BLACKPINK’s Got You with Kill This Love
BLACKPINK is back with yet another album that is made ready to top the charts. The group’s third EP, Kill This Love, presents a whole new spectrum, in terms of the girls’ musicality, to the public.
“Kill This Love”
The grand composition of drum sounds sets a mysterious yet bold tone, and the introduction of brass instrument effects opens up to Jennie’s unique vocals to start the song off. Building up tension in the atmosphere with the sharp beats enhancing the rhythm of the track, Lisa’s charismatic rapping simply adds more weight to the rich sounds. Jisoo’s distinctive vocals transition over to Rosé’s sweet voice as they both sing the catchiest bridges prior to reaching the verse and chorus. The girls make a strong impression with their voices simultaneously singing the phrase “Let’s kill this love,” referring to and emphasizing the title. The unison between the members regarding the tones of their voices and the energy emitted further strengthens the feeling of the dark aura washing over the listener throughout the whole song.
To be honest, I have to admit the group’s title song “Kill This Love” wasn’t my favorite song after the first listen. However, the more I listened to it, the more it caught my attention, and soon enough, I was singing along to it. In comparison to their previous title tracks, this song showcases as well as highlights the vocal aspect of the group rather than putting the focus on appealing to the public with a catchy song. This only increased my liking towards this song, and as of now, I consider “Kill This Love” my favorite BLACKPINK title song (even though the others are equally as great!).
Nonetheless, the music video is as impactful as the song. With sounds in the track coming to life by morphing into brass instruments as depicted in the very first scene, the viewer is already awed as the scene shifts from a short shot of individual members into a frame with all four members. The explosion that happens at the same time as the chorus undoubtedly adds a definite impact, intensifying the lyrics as well as the sharp moves in the choreography. The transitions between each frame show a distinct difference in mood and express the individual concepts of each and every member. Jennie’s scene shows the duality of her persona, the devil and angel through the two swans as well as her outfits. The colorful background in the grocery store stresses Lisa’s rapping as her flow gives off a swaggy vibe that hypes up the viewers. Aside from her fierce, war goddess-like appearance, Jisoo’s beauty is emphasized through accessories, showing her as if she were the goddess of beauty. Rosé’s concept is still a mystery, yet the most intriguing, with her tears and the car accident. Later, she appears laughing, a complete 180 turn from her first individual scene. From all of these parts, I came to think that this music video somewhat landed its focus on the aspect of duality. As much as this song talks about breaking off from a toxic relationship, the girls really make this message come through by showing the bold image in each member overpowering the once innocent or weak trait that did not allow them to let this relationship fall apart.
Tracklist: Kill This Love
Along with the title track “Kill This Love,” the album Kill This Love carries four other B-sides that will leave you in awe.
First off, “Don’t Know What To Do” gives off a pop song vibe. With a sentimental atmosphere created by the lyrics longing for her lover, BLACKPINK sings of an individual reliving the memories with her lover in the past, who is now lost without the presence of the significant other. The transition from a quiet intro rising in volume and emotion to the chorus highlights the feeling of hopelessness.
“Kick It” is a song in the hip-hop genre with a hint of mild rock in terms of the familiar drum combination filling the background. BLACKPINK really owns this song as they sing about the importance of living life for one’s self rather than someone else. This tough concept is a perfect fit when thinking of the charismatic appearances of the girls in “Kill This Love!”
A slower track, the minimal background sounds in “Hope Not” allow the listener to solely focus on the voices of the members. The guitar strums give off a comfortable feeling, and the vocals gently weave into one another to create beautiful harmonies along with showing each of their unique voices.
The album ends with the “DDU-DU DDU-DU - Remix.” The intro holds a darker vibe with the additional beats that add a deeper hip-hop feeling onto the track; the new series of sounds that build up the bridge lend over to the chorus which is also modified to fill up a lot more counts with the synthesizing beat sound effects. Although this isn’t my favorite remix out there at the moment, I do strongly believe this track will look stunning on stage (can’t wait for those dance breaks!).
Overall, BLACKPINK’s new EP Kill This Love was beyond my initial expectations. It only took a few tries to have the music video and the songs to simply blow me away! The group’s popularity did bring a lot of attention to their new release in an instant, but this EP is the album that will attract the attention of non-fans or simply the avid music listeners. Find out whether or not you find yourself to be compatible with popular girl group BLACKPINK’s most recent album Kill This Love!