#LisaYouAreLoved: Blackpink fans say K-pop star treated unfairly, claim they didn’t get to interact with her
K-pop artists Lalisa Manoban, known better by the mononym Lisa, was trending on Twitter on Saturday, July 18. Fans of the artist, who is part of the South Korean all-women group called Blackpink, were tweeting under the hashtag #LisaYouAreLOVED.
Fans seemed to have a problem with YG Entertainment, the South Korean record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house that launched and manages Blackpink.
A Chinese fan group for the band and Lisa shared a statement on Twitter saying that while fans had been looking forward to Blackpink’s new album, they had been disappointed with the lack of activities. The statement read, “Lisa, who has been a member of Blackpink for four years, has taken every performance seriously. However, she didn’t even have an opportunity to interact with her fans during today’s fan-signing.”
The fans, in their statement, further said that they hoped YG Entertainment would treat Lisa more fairly in the future.
Fans poured in with their messages supporting Lisa. One wrote, “Lisa, we are here for you, no matter what happens. People may try to hurt you, ignore you and hate you but we Lilies and real blinks are here. We love you and we will walk with you through every step of the way. Let us be your shield and protect you.”
Another wrote on Twitter, “It saddens us to see this beautiful and talented girl get treated so badly, she makes the effort to keep the content going, always gives 100% energy, is kind and generous. Our angel, please take better care of this precious girl.”
There was some backlash to the trend as well. Many criticized the statement and its support for dragging other members of the group in favor of Lisa. “BLINKS -- fans of Blackpink -- trended a hashtag to drag a company cause their fave looked sad. She intentionally looked that way cause she's not feeling well when she should've been a professional & sucked it up cause it's their JOB. But LISA being deliberately ignored is overreacting?” wrote a fan.
Another wrote, “Again, please normalize defending a member without dragging the others and do not generalize. A lot of blinks love each and every one of them. #LisaYouAreLOVED.”
Some pointed out the hypocrisy of Blackpink fans when it came to taking to online outrage. A fan wrote, "Jenniebar asking for Jennie to be treated better. Kblinks: quiet. Lisabar asking for fair treatment for all members and more promotion instead of music show and disappointed with today events. Kblink: it's unnecessary." They were referring to fans of Kim Jennie, famous as just Jennie, who is also part of Blackpink.
Last month, Blackpink’s new song ‘How You Like That’ claimed the title of the 24-hour view on YouTube from BTS that set a record in April 2019 with ‘Kill This Love’. On June 29, YouTube said the ‘How You Like That’ video, with 86.3 million views in the first 24 hours, set a new record for the biggest-ever YouTube Premiere with 1.66 million peak concurrent viewers.
The single also made its way to this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Reportedly, the track was at No. 33. With a second week spent on the Hot 100, Forbes reported that ‘How You Like That’ was the third song by a South Korean girl group to earn more than one stay on the roster.