Kicking off the intense month of October is BLACKPINK, who makes their third return of the year with their long-awaited first album! With the group’s success since the start of their career, fans have been actively pursuing a studio album for the group for the past four years they have been active. Prayers and requests were answered earlier this year when YG Entertainment confirmed confirmed the album for September (though I personally was in a ‘see it before I believe it’ mindset), but it was later pushed to October. Lovesick Girls headlines the album, which was been titled as The Album, and features alongside BLACKPINK’s How You Like That (released back in July) and Ice Cream featuring Selena Gomez (released in August).

Lovesick Girls is a great changeup to the group’s (and YG Entertainment’s) usual style of music. More recently, the company’s artists have been exploring new sounds and genres, though most of these releases do opt for some of the usual YG tactics. Lovesick Girls seems to be the biggest step away from the usual style, by opting for a dance pop profile rather than the hip-hop roots associated with BLACKPINK and their company. It also doesn’t include the usual chant-like chorus and drop chorus, nor does it build up to an anthem-like final chorus (in an attempt to changeup the song in its final moments). No doubt, all of this is quite refreshing. To me, Lovesick Girls is an impressive display of BLACKPINK’s vocals and rapping. The pre-chorus is the prime example of the great vocals, before the group joins forces with an all-in approach and catchy hummable melody. I do have some minor complaint about the chorus vocals though. I didn’t like how the slight echoey nature of the chorus. I felt that the producers had a strong opportunity to make this part dynamic, but opted for a much weaker approach. It didn’t ruin the song for me, but it did strip away the energy that was building towards to the chorus. The rapping that features briefly in the first verse and more prominently in the second verse gives the song more heft and depth, with Lisa and Jennie incorporating a brief hip-hop touch to their delivery. What really made the rapping better was how well it complimented the instrumentation. If the instrumentation was the cake, then Jennie and Lisa’s rapping would be the icing. In addition to that sequence, I really liked what the acoustic guitars brought to the verses, further complimenting that dance pop styled-chorus. Overall, Lovesick Girls is definitely a great song!

What a stunning music video. For once, BLACKPINK is not in a built set. I think we have seen BLACKPINK out in the open air before, but it has been a while if I remember correctly. The music video shows the members in a happy relationship one second and the next second are in an argument or in tears over their relationship. It works well with the lyrics, which is all about them wanting to love someone forever but only knowing the pain of heartbreak. The most captivating part of the music video belongs to Rose during the bridge of the song. The way she throws black paint across the pink wall (subtle BLACKPINK reference?) and is later seen covered in black paint and crying in the bathtub is such an impactful sequence for me. Her acting was superb. I had to rewatch that sequence a few times to properly take it all in.

The choreography looks good. The chorus starts off simple but it slowly builds in complexity as the routine involves moving about. The way they got into formation for some parts (as shown in the music video) looks quite clever as well. Other than that, I don’t have much else to say.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10