Ahead of the group’s North American tour leg, BLACKPINK released new mini-album Kill This Love. The group is coming off of the release of the song “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” which is currently the most viewed music video from a K-pop Group on YouTube. With the title track “Kill This Love” dropping last week, the new song has already broken records. Surpassing the record previously held by BTS and Ariana Grande, BLACKPINK became the most viewed music video in 24 hours, obtaining 56.7 million views within the time period. Fast forward another day and a half, and the group broke the record for time it takes for a music video to reach 100 million views. The song sits at 141 million views at the time of writing this.
A Review of BLACKPINK’s New EP Kill This Love
The group has seen statistical success in the recent release “Kill This Love,” but am I personally a fan of it? Well, that would be a generous claim. The group has expanded upon their successful Top 40 Dance inspired sound that made “DDU-DU DDU-DU” such a hit with this song, but didn’t completely connect. Let’s run down the tracklist and expand upon what I mean.
Tracklist
- Kill This Love (Title Track)
- Don’t Know What To Do
- Kick It
- Hope Not
- DDU-DU DDU-DU – Remix
Track 1 – “Kill This Love”
When I first heard “Kill This Love,” I didn’t know if I liked it. I thought it fell somewhat flat, leaving somewhat of an empty feeling in my stomach when it concluded. The song ended and sort of made you think “wait, that’s it?” Upon many more listens, that feeling still lingers, but it has gone away somewhat. The parts that I can confidently say are great are the rap parts. Lisa’s part near the start is memorable, as is the part she shared with Jennie after the first chorus. The group’s voices are all very distinctive and can’t be compared to anyone else in the industry currently. Along with other songs on this EP, “Kill This Love” included tons of English lyrics. Many sections of the song are purely English. I wonder if this has any correlation with the upcoming dates in America that the group will be doing.
Now, if we’re speaking strictly about the video and not the music, this is stunning and near-flawless. The scenes, outfits, and of course, the members of BLACKPINK look amazing. The group has always had high-quality videos that tend to have over-the-top props, but this one seemed to outdo them. The matching of outfits and locations never made anyone look out of place. My favorite parts of the video are during the first chorus and when they’re dancing inside a huge bear trap.
At the end of the day, I like the song, but it can’t top what they have put out before. Not that the group can’t top what they’ve done before, but this release isn’t it.
Track 2 – “Don’t Know What To Do”
The second track of the song, “Don’t Know What To Do” was performed on some music shows last week. I thought the choreography was great, which is fitting as it would be missing something if not for a dance break. I love the note that is hit whenever “Don’t know what to do without you” is sung.
Track 3 – “Kick It”
“Kick It” is a much more relaxed song compared to the title track and “Don’t Know What To Do.” Lisa did amazing with a completely English rap break after the first chorus. Just like many songs on this album, the rapping was very well done. The part after the bridge felt a little too repetitive for me, but the rest was fine.
Track 4 – “Hope Not”
The group took a break from their dance or EDM style of music for the song “Hope Not.” While I wouldn’t see myself listening to songs like this regularly, I saw no issues with the track. I would have liked that this song could have served as a break between “Don’t Know What To Do” and “Kick It,” but that’s nitpicking.
Track 5 – “DDU-DU DDU-DU” – Remix
When a song is a remix but there are no new artists or producers added to the equation, there’s nothing of value to get from it. Teddy and R.Tee were essentially told to re-do their homework assignment for “DDU-DU DDU-DU” when making this remix. It didn’t put an interesting spin on the original and isn’t good.
Reflecting On The Album
Overall, the album Kill This Love has some good songs on it. I don’t rank any of this within BLACKPINK’s best songs, but at the same time, it’s a solid EP. The high point would be the title track, and the low point would easily be the remix of DDU-DU DDU-DU. The group’s rap skills were showcased well on every song.
One obvious theme throughout the whole EP was the incorporation of English lyrics. Like I said before, the only reason I assume there was such an imbalance was because of how the group will be touring North America soon. The group will give the American audience the first taste of their live performances when they perform on Friday at Coachella. Besides BLACKPINK’s two Coachella dates, the group is set to perform eight shows across North America before starting the European leg of the tour.
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