From Pink Punk to BLACKPINK: 9 of BLACKPINK’s Iconic Pre-Debut Moments
With BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love” comeback right around the corner, lets take a look at some of the moments that made the members viral long before debut.
1. “Future 2NE1” Video
On July 1, 2012, YG shared a video of four trainees that they labeled the “Future 2NE1.” None of the trainees shown performing became BLACKPINK members, however if you look closely you can see Jisoo and Rosé sitting on the sidelines cheering their fellow trainees on.
None of the “Future 2NE1” trainees have yet debuted under YG.
2. Jennie’s Pink Punk Introduction Video
BLACKPINK was originally called Pink Punk and contained an undetermined amount of members. Jennie was the first and only “Pink Punk” member to be confirmed in a video released by YG in August of 2012.
It would be another 4 years until BLACKPINK debuted, but until then more members would be teased.
3. Rosé Featuring in GD Without You
In September of 2012, Rosé featured uncredited on G-Dragon’s “Without You”. This is the first time we hear Rosé sing, and she became the first member of BLACKPINK to feature on a song.
4. Jennie Featuring in Lee Hi’s Special
Jennie became the most famous and active member of BLACKPINK pre-debut, featuring on a total of three songs, one music video, and three stage performances; but her first official release came by way of a Lee Hi feature on the song “Special”.
5. Rosé and Lisa in RINGA LINGA Video
Dancing queens Rosé and Lisa made their first music video appearances as extras in Taeyang’s November 2013 music video for “Ringa Linga.” Lisa can be seen in most crowd dancing scenes, while Rosé seems to appear only at the end alongside Lisa, WINNER’s Mino, and iKON’s Bobby, all predebut.
Around this time, fans began to dig up information on Lisa as a possible member of YG’s new girl group, but nothing was confirmed.
6. Jisoo in HI SUHYUN’s “I’m Different” Music Video
Fans see Jisoo clearly for the first time in 2014 as Bobby’s eventual love interest in the music video. As she is uncredited for this appearance, at the time fans knew little about her.
7. CF Queen Jisoo in Smart Uniform Ad
After appearing in the “I’m Different” music video and various other CFs, Jisoo was first introduced to the world as a YG vocal in a 2015 uniform CF alongside iKON. At this time, no announcements for YG’s new girl group had been made, so fans could only speculate just where Jisoo would fit into the YG universe.
8. Forever Young Recorded Outside of YG in 2015
This recording was shared from outside of the YG building in November of 2015. At the time fans speculated that this could be a demo for a 2NE1 comeback, as BLACKPINK hadn’t even been announced yet. BLACKPINK would debut the following year, but fans wouldn’t hear the finished product of Forever Young until their 2018 Square Up mini album. Talk about foresight!
9. BLACKPINK Announced and Teasers Released
On June 28 2016 YG finally confirms BLACKPINK’s name and members through group teasers.
BLACKPINK would debut about a little over a month later, on August 8, 2016 with Whistle and Boombayah.
BLACKPINK will be making a comeback for the first time in nine months with “Kill This Love”: a new, 5-song mini album and accompanying music video on April 5. Watch the MV teaser below:
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