Throughout the group’s four year career, fans of the BLACKPINK have already seen Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa accomplish a lot of things. From releasing one hit after the other to being the first ever South Korean girl group to perform on the Coachella stage, these four girls are sure to be living the dream they had once they were still trainees. However, with fame comes the curiosity on how they are off-stage and how they journeyed their way to becoming today’s biggest girl group.
In Netflix’s newest documentary BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky, director Caroline Suh shows a different to the girl group. A gift for their Blinks, BLACKPINK gives the fans an inside look at their lives behind the stage. It also features never-before-seen footage and interviews where the four girls open up about their stories throughout their careers.
We got to join the girls of BLACKPINK and director Caroline Suh in a press conference ahead of the documentary’s launch. Here, they talk about the film, their thoughts about their most recent success, and their goals. Check out the five things you should know about this new documentary:
1. It’s Netflix’s first original K-pop documentary
Blackpink: Light Up the Sky is Netflix’s first-ever original K-pop documentary and it sits just beside titles like Miss Americana, Lady Gaga Five Foot Two, and Homecoming: A Film By Beyonce as documentaries that give fans an inside look at the life of some of today’s female icons.
Asked about what it’s like to be the first K-pop group to do something like this for Netflix, Jisoo said that it’s an “honor to be in line with the global female artists.” She also said that they hope they will be able to continue to show more of them through this new film.
2. It aims to show a more human side to the famous girl group
One of the things that director Caroline Suh focused on when doing this documentary is how she can show the fans a more human side to the girls. She wanted to bring out the girls’ “personal story, how each of the BLACKPINK members became part of this phenomenon, and what kind of experience it was.”
“We always think about ways to go closer to the fans and to the public and when we worked with Director Suh, we thought that we found the right person,” said Jennie.
For the documentary, Suh and the rest of the crew had to follow BLACKPINK for months during their schedule. While Lisa admitted that having the cameras 24/7 was “awkward” at first, Suh made the environment comfortable for her and the rest of the girls. “It was my first time doing a documentary. I don’t think there were any difficulties. It was [a] fun and enjoyable time,” she said.
3. The girls also get candid about stories and thoughts which they haven’t shared before
JIsoo shared that they “really wanted to share more of us with them” through the documentary. Fans will hear them open up as they share their stories about finding music and how they changed to get to where they are today. We started out this project, thinking that we wanted to show more genuine sides of ourselves,” she explained. “Through very genuine and honest conversations, we were able to get to know each other even deeper. I think we realized just how much we mean to each other.”
Another aspect that sets BLACKPINK apart from other groups is how multicultural the group is. And throughout the documentary, they’d hear the girl speak in Korean, English, and Thai to express themselves better. “When we were having our interview, were able to share our genuine thoughts. We were speaking in the language we were most comfortable in,” Rosé explained. “That in itself, I think, symbolizes a part of BLACKPINK.”
4. Blinks get to watch never-before-seen videos of BLACKPINK as trainees
Another highlight from the documentary is the never-before-seen footages of Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa back from when they were still trainees. Suh said that YG Entertainment had filmed so much during BLACKPINK’s trainee days and that she had to go through “hundreds and hundreds of hours” of footage “to find the perfect moments” that would express the message and story she wanted to tell.
“We were able to go back to times that we even forgot ourselves and that brought back a lot of memories,” Jennie said. “We wanted to show all the hard work manifested on the glamorous stage of BLACKPINK while also sharing the authentic, more original moments off-stage that we didn’t get to share with fans before.”
Rosé that although she wanted “to burn a lot” of the footage, watching these old clips with the members was her favorite moment from the documentary. “There was this scene when we were looking at our old footage together,” she explained. “We were embarrassed. [But] we were able to tease each other, and that’s why it was more fun.”
5. BLACKPINK opens up about their goals as they move forward
After looking back at their history as a group, BLACKPINK also opened up about their goals as they move forward into their careers. Jisoo said that since “music has now become [a] very extended form of art,” they wanted to provide the best of that to their fans by continuing to challenge themselves and thinking of new aspects to show them. “In 10 years, hopefully, we will still be BLACKPINK. The way we always have been,” she finished.
Asked about what BLACKPINK’s message is for those who dream to become just like them, Lisa said, “I think the most important thing is to find what you truly love. Always have confidence in yourself, take care of yourself, and love yourself.”
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BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky is now streaming on Netflix.
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