BLACKPINK's History-Making Coachella Debut Satisfied K-Pop Fans

By Ashley Turner

K-pop heavyweights Blackpink (Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa, and Rosé) capped off Coachella's second night on Saturday, playing almost two hours of their greatest hits during a jam-packed final set as they closed out the festival with a set that had almost everything on its plate. Their historic performance follows a pattern of festivals and award shows utilizing K-pop stars to draw in their ravenous fandoms. In contrast, K-pop boy group Stray Kids will be headlining the next Lollapalooza. With rumblings of Coachella "going downhill" or losing its spark, the trendy festival could use all the eyeballs it could get.

Blackpink is the first Korean act and girl group to headline Coachella. And their show employed all the tricks that often make K-pop so captivating to its listeners – lots of lights, angles, formations, pretty fashion, and pretty performers, alongside the hook-laden earworms that are the music's staple. In that sense, no group encapsulates K-pop better than Blackpink. Despite that, like any music act that makes it big, the ladies have amassed their own legions of devoted fanatic stans and haters. It makes it difficult to get a true gauge of social media reaction when the two groups are in a spamming war to see who can draw the most attention to the group on Twitter since that ultimately ends up occurring anyway. Even so, the resulting buzz behind "Pinkchella" resulted in some interesting takes, from thoughtful banter and disappointment to ecstasy. Read on to find out what Twitter is saying about Blackpink's Coachella performance.

Historic.

One satisfied K-pop fan wrote, "Historic. So many of your faves have done it big between 2020 and now. What a time to be a spectator. Well deserved, damn well earned."

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It's hitting me

Another excited user can't seem to believe it's real, tweeting, "My babies headlined coachella omg like it's hitting me."

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So funny

A Coachella viewer observed: "Watching the Blackpink coachella performance is so funny. The first time they're allowed to cuss in a performance and they're using fck every other word."

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Was pretty bad

Meanwhile, there were some who weren't as impressed. A user tweeted, "Maybe it's because I don't really go to live shows but that Blackpink Coachella performance was pretty bad, right? Maybe it sounds better if you're there vs what's pumped through the tv but damn. Constant off key singing and dancing that did not sync."

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I was disappointed

Another commenter claimed, "They didn't sing all play back I was disappointed."

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Zero energy

One poster who claimed not to be a "hater" (and was called one in the comments anyway) said, "I'm really not a hater and I love their songs, but the performance was a failure. zero energy."

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Representing Korea/Asia

Two posters had a fairly thoughtful discussion, kickstarted by a Los Angeles Times review of Blackpink's performance. "'Their vocals sounded immaculate? Best group in K-pop?' I think this guy needs his eyes and ears checked..." remarked the first user. They continued, "As a Korean American, I really wanted BP to kill it onstage, but that whole set just fell short... I can't believe they were the ones representing Korea/Asia on that stage, out of all the talented acts out there..."

Another poster responded, "I think it's impossible for one group of people to represent a whole race of people who should have been given the opportunity to be seen in music years before. I think their success will lead to more Korean/Asian acts coming to these festivals and showcasing the wide range of that K-pop has to offer."

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I keep my expectations on the ground

Part two of the discussion veered more into the response to the group's performance with the first user tweeting, "It's honestly baffling to me that BP is the gg that int'l folks decided to rally behind, and now many Koreans praise them too simply b/c they're the biggest gg in the world. "I'd love to see the best, most talented artists representing Korea on the global stage, but tbh, I feel like many of the acts that are internationally popular aren't that great compared to many other Korean artists that don't have much global recognition. I also wish K-pop fans would hold their artists to account when their perf is subpar, but they don't anymore. That sort of blind devotion is doing a disservice to everyone—I don't think anyone who wasn't already a K-pop fan was impressed by BP's perf last night, & that just gives K-pop a bad rap, imo."

The other Twitter user replied, in part. "And I have no why idea why they Have they biggest fanbase when they fall below the standard over K-pop. I genuinely don't get it. It's one of life's great mysteries. I like their second album a lot but when it comes them live... I keep my expectations on the ground so I don't get disappointed."

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