I can’t say I’m disappointed because my expectations were low to begin with, lmao. *sighhhhs* I’ve never been much of a solo Lisa music fanatic. It took me a bit to thoroughly enjoy “Money”. It’s still my favorite Lisa song. It does the capitalistic baddie concept best. However, I wanted to give Lisa’s solo a fresh set of ears and eyes, like with the other BLACKPINK member solos. Granted, a lot of what they showed us under their YG solos, is expanded on in their official solo albums. And many of these songs that are released on Alter Ego are songs that have been out for a while now.
I talked briefly about Lisa’s album with one of my friends before our NCT 127 concert on Friday (it was a blast, btw). And I was telling her I see so many similarities to Rosé’s solo. We agreed that we both enjoyed Jisoo’s more than we expected. We agreed we weren’t really into Rosé’s solo. Furthermore, we both were impressed with Jennie’s releases so far and hers is our number one favorite out of the four, despite Jennie’s album still being a few weeks out as of writing.
Lisa and Rosé have this odd lack of identity with their music outside BLACKPINK. Neither have really cleared out a solid path for themselves that makes them sound unique in their respective areas. As I said in my rosie review, I saw people calling her Taylor Swift like or Olivia Rodrigo adjacent. Why would you miss out on either of them to become a Rosé fan if you weren’t already?
I feel myself asking the same thing about Lisa and her music. Why would I be a Lisa stan when there are other Pop girlies doing this better? Who is this album for? What is the point? If it’s just to make fun dance music, Dua Lipa, Charli xcx, Slayyyter, Selena Gomez, Shygirl, Doja Cat… there are soooo many girls out there to choose from with stronger writing skills and charisma. And like I know Doja Cat isn’t Pop in the same with that like a Dua Lipa is, pop in the sense of popular music, not necessarily a “Baby One More Time” Pop.
I said this about Tzuyu’s album, and I’m gonna have to say it here, not every member of a group should have a solo album. Some people work better and shine more in a group setting. I love Lisa’s one-liner’s in BLACKPINK. I think Rosé’s voice hard carries the group. Outside this dynamic, I’m disinterested.
This album, Alter Ego, isn’t labeled as Kpop, and no. No, it is not. Today is more of an AshTalksKpopAdjancent article, lol. Anyway, I think that was a great choice. One of the few great decisions made for this album. I love that Lisa positioned herself as a more international artist with an all English release with Western/other international artists. Personality wise, I think Lisa connects greatly with Western audiences. I think that’s why both Jennie and Lisa are so popular with non Kpop fans. Their personalities and fashion connects better with what us Westerners are used to seeing with celebrities (and influencers).
But uhhh… I think we needed to do some pruning on this album. There was no reason this needed to be 15 songs long. Especially when these songs are saying the same thing, “I’m the best, I got money, look at my cars, look at my wrist”, my sister in sin we GET IT. What else do you have to show us.
The production on this album is fantastic. I love the beats and instrumentals going on. The features were wasted. I told my friend that one of my favorite songs on here was the one with Future (we both were like ugh him?? Iykyk). I will give it to Future, he kills it on a feature. Some of my favorite Tinashe songs, “Faded Love” and “Loveeeee Song” with Rihanna, both have Future on them. “How Many Times” by Tinashe and Future slaps too.
I love the energy and everything going on in this song. It’s a perfect balance of what I’m going to refer to as “I Am The Best” energy. But I prefer the collab version. The solo version with just Lisa doesn’t hit the same.
Future absolutely sells me on this concept and didn’t give a half ass feature. He went in and I wanted more verses. And I felt the same with my other favorite collab song, “NEW WOMAN” featuring Rosalía.
I didn’t listen to “NEW WOMAN” when it first dropped. And I’m glad I waited to listen to it when the rest of Alter Ego dropped because I would have been mad, lol. There’s NOTHING else on this album that’s even close to this song. One of my biggest complaints with Rosé leading with “APT” on her album, to have absolutely nothing else like it on rosie.
But Rosalía killed it on this track. I don’t listen to her music, but this made me interested. Her rap and singing parts of her feature were so smooth and catchy. And as much as I love Lisa’s singing and the chorus on “NEW WOMAN”, if you took Rosalía off the song, what would you have to fill that void? Idk if Lisa would be enough for me to enjoy a solo version of it. Idk.
Like Future, Rosalía made me want more, these are the types of Western/Kpop collabs I want more off!!!! However, the feature I was most excited for, I was most disappointed by.
This chorus is … not it. After Meg’s part, I jumped to the next song on the album. Megan Thee Stallion was flawless, wiped the floor with Lisa. And personally, I wouldn’t have asked Megan to be on my song if I couldn’t bring the same energy as her. Feels disrespectful, lol.
Also like, what do grills have to do with having long hair??? It feels like someone Caucasian was in the room and said, “hey, this is a rap song, so we gotta cross certain topics off this list because it’s not a rap song otherwise”. Ughhhhhhh I couldn’t finish this album fast enough. And it’s songs like “Rapunzel” that fill the majority of the run time of Alter Ego. Alter Ego and we literally were shown Lisa (Rap and Pop, the usual one we see), Lisa 2 (Poppy NEW WOMAN), and that’s it. Even when we’re getting something different from Lisa, there’s still a crutch.
I have to tackle this because it’s been bothering me since it first released. The best parts of “MOONLIT FLOOR”, the “Kiss Me” song, are the parts without the “Kiss Me” part. Why were we so stuck on using this song?
