BLACKPINK's Rosé Reveals How "Challenging" It Was To Go Solo, And Why It Was Worth It

BLACKPINK‘s Rosé opened up about her solo debut in an interview with Apple Music. She discussed everything from how long it took her album to be released to her reaction the moment it dropped. Host Zane Lowe also asked what it meant for her to finally have her songs out to the world.

For you as a person, as an individual, how important was it for you personally to be able to make this project.

— Zane Lowe

Rosé explained that it was a big deal for her to create her music and do promotions on her own, considering that her career has always been tied to BLACKPINK. Not having their constant input made it difficult to make decisions.

It was definitely a big step for me. The fact that I started my career as BLACKPINK with all of my girls kind of there to always support me…so just kind of having to do everything on my own was a big challenge to me. And that was something that I was going to have to kind of learn throughout the process.

— Rosé

Despite the challenges, she knew that she’d venture into the music industry as a soloist sooner or later. She did not want to let her fans down and so she worked doubly hard to make everything perfect.

I always kind of had at the back of my head that I would one day have a song of my own too, definitely. And I knew that a lot of my fans had expected very highly of that too. So it was a very big step for me.

— Rosé

Even if it took around three years to get from the studio to the stage, it was worth it.

But I mean it was a long way getting here. So I think it was about time and I was very excited to show everybody my full self.

— Rosé

Rosé released her solo album, R, on March 12 to the praise of her fans. It came with two songs, “Gone” and the title track “On The Ground”, both of which have her credited as a writer.