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Disband or new era? Blackpink tribute to old music videos in 'Shut Down' leaves fans scared

'Shut Down' is a diss track to Blackpink's haters who made fun of their hiatus and questioned their success

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Blackpink is back after 2 years with their second album 'Born Pink' and its lead single 'Shut Down'. And the wait was worth it as even haters had to begrudgingly agree that the girls had stepped up their game. 'Shut Down' is very different from Blackpink's previous songs as they sampled classical music and turned it into a a masterpiece. Even the album was pretty iconic as each song was fun and refreshing as they experimented with different genres. But the music video has fans worried as it has sparked disbanding rumors.

Blackpink is truly at their peak as one of the biggest K-pop groups at the moment with 'Born Pink' crossing a million sales in the first 24 hours according to Hanteo Chart. They also seem to be topping and trending on all major charts from iTunes and Youtube to MelOn, Genie and Bugs. The music video of 'Shut Down' also had fans making fan theories as Blackpink gave tribute to their old music videos like 'Whistle' and 'Boombayah'. And while some think it is for their new era, others are worrying about the worst case scenario.

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Blackpink give tribute to old music videos

In the 'Shut Down' music video, we see several moments referencing to old Blackpink music videos. But K-pop fans have observed that whenever a music video gets nostalgic it is usually followed by disbanding news. Well, in 'Shut Down', we have Rosé sitting on top of a globe like in 'Whistle'. Lisa being surrounded by trash and speakers in 'Boombayah' is replaced with Lisa surrounded by bags of money in 'Shut Down'.

Jennie is then seen on the same bridge and a bathtub like in 'Playing With Fire'. Lisa unsheathing a katana with Blackpink engraved on it draws parallels with 'Ddu-du Ddu-du' along with Jennie on a rhinestoned tank. Rosé also copies her past self swinging from a chandelier. Meanwhile Jisoo carries a pink umbrella and poses in front of her image just like in 'Ddu-du Ddu-du'. The girls also walk through an abandoned street eerily similar to that in 'Kill This Love'.

'You aren't literally going to shut down?'

A user observed, "It looks like those MVs that idols make when they are going to disband." Another said, "SHUT DOWN IS A SONG ABOUT HATERS (specifically those who mocks for the repitative song) & THE MV IS TRIBUTING THEIR OLD SONGS BY SHUTTING THEM DOWN AND ENTERING IN THE NEW ERA AND NEW SUCCESS!!!!" One fan theorised, "The last part of shutdown mv when they enter the elevator and press the UP button means they're ready to face another phase of them as the Biggest Girl Group of the World. They just help us to look back on their old music videos by remaking it and is now ready for the new ERA!"

Another fan asked, "All these references from their old mvs kinda scares me out tho blackpink honey, you aren't going to literally shutdown (disband) or something righttttt?" One fan wondered, "This mv teaser called SHUT DOWN and they put full of BP's old songs also their solo songs, but why is it felt like it's either new era next cb or the worse case they'll gonna disband soonest?" Another fan said, "Thought it was obvious; The theme is that they shut down their past (hence the garage door was down) and at the end of video; they took a lift up since they only way is up now. Tldr: new era theme."