Blackpink member swerves between moods and sounds on her solo debut
Pop stars have to possess at least a few chameleonic tendencies—quickly snapping from thrill-ride energy shots to weepy ballads demands a willingness to switch things up, at least in terms of mood. On her first solo full-length, Blackpink member Lisa takes that ideal to heart and beyond — Alter Ego, as its name might suggest, is “populated” by five Lisa variants, each one tasked with embodying the album’s varied moods and styles. Here’s Vixi, a.k.a. “the one they love to call ‘the villain,’” throwing down bars alongside Atlanta hip-hop king Future on the raucous “Fxck Up the World”; there’s Kiki, the “Y2Cute” pop girlie shouting out the way she hit ctrl-alt-del on her life philosophy on the bubbly Rosalía collab “New Woman.”
This concept allows Lisa to be up-front about how her chart-topping status necessitates playing with personas, even if it sometimes leaves Alter Ego feeling a bit pieced-together. The clamor of Blackpink’s biggest singles is present on the aggressively seductive “Elastigirl” and the storming “Badgrrrl,” while Lisa’s starpower is underscored not only by the aforementioned Future and Rosalía cameos, but by guest spots from Houston hip-hop luminary Megan Thee Stallion on the cavernous boast “Rapunzel” and her onetime Rolling Stone chat partner Tyla on the sweetly effervescent “When I’m With You.”
That track is one example of how Lisa shines brightest in the moments when her sturdy, yet winsome singing takes center stage. “Born Again,” a collaboration with the British torch-pop belter Raye and the heat magnet Doja Cat, blends the sort of light blasphemy that would make Madonna proud (“If you stayed just another few nights I could’ve made you pray to Jesus,” Lisa wails on the chorus) with a modern take on Latin freestyle, the trio fully leaning into the lyrics’ sauciness as a springy, amped-up bassline bounds beneath them. “Moonlit Floor” takes the chorus of Sixpence None the Richer’s wide-eyed “Kiss Me” and runs it through a 2020s discopop filter, giving a cushion upon which Lisa can fall hard for a “green-eyed French boy”; “Chill” has a sullenness that recalls Nelly Furtado‘s “Say It Right,” with Lisa flipping the cool-girl archetype into an imposing statue of an ice princess.
Lisa’s versatility is clearly a strength — and one that she’s wielding in her nascent acting career, as evidenced by her stint on The While Lotus‘ current season. It helps make Alter Ego feel like an encouraging first step in her figuring out how where her solo career might go.
