BLACKPINK Is Heading Back To Australia And Their Fans Are Ready
The biggest girl group in the world are back for the first time since 2019.
Brace yourselves, Blinks: BLACKPINK, the mega-successful girl group consisting of Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa, and Australia’s own Rosé, are finally returning to Australia.
Yup, as part of their world tour Born Pink, the foursome will be performing arena shows in both Melbourne and Sydney in June 2023.
Significantly, it will mark the first time the K-Pop group has performed in Australia since the pandemic, with their visit coming almost four years after their incredible In Your Area world tour in 2019. For their first tour, BLACKPINK performed one concert in both Melbourne and Sydney, but this year they’ll be doubling that effort with two nights in each city.
For fans of the band, it’s a visit they’ve long been waiting for, and will no doubt create feelings of joy and catharsis.
“There’s so much to get excited about, especially their solos and ‘How You Like That’ – that song got me through lockdown,” says Sheray, a Melbourne-based fan who fell for the band when they released ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’ in 2018. She says she can’t wait to hear all the music they’ve released since 2019.
The girls certainly have been busy in those four years. They released not one but two studio albums – The Album in October 2020 and Born Pink in September 2022; the lead single of which, ‘Pink Venom’, made ARIA chart history by not only becoming BLACKPINK’s first number one debut on the chart, but the first from any K-Pop group (BTS previously held the record for the highest ARIA debut from a Korean group, with ‘Dynamite’ reaching number two in 2020).
BLACKPINK also collaborated with artists like Lady Gaga (‘Sour Candy’) and Selena Gomez (‘Ice Cream’), released a reality show on YouTube called 24/365 with BLACKPINK, a documentary on Netflix called BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky, and a documentary called BLACKPINK: The Movie. Rosé and Lisa also debuted solo albums in 2021, with R and Lalisa respectively (Jennie previously released Solo in 2018, while Jisoo is reportedly working on her own solo album, having focused on acting in the last couple of years).
While BLACKPINK were already huge in 2019, they’ll return to Australia as a certified phenomenon. For fans like Sheray and her friend Erin, who has been a BLACKPINK fan since their debut in 2016, the shows will be a meaningful follow-up to their last concert experience.
“We’re so lucky they keep coming back to our shores,” Sheray tells Junkee, who adds that her friendship with Erin was made so much stronger when they attended In Your Area together in Melbourne in 2019. “It’s actually one of our fondest memories together… it’s pretty much the foundation of our friendship. It was unreal. They were even more impressive live, they made every dance move look effortless, and they sounded incredible.”
For more recent BLACKPINK fans, these concerts are their first real opportunity to see the band live. Sydney-based Chanelle is one of them – she first became a fan of Blackpink in late 2021, and regrets not connecting with them in time to attend their previous concerts. She’s now planning to see as many shows as she can in Australia.
“I am most excited for the concert experience. BLACKPINK live performances are top-tier,” Chanelle tells Junkee. “I am hoping to get front row tickets so I can get completely immersed in their stage and live band.”
Another aspect of the shows many fans are looking forward to is seeing Melbourne-raised Rosé perform for her home crowd after so long away. In 2019, her first (and last) time performing at home, she sang a special song — an emotional cover of ‘Coming Home’.
“Rosé always talks about how she misses Australia and her lifestyle here, so I think it will be like a homecoming for her.”
“Being able to see her perform [that] was incredibly touching,” says Erin. “It was also really cute knowing that her parents were in the audience.” She adds that she hopes Rosé puts on another unique show for her hometown.
Chanelle agrees. “Rosé always talks about how she misses Australia and her lifestyle here, so I think it will be like a homecoming for her.”
Returning as part of the biggest girl group in the world, with a spate of successful solo tracks under her belt? Homecomings don’t get much more triumphant than that.
Photo credit: YJ entertainment