if the agency changes.
On top of that, some say that YG Entertainment, which did not respond or disclose its position as “groundless” to rumors of a romantic relationship between Rose, Jenny, and Lisa,quickly acknowledged Ji-soo’s romantic relationship.Regarding the renewal of the contract, YG Entertainment is reticent. A YG Entertainment official said, “The contract is still under discussion. “We don’t know when it will be confirmed and announced,” he said, expressing his cautious position. Whether BLACKPINK will renew its contract is expected to be revealed at the end of the scheduled world tour schedule. It is as early as the end of this month, but the situation may vary depending on whether additional performances are performed.Meanwhile, YG Entertainment’s closing price on the same day was about $80, up 3.74% from the closing price of about $70 on the 4th, the previous business day.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
