K-pop group BLACKPINK marked their fifth anniversary on Aug. 8 with an array of activities leading up to the milestone.
It was on Aug. 8, 2016 when BLACKPINK’s Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa released their debut single album “Square One,” featuring the songs "Whistle" and "Boombayah."
To celebrate the fifth anniversary, the film “BLACKPINK: The Movie” was released in South Korea on Aug. 4.
The movie is divided into segments including “‘The Room of Memories,’ a segment on sharing five years of memories since BLACKPINK’s debut, ‘Beauty;’ compelling shots of all four members with their distinct characteristics, ‘Exclusive Interviews,’ a message for the fans,” according to the website. In addition, videos of their performances at concerts will be shown.
According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), “BLACKPINK: The Movie” has sold 8,680 tickets and grossed $98,460 in four days from Aug. 4 to 7 in South Korea. Its premiere on Aug. 4 garnered 4,553 in total admissions and gross of $51,420 to place seventh among the top-grossing films for the day.
Recently, BLACKPINK opened their own island “In Your Area” in the Nintendo Switch game “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” The island showcases the “BLACKPINK House,” which was the location of their reality program’, the stage of “The Show” (2021) and music video sets “Kill This Love,” “As If It’s Your Last” and “Ice Cream.”
It also recreates BLACKPINK’s workplace such as the recording studio and dance practice room at YG Entertainment’s new headquarters.
“The event was prepared with BLACKPINK members’ hopes to erase the boundaries of time and space, as well as their hopes to expand their interactions with global fans. It is BLACKPINK’s attempt to expand channels of communication using various opportunities while it is hard to meet the fans face to face (due to COVID-19),” the agency said.
BLACKPINK also joined Weverse, an app for the global fan community, and held a fan signing event through Zepeto.
In addition, a BLACKPINK pop-up exhibition will be held from Aug. 21 to 30 at the building housing “The Same” cafe in Hapjeong, Seoul. The exhibition will feature experience space and photo zones for the fans,
“Many contents were prepared so people can enjoy the POP-UP online as well. We are doing our best to make the exhibition satisfying, even for the fans who cannot visit in person,” said the agency.
BLACKPINK have achieved accolades and records since their debut. Last April, their “As If It's Your Last” music video reached one billion views on YouTube.
It is their fourth music video to reach the milestone after “Boombayah,” “Kill This Love” and “DDU-DU DDU-DU.”
They are the second most subscribed artist in the world on YouTube with 63.8 million subscribers behind Justin Bieber, who has 64.6 million as of writing.
BLACKPINK have four music videos on YouTube’s list of All-Time Top 24 Hour Music Debuts: “How You Like That” (No. 3), 86.3 million views; “Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)” (No. 4), 79 million; “Lovesick Girls” (No. 9), 61.4 million; and “Kill This Love” (No. 10), 56.7 million.
They were the first Korean YouTube channel to receive the YouTube Custom Play Button by surpassing 50 million subscribers in October 2020.