This story is a part of Billboard‘s Okay-Pop Challenge.
For the multitude of Okay-pop acts amplifying South Korean tradition on the worldwide stage, it’s honest to say BTS and BLACKPINK have set the bar, with BTS particularly reaching many data. Now as each bands open new chapters with their members’ solo careers, they’re establishing extra precedents.
Ten years in the past, solo debuts from inside such teams may need signaled hassle: maybe an imminent disbanding, or one member being thought of extra profitable than the others. However for BTS and BLACKPINK, solo tasks are additive, supplementing the teams’ journeys whereas highlighting new creative dimensions. For BTS, solo ventures have given the members room to experiment sonically, visually and lyrically (together with expletives largely prevented in group releases). And in 2018, BLACKPINK’s Jennie upended the norm for when a band’s first solo act may escape when she launched her debut single, “Solo” — two years earlier than BLACKPINK dropped its first studio album.
The trail to solo stardom hasn’t essentially replicated the degrees of success the bands have achieved. No member of BLACKPINK has cracked the Billboard Sizzling 100 above No. 70. And when BTS’ Jimin not too long ago debuted at No. 1 on the chart with “Like Loopy,” it was a primary for a solo member of the group. However as these artists discover their particular person identities, single releases are removed from the one metric defining them. Right here, a have a look at each bands and their latest solo endeavors.
It cemented its stake within the Okay-pop zeitgeist with viral hits like “DDU-DU DDU-DU” and “BOOMBAYAH,” however BLACKPINK didn’t launch its first studio album till 2020, 4 years after debuting. Album observe “Ice Cream” (with Selena Gomez) turned the group’s highest-charting U.S. single, peaking at No. 13 on the Sizzling 100. After making historical past in 2019 as the primary Okay-pop group to carry out at Coachella, BLACKPINK simply turned the primary such act to headline the pageant.
Jisoo
Though she was BLACKPINK’s first member to attempt appearing (with a job on JTBC collection Snowdrop in 2021), Jisoo was the final to make her official solo debut, following Jennie (2018), Rosé and Lisa (each in 2021). Launched in March, ME is a two-track set that includes “(FLOWER),” mixing pop and lure with conventional Korean melodies, and the upbeat “All Eyes on Me.” “(FLOWER)” debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s World 200 and World Excl. U.S. charts.
Jennie
Jennie’s solo journey broke the standard Okay-pop mannequin: Her debut single, “Solo,” was launched in November 2018 — earlier than BLACKPINK’s personal debut studio set, The Album, arrived. “Solo” topped Billboard’s World Digital Music Gross sales chart for one week, and fewer than a 12 months later, Jennie turned the primary Korean solo artist to carry out at Coachella. Her follow-up, “You & Me,” was first heard in October 2022, when she carried out it throughout BLACKPINK’s Born Pink World Tour; it has but to be formally launched. Subsequent, she’ll make a foray into appearing on HBO’s The Idol.
Lisa
The charismatic rapper-singer launched her debut two-track mission, LALISA, in September 2021. The eponymous lead single entered the Billboard World 200 at No. 2 and the Sizzling 100 at No. 84; B-side “Cash” acquired some radio airplay however peaked at No. 90 on the Sizzling 100. In 2022, Lisa turned the primary solo Okay-pop winner on the MTV Video Music Awards and the primary feminine soloist to win the most effective Okay-pop artist class.
Rosé
The second member of BLACKPINK to launch solo materials, Rosé put out the two-track R in March 2021. “On the Floor” debuted at No. 1 on each the Billboard World 200 and Billboard World Excl. U.S. charts, staying there for one week. (It peaked at No. 70 on the Sizzling 100.) “Gone” reached No. 17 on World Excl. U.S. and No. 29 on World 200.
Courtesy of BIGHIT
Over the last decade, BTS launched 9 albums and over 230 songs (lots of which it co-wrote or produced), making historical past alongside the way in which as the primary Korean group to hit No. 1 on the Sizzling 100 (“Dynamite”) and the act with essentially the most No. 1 hits on the Sizzling 100 this decade. Proof, BTS’ most up-to-date album, was its sixth to debut atop the Billboard 200.
