Dress, Ralph Lauren Collection. Bracelets, Bulgari, from $7,150. Sneakers, Golden Goose, $585.
In K-pop vernacular, the “Killing Part” is the ultimate slay of a song. It’s different from what we know as a hook, the part of a pop chorus that’s expertly lab-engineered to get lodged in your brain. The Killing Part, on the other hand, is a singular, unpredictable moment, typically in the second half of a video: a lightning-in-a-bottle alchemy of visual and vocal elements that shuts the whole thing down. And, of course, gets replayed millions of times on social media.
Lalisa Manobal—known mononymously as Lisa since the 2016 debut of the phenomenally successful girl group Blackpink—seems almost like her own subspecies evolved to serve up Killing Part after Killing Part. If you’ve ever been down a Blackpink wormhole (an experience, shared by millions, of coming across your first Blackpink music video and then feeling the compulsive need to watch all of them—trust me, it’s a thing), you’ve seen her deep arsenal of skills: a pout and a nod dripping with attitude; fearless delivery of wild rap lines (“Middle finger up, F-U pay me / ’90s baby, I pump up the jam”); or a fashion risk pulled off to perfection (see: her Slimergreen gloves paired with magenta thigh-highs in 2018’s “DDU-DUDDU-DU”). You don’t become the world’s foremost K-pop assassin without an abundance of swagger.
Top, jeans, Stella McCartney. Bracelets, Bulgari. Boots, The Frye Company.
“Play it safe? No,” says Lisa, 27, with a sly grin and wag of her finger (not the middle one).
She arrived just hours ago in Los Angeles from a long overseas flight. Her skin is flawless; her mood smiley, yet slightly antsy. It’s two days before the global drop of “Rockstar,” her first solo release in three years. At the very start of our Zoom, when I tell her I’ve listened to the track early, her first reaction is to go bug-eyed, throw her hands on her head, and gasp with an air of equal parts delight and panic, “Oh, nooo!”
Coat, JW Anderson. Top, ERL, $375. Skirt, Rabanne, $1,740. Necklace, Bulgari. Boots, R13.
If you only know Lisa from her brash performance persona, that self-effacing reaction might seem like a contradiction. But like her fellow Blackpink bandmates, who’ve shattered countless music-industry records and have each scored major high-end brand deals—and who were recently invested as honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire by King Charles III—she leaves any semblance of ego onstage. They all came up through YG Entertainment, the storied South Korean management agency, recording production company, and record label responsible for bombastic acts like Psy, BigBang, and 2NE1. But in the K-pop world, actual arrogance or diva behavior isn’t tolerated, let alone glamorized. Part of K-pop stars’ appeal in the West has been this contrast in attitude from some Hollywood celebrities—a refreshing, genuine humility.
Lisa is no exception. While “Rockstar” includes lyrics about “stealin’ diamonds” and bluster about her lavish lifestyle (“tight dress, LV sent it”), she’s known by her friends and bandmates as especially funny and easygoing. On a rare day off, she’s likely to be geeking out over House of the Dragon (“I wait patiently every week now,” she gushes), shopping online in bed, chomping on seaweed snacks, and lounging in chunky hoodies and pajama pants.
Top, skirt, Marc Jacobs.
But make no mistake: She’s always had that rock-star spirit, and she’s been waiting to unleash the extent of it upon the world. Lately, she’s been expanding beyond the chunky hoodies and leaning into her baddie self. “I’m into leather stuff,” she says. “Big, big earrings. Silver accessories. When I wear it, I just feel like, ‘Okay, I’m a rock star.’ I’m going to walk like a rock star. I’m going to sit like a rock star.”
And as always for the style icon, fashion tells her inner story as well. “To be honest, I’m not the type who’s really good at expressing my feelings,” she admits. “Lately, I feel more confident of what I think, and say it out loud.”
Top, Rabanne. Necklace, $8,250, ring, $5,200, Bulgari.
Top, Rabanne. Necklace, $8,250, ring, $5,200, Bulgari.