We had something so different, a softer side of Lisa, and we still decided she wasn’t a strong enough artist to just have a solo, new song. And most of these songs aren’t that long on Alter Ego. Again, without the sample, where would this song be if Lisa alone had to carry it.
The last song I’m going to discuss on here is the remaining song, out of three in total, that I liked on Alter Ego. 3/15. Crazy. I like that this is a bit more stripped down but still catchy and cool. It’s the only solo Lisa song that I loved, and it’s also short, 2:30. I think if it wasn’t for the features on half of these songs, they’d all be about that long. Which is fine I guess, kinda the trend at the moment. But in this instance, it tells me you likely ran out of things to say. Especially in the case of an album with 15 songs, almost 43 minutes long, with repeating themes that aren’t that relatable to most of the listeners.
I think songs like “7 Rings” by Ariana Grande work so well when it’s like a one-off thing in Pop. Which is crazy because it also samples a popular song, “My Favorite Things” from the musical The Sound of Music (chef’s kiss film).
I’m not anti-sample, on the contrary, I love them. But when they’re used creatively. And in “7 Rings” it was used at the beginning, and that was it. Also, “7 Rings” has had its controversies when it released at the time. I’m not going to act like people also didn’t heavily criticize the capitalism praising going on when it initially released.
It just bothers me how uninteresting this Alter Ego is as an introduction to Lisa as a soloist to the West and new audiences. She’s always been such a fun person to be a fan of in BLACKPINK. And it feels like Alter Ego was trying to be too many things but nothing at the same time. By the time you get used to one sound/genre, you get introduced to a different sound. Nothing is cohesive, and Lisa’s songs on her own fail to keep your attention. Her collaborative songs make you want to stop the song and just listen to whoever music she was collaborating on with.
Idk if this was because there were so many ideas that Lisa wanted to show us all at once, or because BLACKPINK is getting ready to go on tour again. Or maybe some executives wanted to see what audiences would connect with and her sophomore album with consist of what sold well and dump the fat.
Or if it’s a mixture of that along with Lisa’s lack of dimension lyrically. Because I saw people saying in the comments of the YouTube video of “MOONLIT FLOOR” saying it was refreshing to see a different side of Lisa. A more vulnerable side we don’t usually see. Perhaps if we saw more of a mix of soft and hard Lisa, this album would feel more coherent and balanced.
So this is the part where I’d have a portion here where I’d rearrange the song order, I feel like we have like three albums in one. I like the features, but I think there are too many. Let me see what I can do here.
BORN AGAIN (feat. Doja Cat & RAYE)
Rockstar
Elastigirl
Thunder
NEW WOMAN (feat. Rosalía)
FXCK UP THE WORLD (feat. Future)
Rapunzel (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)
MOONLIT FLOOR (Kiss Me)
When I’m With You (feat. Tyla)
BADGRRRL
Lifestyle
Chill
Dream
FXCK UP THE WORD (Vixi Solo Version, aka just Lisa on the track)
Rapunzel (Kiki Solo Version, same as above)
“BORN AGAIN”, “When I’m With You”, and “Rapunzel” can go. The featured artists overshadow Lisa and probably just been released as singles and called it a day. Although Tyla is great on “When I’m With You”, I just didn’t want to talk about the song because I’m over this album, lmao. “Rockstar” isn’t my taste, but I think that should have been the album opener. “Elastigirl”, “Thunder” are for someone, those can stay. “NEW WOMAN” and “FXCK UP THE WORLD” must stay. Too much of bangers to remove.
“MOONLIT FLOOR” can also stay because it’s one of the few songs we see a softer side of Lisa. Same with “Dream” even though it sounds sooo out of place compared to the rest of the album. I think it would have more impact if loud ass “FXCK UP THE WORLD” solo version didn’t follow it up. It could have been a sweet moment. “BADGRRRL” can go. “Lifestyle” goes along with that villain vibe like “FXCK UP THE WORLD” so I think those work well together.
So, my new track list looks like this:
Rockstar
Elastigirl
Thunder
NEW WOMAN (feat. Rosalía)
FXCK UP THE WORLD (feat. Future)
Lifestyle
Chill
*New Lisa song* something like BVDNIT’s “DON’T MESS WITH ME”
*New Lisa song* something like (G)-IDLE’s “Don’t Text Me”
Dream
Still a bit messy, but fun and tells a story. Baddie falls in love, then out, still misses him, but the show goes on. Fewer features to showcase Lisa’s talent as a soloist and what she brings to the table. Alright, let’s wrap this up.
I don’t think this album will be like a career ending for Lisa, but I’m curious how well received this follow up will be. BLINKs aren’t typically OT4, which is crazy because for me, the fewer members, the more difficult it is to have a favorite. With NCT for example, I couldn’t narrow it down to my four favorite members within the group, like alll the units. You want me to pick FOUR? I can’t pick my favorite member in 127 and there were six of them on Friday. I told my friend it’ll be interesting to see how this tour plays out. I think this might be the last time we see BLACKPINK together for a while. But 3 solos down, one more to go.
I’m curious what y’all’s thoughts were on Alter Ego. You can find more teaser images (and concept photos here) and you can check out the album breakdown on Reddit here with links to stream. Next up, we’re getting back to the #10YearsAgoToday articles. March 2015 had some banger releases. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, & BlueSky.
Take care!
Ash💫