Jin
When late 2021’s “SUPER TUNA,” an unofficial gag reward for followers, went viral, Jin was so embarrassed that he requested listeners to cease dancing to it. Days after BigHit Music introduced BTS would fulfill its navy service — beginning with Jin — the track (together with “Tonight” and “Abyss”) was formally launched. The week his single “The Astronaut” debuted, Jin topped Billboard’s Rising Artists chart for the primary time, the sixth BTS member to take action; co-written by Jin and Coldplay, the track peaked at No. 51 on the Sizzling 100 and debuted at No. 1 on the Digital Music Gross sales chart.
V
V has but to announce an album and launched one single, “Christmas Tree,” for Okay-drama Our Beloved Summer season’s unique soundtrack; it peaked at No. 79 on the Sizzling 100 and No. 1 on Digital Music Gross sales in January 2022. Just lately, he joined famed Korean actors Park Web optimization-joon, Choi Woo-shik, Lee Web optimization-jin and Jung Yu-mi to movie tvN actuality present Jinny’s Kitchen, during which they open a pop-up Korean restaurant in a small Mexico city.
SUGA
The one member to go solo beneath an alternate identify, Agust D — a portmanteau of “D-City” (his hometown of Daegu) and “Agus” (SUGA backward, and an abbreviation of “taking pictures guard,” his favored basketball place). The prolific producer-songwriter has penned tracks for standard Korean artists like IU and PSY. His mixtape, D-2, was a runaway hit with followers, although it was solely launched digitally. His full-length debut, D-DAY, simply got here out with an accompanying documentary, SUGA: Highway to D-DAY. SUGA is the primary BTS member to embark on a solo tour; his nine-city trek throughout the US and Asia begins April 26 in New York.
Jung Kook
He hasn’t launched a solo album but, however Jung Kook has been busy. His “Keep Alive,” produced by SUGA, was launched because the theme for Korean webtoon collection 7Fates: Chakho. (It peaked at No. 95 on the Sizzling 100.) In summer season 2022, he featured on Charlie Puth’s “Left and Proper,” which reached No. 22 on the Sizzling 100. On the 2022 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, he sang “Dreamers,” a part of the match’s official soundtrack, and since then has been extremely seen on billboards worldwide as a worldwide model ambassador for Calvin Klein Denims and Calvin Klein Underwear.
RM
On his solo endeavors (together with options with Balming Tiger and So!YoON!), RM has made a concerted effort to showcase the variety of Korea’s non-mainstream artists. His debut, Indigo, that includes collaborators starting from Erykah Badu to Epik Excessive’s Tablo, arrived on digital and streaming on Dec. 2, 2022, two weeks earlier than a bodily model was launched. Followers nervous its chart prospects would endure, however Indigo nonetheless peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — setting a report for the best album charting place for a Okay-pop artist on the time — and at No. 1 on the World Albums chart.
Jimin
In April, Jimin turned the primary Korean soloist to prime the Sizzling 100 with “Like Loopy,” the lead single from his March debut album, FACE, which explores loneliness and discovering freedom. He co-wrote all 5 tracks on FACE, which entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2, making it the highest-charting album by a Okay-pop solo artist. (Beforehand, RM held the report.)
j-hope
The primary Korean artist to headline Lollapalooza, j-hope dropped his debut album, Jack within the Field, in July 2022 as a digital-only launch. Followers claimed the dearth of a bodily model put him at a charting drawback; nonetheless, the album peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on High Rap Albums. Tracks “Arson” and “= (Equal Signal)” peaked at Nos. 1 and a pair of, respectively, on World Digital Music Gross sales. He not too long ago launched “on the road” (with J. Cole), a job mannequin of his, and has confirmed he can be BTS’ subsequent member to enlist for navy service.
This story initially appeared within the April 22, 2023, problem of Billboard.
