Lisa, a Thai member of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK / Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment

By Dong Sun-hwa

If a Thai member of a K-pop group produces a music video with Thai creators and films it in the capital of her home country, can we still say she is doing K-pop? Or should we characterize this as Thai pop, or T-pop?

This question arose Friday after Lisa, a Thai member of K-pop act BLACKPINK, unveiled her upbeat solo track, “Rockstar” — the 27-year-old’s first single since she established her own label, LLOUD, in February.

The song’s visually-compelling music video has been going strong, amassing 60 million views on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon. At the same time, however, it has stirred a debate among online users about whether it should be categorized as K-pop or T-pop.

Shot in Bangkok, the video features many Thai creators, including art directors, set managers and videographers, as well as Thai dancers who add a local touch to Lisa’s performance. For this reason, some fans said Lisa is promoting T-pop by bringing the talent of her country to the fore while solidifying her Thai identity.

“Lisa can be herself, show her beautiful skin color, and strongly display her country’s culture and characteristics in her works,” a fan commented on YouTube. “It means that she is breaking away from K-pop culture and showing her true self — Lalisa from Thailand.”

But not everyone thinks Lisa has stepped out of the K-pop zone.

“What a legend you are,” another YouTube user said. “A truly perfect K-pop idol.”

Lee Gyu-tag, a professor of cultural studies at George Mason University Korea, also believes that “Rockstar” is quite far from being T-pop.

“Lisa is from Thailand, but she is predominantly recognized as a K-pop singer on the global stage,” Lee told The Korea Times, stressing that K-pop is not just about the nationalities of the singers.

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK / Courtesy of YG Entertainment

“K-pop tunes also involve creators from different countries, but we still regard them as K-pop because it has other noteworthy characteristics such as business models, emphasis on music videos and the singers’ close interactions with their followers. In Lisa’s case, she neither announced she would give up her identity as a K-pop star nor changed the way of promoting her new offering.”

“Rockstar” does not seem to contain the elements of Thai music, he added.

“It is a hip-hop track, so musically speaking, it does not appear to be Thai style,” he explained. “Its lyrics are mostly written in English as well … If Lisa, who already has an identity as a K-pop singer, craves a change in her career, I think she should come up with completely different music with more Thai elements, such as Thai lyrics.”

The professor also referred to the case of SB19 — an all-Filipino boy band created by the Korean entertainment company ShowBT — to explain how challenging it is to ditch the association with K-pop. According to ShowBT CEO Jung Sung-han, SB19 is “influenced by K-pop, but the members write their lyrics in Tagalog, a dialect widely spoken in the Philippines.”

“SB19 defines itself as a Philippine pop (P-pop) group and sings a lot in its language,” he said. “But on a global scale, even a group like this often falls into the category of K-pop. This shows that it is not a walk in the park to build a new identity.”

A promotional image for Lisa’s new solo track “Rockstar” / Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment

However, Kim Jin-woo, head researcher at Circle Chart, which collates data to rank music releases, believes that “Rockstar” is more closely associated with T-pop.

“It cannot be seen as a K-pop track in terms of music and system,” Kim told The Korea Times. “If I have to classify, I would say it is closer to T-pop. Melon, a major music streaming service in Korea, also put ‘Rockstar’ in the ‘pop’ category instead of ‘dance’ where the majority of K-pop songs are.”

He continued, “It seems Lisa is now seeking to become a Thai pop star focusing on nurturing T-pop … Thailand is actually working hard to amplify its soft power worldwide and Lisa is often mentioned as a key figure for this project.”

After Lisa released the “Rockstar” music video, which was mostly filmed on Bangkok’s Yaowarat street, the area has reportedly seen a surge in popularity. Thai media outlets, including the Bangkok Post, also reported Saturday that the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will take this opportunity to develop new tourism activities to attract more tourists. The TAT plans to promote Yaowarat and other nearby neighborhoods, such as the Sampheng market, on social media platforms as well.

Kim added that the current attempt to define K-pop based on singers’ music styles or nationalities can complicate the matter. Echoing Lee’s view, Kim also underscored the significance of the “system.”

“At the crux of K-pop is its own system of training idols, creating music videos and making songs through ‘songwriting camps’ that bring together composers from around the world,” Kim said. “If we use this system as a yardstick to define K-pop, we can get a much clearer picture. In Lisa’s case, although she did receive K-pop training at YG Entertainment as a member of BLACKPINK, that’s about it. That is why I think her new solo release is not K-pop.”

He added, “K-pop is ever-changing, and it is difficult to sum it up in one word. We have not yet managed to define it to the fullest, but it will continue to go forward and evolve. In the end, it seems K-pop will be out of our hands and possibly live on in its own way.”