She’s drawing upon that voice as she enters a new chapter in her career, with new solo music and a co-headlining set at the Global Citizen Festival in New York on September 28, her first solo festival show. Expectations are high: Her first solo endeavor in 2021,“Lalisa,” racked up a record-breaking 73.6 million views within 24 hours of its release, and the second single,“Money,” achieved bona fide virality, becoming the first K-pop solo single to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
In spite of the undeniable success of “Lalisa,” the new project (which was still tightly under wraps at press time) feels in some ways like a reintroduction for Lisa, her true debut. It’s her first work that’s independent of YG. Unlike “Lalisa,” it’s being released under a partnership between RCA Records and Lisa’s own management company, Lloud Co.—the name of which serves as a perfect, one-word manifesto while also playing on the double L’s of her given name.
Hooded sweatshirt, Michael Kors Collection, $2,190. Necklace, ring, $5,200, Bulgari. Boots, The Frye Company, $315.
“I think what I’ve learned from last time is me, myself, saying what I like and what I don’t like,” says Lisa of making creative decisions under her own banner. “I think that’s the most important. Because if I say, ‘Ah, it’s okay,’ [people] don’t know—like, am I really okay with it? So I have to be able to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Not in between.”
That level of independence may not sound all that radical for a superstar with profound global influence—Lisa is the most-followed K-pop artist on Instagram, boasting 104 million followers—but it is remarkable for an artist who rose through the K-pop industrial complex. Like other idol groups formed under top South Korean companies like YG, Blackpink is the product of the legendary, still somewhat mysterious K-pop trainee process.
Dress, Ferragamo, $7,200. Cap, ERL, $180. Bracelets, Bulgari, from $5,450.
The notorious rigor of the experience is hard to exaggerate—and trust me, I’ve tried. When I fictionalized the life of a K-pop trainee in my young adult novels, my editors at Scholastic, which published The Hunger Games, thought I was playing up key details for drama. But if anything, I softened what I found in my research: the 14-hour-a-day schedules; the restrictive rules about dating (strictly forbidden), diet, and “proper” behavior; and perhaps roughest of all, the psychological agony of staking your entire youth on a minuscule chance at being selected to debut in a group, let alone a group that goes on to achieve any modicum of success.
For Lisa, who was born in the Buriram Province of Thailand, being thrown into the Thunderdome-like trainee system was made even more challenging by being a foreigner in an industry that wasn’t known for being welcoming to outsiders at the time. In 2010, at age 13, she beat out thousands of other hopefuls in an open YG audition—but that was only the beginning of the hard part. The following year, she left her tight-knit family to move into a trainee dorm, becoming YG’s first-ever idol-in-the-making of non-Korean descent. The only Korean she knew was the word for “hello.”
Sweater, skirt, Marc Jacobs.
The 2020 Netflix documentary Blackpink: Light Up the Sky offered a rare glimpse into the group’s brutal training days—a time when her fellow trainees would become her friends and, as a natural outcome of a system designed to be cutthroat, her fiercest rivals. In the doc, none of the members said they regretted the tough, often lonely period, though one broke down into tears remembering leaving her family. But Lisa was among those who showed a palpable mettle. She recalled, “I had to keep fighting. I had to give it my all. I didn’t care about how long it would take. I said, ‘Bring it on! I don’t care anymore!’”
Her fellow trainees were stunned by how quickly she became fluent in Korean. She’s also fluent in Thai and English (in our interview, she only dipped into Korean on occasion to express especially big emotions) and conversant in basic Chinese and Japanese (as referenced in the playful “Rockstar” line, “‘Lisa, can you teach me Japanese’ / I say, Hai, hai!”). She was also the standout dancer as a trainee and is still, objectively, the most skilled and confident dancer in Blackpink. In the documentary, bandmate Jennie remembered marveling, “As soon as Lisa came in, that’s when I thought, ‘Wow, there are people who are born to do this.’ ”
Dress, top, skirt, $1,740, Rabanne. Bracelet, Bulgari. 146 ELLE Sneakers, Vans, $55.
