Lisa ft. Megan Thee Stallion’s Rapunzel: Breaking Free of BLACKPINK, but Not Too Far

BLACKPINK is taking some time off before their big world tour kicks off in July. The women are using this time to put out some solo projects before they hit the road. Next week we will look at Jennie’s release Ruby, but today we will focus on Lisa’s Alter Ego record. As the title suggests, this is her attempt to break free of her BLACKPINK persona and leave K-Pop behind. Now, that is harder than it sounds. On a whole, the record is more of Lisa taking one step sideways…and at times backwards…from BLACKPINK, but there are a couple bright stars in a largely average record. Jennie is another story, but we will get to that next week.

One thing that Lisa has going for her is that BLACKPINK’s global dominance means that she can scroll through her Snapchat and get a bucket full of amazing guest stars on the record. We have Doja Cat, Tyla, Rosalia, Future and Megan Thee Stallion. Musically, Rapunzel is not that far removed from BLACKPINK’s work. There is catchy 4/4 beats backed by fun synth with catchy vocal effects. TO be honest, it is a bit more stripped back than BLACKPINK’s traditional K-pop onslaught. The sparse musical landscape gives room for Stallion and Lisa to fill the space, which is what this track, and record, desperately needs.

Above all else, Lisa and Stallion are having unbridled fun. Bars about spending astronomical amounts of money, calling each other bitches and poppin’ off on “real hot girl shit” elevate this track over most of the record. We are not talking about reading Plato’s complete works, but it is catchy, strong and most of all…fun. When Lisa leans into her role as the rapper of BLACKPINK on this record, she really excels and those tracks work. It’s when she overtly tries to shun her BLACKPINK persona that the record falls flat. However, Rapunzel, much like When I’m With You, is Lisa having fun and being elevated by Stallion, an artist at the top of her game. This pairing works and Lisa can hold her own.

This record reminds me of Taylor Swift’s Reputation record, although far less successful than Swift, in that it is an artist consciously writing tracks against type in order to forge her own image. In Lisa’s case, it is when she embraces her talent that the record succeeds and when she veers to far off she becomes lost. Tracks like Rapunzel have Lisa as her most strong and confident self, which is what really worked for me. This is a fun track that I can listen to over and over. Sometimes, the further you run from yourself the more you realise that you just need to be yourself.

Listen to Rapunzel