The world’s biggest girl group, Blackpink, recently had their comeback after a two year hiatus. 

For their comeback, members Lisa, Jisoo, Rosé and Jennie starred on the cover of Rolling Stone’s June issue. One month later, the K-Pop group released “Ready For Love” on July 29. “Ready For Love” was the first single released since their 2020 debut album titled, “The Album.” The dance pop song was also a special track for Blackpink and PUBG Mobile’s collaboration for a virtual in-game concert. “Ready For Love” is also the final track on their new album, “Born Pink.” The new album, which was released on Sept. 16, has eight songs, including main vocalist Rosé’s synth-pop solo, “Hard to Love.” Blackpink also released their single, “Pink Venom,” and its music video Aug. 19. 

Blackpink’s official Instagram made an announcement post on July 31 that there would be a pre-release single in August, an album release in September and a world tour beginning in October. The pre-released single’s name, “Pink Venom,” was revealed on Aug. 7. The “Born Pink” world tour was announced the following day. It is scheduled to run from mid-October to late June. Concerts will be held in over 25 cities where the American and European legs of the tour will both have seven locations. Seoul, South Korea will start off the tour and Auckland, New Zealand will close it off. 

There were different ways for fans to get involved in fan club presales, which were shared on the official Blackpink Instagram. Blackpink promoted their return with the Light Up The Pink campaign in six big international cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Bangkok, New York and Los Angeles which, literally, lit up in pink to celebrate the release of “Pink Venom.” The music video for “Pink Venom” surpassed 300 million views and 13 million likes, causing YouTube to credit it as the number one global top music video. Blackpink also released a special stage performance for “Pink Venom” on YouTube.

“Shut Down” is the second track off “Born Pink” that claps back at the hate Blackpink received on their hiatus. The music video for “Shut Down” was released on the album release date, Sept. 16, which featured multiple references to Blackpink’s past songs. Blackpink’s “Shut Down” music video ended up surpassing 97 million views and seven million likes, trending number one for music videos on the YouTube music page. Blackpink also uploaded a “Shut Down” dance performance on YouTube two days after the music video release. 

The MTV Video Music Awards announced on Aug. 15 via Twitter that Blackpink would perform “Pink Venom” live on Aug. 28, marking the group’s American award show debut. Lisa made history for winning the best K-Pop award for her song, “Lalisa.” During the awards, she shouted out Blackpink’s record label, YG, her collaborators and her bandmates. 

“Blinks, you’re the most important ones. Thank you so much for making this happen. I love you,” she said to the fans. Blackpink also won the best metaverse performance award for their PUBG mobile virtual concert. 

Aside from the Video Music Awards, there was a Pink Venom concept pop-up from  Aug. 29 through Sept. 4 only at the Hyundai Seoul 5F Sounds Forest. 

Lisa, Jisoo, Rosé and Jennie made a surprise appearance for their collaborative pop-up experience with Spotify in Los Angeles from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18. “Blinks” were able to visit the “Born Pink” exhibition in real life, go to Blackpink-designed photo rooms and make collectible cards. Limited-edition merchandise, jewelry and other accessories, giveaways and Blackpink-inspired boba tea were also available. 

A vinyl, kit album and three versions of album box sets in black, gray and pink are a few options that fans can choose to purchase on Blackpink’s official shop site. There are also four versions of digipaks, one for each member, and other other merchandise.

The girls continue to break records with their album dominating iTunes charts in countries worldwide. In addition, “Pink Venom” and “Shut Down” both dominated Spotify’s Global chart and made Blackpink the first K-Pop artist to have two songs top this chart. Stream “Born Pink” on all streaming platforms.