And she was. While a few other K-pop girl groups had had some success in the U.S., the genre’s polished style didn’t always translate in the American market. In contrast, Blackpink had the stylized badassery that was cool in every language, and Lisa’s international background and authenticity was, as Lilies (as Lisa stans call themselves) would agree, essential to the group’s X factor from day one.“When I’m onstage [with Blackpink], I share my energy with my members,” Lisa tells me. “If she gives 100, I’ll give 120. We can feel each other. And I love that energy.”
Dress, Ralph Lauren Collection. Bracelets, Bulgari, from $7,150. Sneakers, Golden Goose, $585.
To Blackpink fans worried that the members’ solo pursuits mean an end to the group, Lisa offers reassurance. While she has parted ways with YG for her solo career (as have members Jennie, Jisoo, and Rosé), all four renewed their contracts for future work as a group. In July, YG founder Yang Hyun-suk teased a potential tour in 2025. “Of course we’re continuing, for sure,” Lisa says. “We’re so proud of Blackpink, and I love Blackpink. It is not just because of our fans, it’s for ourselves.” She shifts into Korean to say, “There was no doubt. This is our life.”
For the present, Lisa is calling her own shots and bringing her own energy—including tying more of her art back to her homeland of Thailand. For the “Rockstar” music video, Lisa danced on the iconic Yaowarat Road in Bangkok’s Chinatown. And she’s taking on her first acting role in the Thailand-set third season of The White Lotus, the wildly popular, culture-shaping HBO social satire created by Mike White. Filmed in Bangkok and the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui, the project was a welcome chance “to be back home, to have Thai food every day,” and to have her mother close by on set.
Hoodie, ERL, $575. Jeans, Stella McCartney, $990.
“Oh my God, Mike White? I think he’s a genius,” Lisa gushes as she recalls learning she nabbed the role. “I think I cried. I was with my friends, my mom’s friends, and my mom as well, but I didn’t tell them that I auditioned for it. I’m super excited and nervous, because it’s my first acting project. So I was happy for a second, and then I was like, ‘Oh, wait, wait, how am I going to deliver this?’”
While she can’t let slip any details about the season or about her role—she expertly dodges the question when I ask if she’ll be singing or dancing—she’s taken acting classes and seems characteristically confident after her initial doubts. “It’s pretty new to me, but I think it’s similar to shooting music videos…I’m excited for my fans to see it.” The anthology series follows a set of privileged vacationers luxuriating in jaw-dropping settings and clashing with locals, but we know from Lisa that at least one major character will come off well: “I feel like people are going to fall in love with Thailand even more.”
Hooded sweatshirt, Michael Kors Collection, $2,190.
Another profound perk that comes with taking control of her own career with Lloud is that she’ll now own her master recordings outright—a seemingly basic privilege that even famously self-directed American stars like Taylor Swift have had to fight for. “I don’t think it’s easy for anyone to be able to get that,” Lisa says. “It feels like a dream. I’m not sure if it’s real or not.” (But don’t expect her to go on her own Eras Tour just yet. “She’s incredible!” Lisa says of Swift, whose show she caught in Singapore. “Singing alone on a stage for three and a half hours is crazy…I maybe could do it with a lot of practice.”)
Dress, Tom Ford. Sneakers, Golden Goose, $585.
It’s no wonder that things feel a little surreal. To go from a cloistered K-pop trainee to a mogul who’s secured full ownership of her own voice is true rock-star shit. When I ask her what she’d tell her 13-year-old trainee-hopeful self now, she looks at the ceiling with a wry grin. Then she deadpans, “I’d say, ‘Let her suffer.’” She bursts out laughing and goes on: “I wouldn’t spoil any of this. I’d say, ‘Don’t think too much about the future. Just focus on what you’re doing right now. But don’t quit. Just don’t quit.’”
Hair by Hyeyeon Jang; makeup by Jiyeon Kim; manicure by Sojin Oh; set design by Colin Donahue; produced by Serie Yoon at 360PM.
This story appears in the September 2024 issue of ELLE.
Stephan Lee is the author of the K-Pop Confidential books, as well as the upcoming The Library Is Open with drag artist Kim Chi and the YA romance Like We Were in Paris. He currently works in content at Netflix and was a former staff editor for Entertainment Weekly and Bustle.