BLACKPINK’s Rosé released her highly anticipated debut solo album R today. The release is lead by the single ‘On The Ground’ and the B-side ‘Gone,’ premiered during BLACKPINK’s online concert The Show in January. Both songs are in English.
Alongside the album, Rosé also dropped the video for ‘On The Ground.’ The video seems to fit and portray all of Rosé’s personality traits: It opens (and closes) with a burning car to then jump to Rosé in the changing rooms of a theatre to close with Rosé floating over a dreamy garden in full bloom and dancing in a field of roses.
The song and its lyrics are personal: “I worked my whole life / Just to get right, just to be like / “Look at me, I’m never comin’ down” / I worked my whole life / Just to get high, just to realise / Everything I need is on the / Everything I need is on the ground.”
The song wants to convey the message that the important things in life exist on the ground, not somewhere up in the sky.
During a press conference earlier today, Rosé said, “Since I’ve been preparing for this album for such a long time and our fans have been waiting for it as well, I wanted it to be satisfactory.” As reported by The Korea Herald, she attended every meeting during the creative process so that the album would reflect her ideas as much as possible. “So from the design of the album to my first songwriting participation, I tried to express my honest self through R.”
The singer also revealed that she came to look back at herself while preparing for the album. “I again felt that I get healed through music and learn from it a lot. I learned a lot and was comforted by the process. I hope that the people who listen to my music also relate to it and get comforted”, she said.
Rosé also revealed that she had initially recorded ‘Gone’ for the first time two years ago. Meanwhile, ‘On The Ground’ was only recorded recently.
Before releasing R, the album set a new record by receiving more than 400,000 pre-orders within four days of being available for sale globally.
Rosé is set to make an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She has confirmed that she will be performing ‘On the Ground’ on the talk show on March 16 and will be the first solo K-pop artist to perform on the US show.
