BLACKPINK’s Solo “Flop” Debate Gets It Wrong

Calling BLACKPINK’s solo releases “flops” makes an easy headline. Looking at the actual comparison makes a much more interesting story.

As checked on September 25, 2026, JISOO’s “CLICK” and ROSÉ’s “new trick” each had more views on their official YouTube music videos than JENNIE’s “FALLEN ANGEL” or “Less than a Lover.” LISA’s “SaWaDiKa” led this particular selection by a substantial margin.

Those facts deserve attention. So does the conclusion they cannot support: that the member with fewer views has made less valuable music.

The four women who share BLACKPINK are releasing different work. A fair discussion can celebrate LISA’s reach, take JENNIE’s personal direction seriously, and recognize the audiences showing up for ROSÉ and JISOO. There is room for all four in the same sentence—and in the same playlist.

What the BLACKPINK solo “flop” debate gets wrong

A YouTube Short titled “LES MEMBRES DE BLACKPINK FLOP, MÉRITÉ ?” prompted this editorial. Its title connects commercial performance with the question of whether success is deserved. That framing is worth examining without turning the discussion into a campaign against its creator.

We could verify the upload’s title, but could not retrieve a usable transcript. This article therefore evaluates the broader argument rather than presenting unverified quotations from the video.

Three separate questions often get squeezed into the word “flop”: Do I enjoy this song? How is it performing? Does this artist deserve her audience?

The first is personal taste. The second needs a metric and a comparison. The third is a judgment about someone’s legitimacy that a YouTube counter cannot settle.

A listener can dislike a chorus, find a production choice unconvincing, or prefer an earlier release. Good criticism explains those reactions. A lower number, on its own, explains very little about why a song works for the people who love it.

The views: “CLICK” and “new trick” are ahead of both JENNIE videos

We checked the public view counts reported by the five official YouTube video pages during the same research session on September 25, 2026. The table is organized by artist, rather than as a ranking.

These are cumulative video views, not unique viewers, first-week totals, or streams across every platform. The videos have different release dates, and their counters continue to change.

The narrow conclusion is clear: a comparison based on these official MV totals cannot place ROSÉ and JISOO below both JENNIE releases.

It would be equally unfair to turn that finding into an attack on JENNIE. Her two videos each attracting around 29 million views does not tell us whether a lyric resonated, whether listeners returned through audio platforms, or whether either release met its commercial targets.

The useful correction is to apply one standard consistently. If views are being used as evidence, read all the relevant counters. If artistic quality is the subject, discuss the music.

ROSÉ should not have to remake “APT.” forever

For ROSÉ, the comparison often begins before the new song has even been heard: can it match “APT.”?

That question can be commercially interesting. As a permanent artistic requirement, it is restrictive. A collaboration with Bruno Mars and a later solo release are different creative situations. Recognizing his contribution does not erase hers; recognizing their shared success does not require every subsequent song to recreate it.

There is useful context in ROSÉ’s interview with Vogue. The publication describes “new trick” as a standalone release, separate from the first single of her next album. ROSÉ discussed writing it with Amy Allen while feeling drawn away from sad songs and toward a more playful mood.

That gives listeners a better starting point: what happens when an artist associated with emotional vulnerability decides to have fun?

Our view is that an artist’s freedom to change mood matters. A lighter song can reveal something about its maker, just as a heartbreak ballad can. Measuring every new idea against one earlier collaboration risks treating artistic development as a mistake whenever it produces a different result.

And the audience for this particular idea is hardly invisible. The official “new trick” video had passed 45 million views when checked. That is a concrete observation; declarations that ROSÉ’s audience has simply disappeared are much harder to reconcile with it.

JISOO’s “CLICK” deserves an actual conversation

JISOO’s figure is just as relevant: more than 48 million views on the official “CLICK” video at the same check.

That does not make the song immune to criticism. It does make “nobody is interested” a poor description of the available evidence.

