Juliette Recommends: “Kill This Love” by BLACKPINK
I never thought I would be into K-pop. Like, ever. Korean pop groups were literally half a world away, and I try to avoid large groups of screaming fangirls at the height of something’s popularity (not that there’s anything wrong with loving something that much— I’m not one for noise and crowds generally!).
Then, my sister started listening to almost exclusively K-pop groups: EXO, BTS, NCT … and BLACKPINK. I’ve quickly lost track of her long list of favourites, but BLACKPINK stood out to me from the start.
On the one hand, they were the very first girl group she showed me. It was honestly a refreshing sight after weeks of watching groups of men dancing in brightly coloured suits (usually without a shirt underneath).
On the other, they’re simply talented. Not only is this group of girls absolutely stunning, but they’ve got more than enough talent backing it up. Singing, dancing, rapping — they’ve got it all.
Like most K-pop hits, their music is catchy. I’ve grown to like many of their songs (and, I’ll admit it — my sister made me a full K-pop playlist that I listen to frequently). But Kill This Love was the first of countless BLACKPINK songs my sister introduced me to, and it’s remained my favourite.
As said sister so kindly puts it, “This is the one song you can kind of sing along to.” In this, she’s referring to both my absolute ignorance of the Korean language and a rather lengthy section of English lyrics in this song in particular:
“Let’s kill this love!Rum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum
We all commit to loveThat makes you cry, oh ohWe’re all making loveThat kills you inside, yeah
We must kill this love (yeah, yeah)Yeah, it’s sad but trueGotta kill this love (yeah, yeah)Before it kills you, too”
Contrary to my own expectations, yes, I’ve gotten into K-pop, however mildly. Thanks to BLACKPINK, I’ve been able to share in one of my sister’s biggest interests as of late, and it’s actually brought us closer along the way. Not to mention, I’ve got some new favourites to get stuck in my head!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S24-y0Ij3Y(Song recommendation by Juliette Sebock)