Recommendations of the Editorial team
The women of Blackpink clearly feel at home on “Deadline” – and that suits them perfectly. It’s the K-pop queens’ first new music since [Staub vom Kalender bläst] more than three years since her career-defining 2022 album, the excellent “Born Pink”. All four – Jennie, Rosé, Lisa and Jisoo – have since dedicated themselves intensively to their solo careers. Rosé released her personal statement “Rosie,” featuring the smash hit “Apt.” together with Bruno Mars, which she performed just a few weeks ago at the opening of the Grammys. There were also Lisa’s “alter egos” with “Rockstar” (one of the best hits of all time with this title) and “New Woman” (ditto). Jennie’s “Ruby” and Jisoo’s “Amortage” were also released last year.
But let’s face it: the world has been waiting feverishly for more of the magic that Blackpink can only create when they put their four heads together and go for it. “Deadline” is a modest 15-minute EP that includes their 2025 single “Jump” – released six months ago – and four new songs, three of which are great. The best news: not a single whiny whine on “Deadline,” a huge relief since that’s the last thing anyone needs from the group. The Blackpink ladies are in a stunt mood, what they do best – dripping with glamorous charisma. Their respective solo successes have obviously fueled their diva energy even further, although they’ve never had any catching up to do in that regard. On “Deadline” Blackpink mix harshness and flirtatiousness in their distinctive style.
A strangely chosen title for a comeback that was almost four years in coming – especially since it is named after their Deadline World Tour 2025, which had already ended in January. (What the title means to them remains unclear.) “Jump” opens the EP: a Top 40 hit from last July, a Diplo track that mixes 2000s MTV pop nostalgia with spaghetti western whistles, EDM breakdowns and Euro-trashy horn blasts – plus a salute to their girl power goddesses, the Spice Girls.
“Go” and the Coldplay twist
“Go” is a more pompous, aggressive party banger produced by Cirkut and Teddy – amazingly, the first song all four Blackpink members have written together after a decade in the game. Even stranger: Coldplay’s Chris Martin appears in the songwriting credit. It’s a fast-paced tangle of hardstep drops and “Black! Pink!” chants, as Lisa warns: “No slow jams/Bumping through the speakers when I do my go-go dance!” There is a bridge similar to the one from “Apt.” very (very) comes close. But then there’s an unexpected Springsteen moment when the beat slows and Jennie sings, “When your heart is broken, baby/Darkness on the edge of.” tooooown.” A stirring moment where “Born Pink” meets “Born to Run” – deep from the emotional Badlands.
“Me and My” is one of their trap tributes: a warning to all losers to better hide their man when Blackpink enter the club. Jennie brags about “pretty privilege” in her “hottie season” and raps: “You know that’s my girl when I call her bitch.” Lisa buys out the bar and recommends questionable NBA etiquette. (“Courtside on the call, we can touch the ball” – wow, maybe not?) Musically, it’s in familiar territory, but Jennie delivers one of the album’s funniest fashion lines: “Daisy Dukes make me speak my mind.”
“Champion” is the biggest musical exclamation point on “Deadline” – and by far the strongest track. A foray into eighties new wave synth-pop, territory they’re often comfortable in, from the Blondie moves of “Yeah Yeah Yeah” to Rosé’s Toni Basil “Mickey” homage on “Apt.” But “Champion” is a trip into a big-hair goth club darkwave atmosphere, with a strong guitar sound that comes directly from the Cure around “Seventeen Seconds” or Siouxsie and the Banshees around “Juju” – hypnotic.
This slinky dance sound flatters their dynamic voices in the most ideal way – and makes you wish they were recording an entire album in new wave mode. (If they ever feel like doing a whole album again. If necessary, they could even start a collaboration with the Cure, after all, Robert Smith and Blackpink are equally relaxed about deadlines.)
“Fxxxboy” as a bitter punchline
Blackpink have a long-known weakness for acoustic guitar ballads – always controversial among fans – but this time they’re doing it right with “Fxxxboy.” It’s a loose, sassy, thoroughly attitude-driven ode about tormenting ex-partners with meaningless sex but denying them emotional care because they’ve burned you too many times and now it’s your turn to suffer. “Keep your expectations under the pavement,” warns Jisoo. “Guess karma’s a bitch/How’s it feel? Now I’m the fuckboy!”
It’s reminiscent of “Tally” from Born Pink, another moment where they ram their eight stiletto heels into an ex’s heart. (As Jennie sang there: “I like to play dirty just like all the fuckboys do.”) But it’s even meaner and funnier. “I don’t like you, I’m just bored” – damn, Jisoo, that fits. Blackpink have definitely come a long way from “lovesick girls” to a four-member squad of self-proclaimed fuckboys. But “Deadline” leaves you wanting more.
