عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

All BLACKPINK Members Renew Contracts with Label YG

K-Pop band Blackpink's members, Lalisa "Lisa" Manoban, Roseanne "Rose" Park, Kim Ji-soo and Jennie Kim, pose with their medals following a special investiture ceremony to present them with Honorary MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire), at Buckingham Palace in London on November 22, 2023. (AFP)
K-Pop band Blackpink's members, Lalisa "Lisa" Manoban, Roseanne "Rose" Park, Kim Ji-soo and Jennie Kim, pose with their medals following a special investiture ceremony to present them with Honorary MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire), at Buckingham Palace in London on November 22, 2023. (AFP)
TT
TT

All BLACKPINK Members Renew Contracts with Label YG

K-Pop band Blackpink's members, Lalisa "Lisa" Manoban, Roseanne "Rose" Park, Kim Ji-soo and Jennie Kim, pose with their medals following a special investiture ceremony to present them with Honorary MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire), at Buckingham Palace in London on November 22, 2023. (AFP)
K-Pop band Blackpink's members, Lalisa "Lisa" Manoban, Roseanne "Rose" Park, Kim Ji-soo and Jennie Kim, pose with their medals following a special investiture ceremony to present them with Honorary MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire), at Buckingham Palace in London on November 22, 2023. (AFP)

All members of the megastar girl group BLACKPINK renewed their contracts with YG Entertainment on Wednesday, the company said, ending speculation around their future and driving up shares in the leading K-pop label by over 20 percent.

Rumors surrounding BLACKPINK -- one of K-pop's most successful girl groups -- and their potential future plans have abounded since the quartet's original contracts expired in August, with local reports even claiming in September that member Lisa rejected YG's renewal offer.

But YG announced on Wednesday that all members -- Jenny, Lisa, Jisoo and Rose -- had renewed their contracts with the company for "group activities".

"After careful discussion with BLACKPINK, we signed an exclusive contract for group activities based on deep trust," the label said in a statement sent to AFP.

"With YG's full support, BLACKPINK plans to repay the love of fans around the world with activities commensurate with their global status, including the release of a new album and a large-scale world tour," it added.

BLACKPINK, who first emerged out of South Korea's wildly popular K-pop scene in 2016, has also been recognized for the group's efforts on climate advocacy.

Last month, the members were given one of Britain's most prestigious honors by King Charles III, for their work for the COP26 climate summit in 2021.

Their official YouTube channel has a staggering 92.3 million subscribers, making them one of the most subscribed artists in the world on the platform.

BLACKPINK's other achievements include being the first-ever K-pop girl group to reach the top of the US Billboard 200 chart, and the first Asian artists to headline prestigious music events such as Coachella.

YG, on the other hand, was at the center of the notorious "Burning Sun" entertainment and sex scandal -- which revolved around a Gangnam nightclub of the same name -- that rattled South Korea in 2018.

The label was hard hit when Seungri -- a former member of popular boyband BIGBANG and co-director of Burning Sun -- retired from show business in 2019 amid mounting criminal investigations.

He was later sentenced to 18 months in prison for offering women to potential investors for sexual services, among other charges.

YG Entertainment's shares were up 24.58 percent to 59,800 won in afternoon trading in Seoul.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".