A more revealing discussion would ask how her delivery serves the song, whether its hook stays with the listener, and how the visual concept changes the experience. Those are questions that invite people to listen again. They leave room for disagreement without deciding that the people who enjoy JISOO must somehow be mistaken.

There is also a difference between being someone’s favorite BLACKPINK performer and being an artist they choose to explore separately. Solo releases give listeners a chance to discover preferences that a group comeback does not always reveal.

For BLINKs, that possibility is part of the excitement. JISOO does not need to reproduce another member’s approach for her own audience to count.

JENNIE’s more personal direction still counts

The comparison becomes especially unhelpful if defending ROSÉ and JISOO means using JENNIE as collateral damage.

Sony Music describes the three-song Fallen Angel EP as a more intimate and personal part of her creative world. That is documented context for how the project is presented.

It does not prove why one video receives fewer views than another. Calling a song “less commercial” may describe how it feels to a listener, but it is not an explanation we can establish from these counters alone.

What we can say is that personal music should have room to find its audience without a demand to dominate every metric. A song can become someone's favorite through repeated private listening. Another can travel widely because its video is a compelling spectacle. Neither experience makes the other less real.

“FALLEN ANGEL” and “Less than a Lover” should be discussed on their own terms. The numbers above correct a selective comparison; they are not a replacement ranking of the members’ talent.

LISA’s reach deserves credit, not an “of course”

“SaWaDiKa” is the largest video in this five-release snapshot, with more than 182 million views.

Sony Music’s release announcement situates the song around LISA’s Thai roots and introduces its Bangkok-shot video, directed by Bang Jae Yeob. The performance-centered presentation offers a useful context for its appeal.

Rhythm and movement can give audiences immediate ways to engage: dancing, replaying a sequence, or sharing a favorite moment. That is a plausible reading of how performance-driven pop connects, rather than a verified explanation of this particular view total.

It would diminish LISA’s work to say that success was inevitable because the song is rhythmic. Countless energetic songs fail to reach a broad audience. Execution, performance, presentation and audience response still matter.

Give LISA credit for the result we can observe. There is no need to use her reach to argue that the other members have failed.

What would a fair commercial comparison actually measure?

Before declaring any release a commercial disappointment, start with a defined question.

• Use comparable windows. First seven days against first seven days is more informative than cumulative totals for videos of different ages.
• Name the platform and format. Music-video views, audio streams, downloads and chart positions measure different activity.
• Identify the benchmark. A previous release, a market average and an internal label target are different comparisons.
• Separate reach from profitability. Public counters do not disclose budgets, contracts or the financial outcome of a campaign.
• Allow time for a song’s trajectory. An opening snapshot cannot describe its entire listening life.

YouTube’s own chart methodology helps explain the distinctions. Its Top Songs chart can combine official videos, lyric videos and user-generated videos using the official song. Paid-advertising views are excluded from YouTube Charts. Those rules mean a public MV counter and a chart total should not be treated as interchangeable.

Nothing here establishes that a specific artist used paid promotion. The point is simply to understand the measurement before building an argument around it.

BLACKPINK’s success is not something each comeback has to earn again

BLACKPINK’s group music and the members’ solo work can be judged seriously without putting their entire careers on trial with every release.

A group gives four performers a shared musical setting. Solo projects let each choose different emphases, collaborators and moods. Listeners will naturally respond differently. That variation is part of the reason solo careers are interesting.

We can disagree about which song has the strongest hook. We can wish a video had taken a different direction. We can acknowledge a slower commercial start when comparable evidence supports it. None of that requires telling millions of listeners that their enjoyment is undeserved.

The strongest BLINK response is specific: correct misleading comparisons, credit the work, and leave space for taste. It does not require insulting a critic or manufacturing a victory over another member.

Celebrate LISA’s reach. Make room for JENNIE’s intimacy. Take JISOO’s audience seriously. Let ROSÉ move beyond the expectation of another “APT.”

Four solo careers give us more music to discover. They do not have to become four arguments for why only one woman deserves to succeed.