The biggest girl group in the world, BLACKPINK, has given dedicated fans high expectations for their recent project. However, they might have missed their DEADLINE.
Released Feb. 27 after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, DEADLINE has kept fans hanging. And it’s not the first time.
BLACKPINK, which made its debut in August 2016, has made a habit of causing distress and confusion among its big fanbase with large gaps between releases. Their latest release before DEADLINE was the album BORN PINK in September 2022, with eight songs.
But DEADLINE wasn’t necessarily worth the wait. Many of us fans are disappointed. Most believe the group’s agency, YG Entertainment, puts these gaps between releases as a marketing strategy. When the group finally comes back, the fans stream out of excitement and buy albums.
During the hiatus, the four members, JENNIE, JISOO, ROSÉ and LISA, started their own agencies and released their own albums outside of YG Entertainment.
- LISA, under her own agency LLOUD, was the first to release new music. The pre-release single “Rockstar” came out on June 27, 2024. She went on to release her album Alter Ego on February 28, 2025, with 15 songs. This album featured many notable artists like ROSALÍA, Doja Cat, RAYE, Tyla, Future, and Megan Thee Stallion, truly highlighting LISA’s versatility as an artist.
- JENNIE, under her own agency ODDATELIER, followed in LISA’s footsteps. She released the single “Mantra” on October 11, 2024. She then released a full length album, Ruby, on March 7, 2025 with 15 songs. The album featured many artists like FKJ, Dua Lipa, Doechii, Dominic Fike, Childish Gambino, and Kali Uchis. This album was one of the most cohesive sounding and conceptually well achieved out of all the BLACKPINK solo projects.
- ROSÉ, under agencies THEBLACKLABEL and Atlantic Records, released a pre-release single “APT” with Bruno Mars on October 18, 2024. It broke internet records and was a hit worldwide. The single has a whopping 2.3 billion streams on Spotify alone. She then released her full length album, Rosie, on December 6, 2024, with 12 songs. ROSÉ also made headlines for shutting down the Las Vegas Strip on a busy weekend to film the music video for “Messy” from F1 The Movie soundtrack.
- JISOO, under her agency BLISSOO, released her EP, AMORTAGE, on February 14, 2025, with four songs. She also released a collaboration with One Direction member Zayn Malik. Although her album was shorter than the rest of her bandmates’ solo work, Jisoo was more focused on her acting career rather than her music career. Notably she starred in the show Newtopia (2025).
The success of the members outside of the group only made their influence stronger. Each member showed her ability to be successful on her own. So then their highly anticipated comeback was around the corner. Or so fans thought.
DEADLINE World Tour 2025
BLACKPINK went on a surprisingly successful stadium tour titled “DEADLINE World Tour” in July 2025, despite the group’s third mini album not being released during the time of the tour. Only a pre-release single, JUMP, was revealed during the tour, making it the long start of the DEADLINE era.
After three and a half years, fans were expecting a full-length album. So, on January 14, 2026, they were disappointed when YG Entertainment announced a mini album instead of a full-length album. However, despite the disappointing news, the expectations were high. The group is well known for their energetic dance music, bold stage presence, and their brand.
DEADLINE album release
After 1,260 days since their last project, BLACKPINK released their third mini album DEADLINE. It was decent but not cohesive. The EP consists of the following songs: “JUMP”, “GO”, “Me and my”, “Champion”, and “Fxxxboy.”
“JUMP” is an energetic dance song that starts off the EP with a newer sound from BLACKPINK. However, it still complements the boldness and the energetic music they’ve been making. The song’s signature sound can be credited to popular music producer Diplo’s electric style of rave music. They use their signature line “BLACKPINK in your area” to highlight their comeback as a group after the long hiatus.
“GO” is a high energy EDM song. It is another energetic song and it’s fantastic for this album. The song slowly starts off with nice, soothing vocals, followed by an emotional pre-chorus that builds to the electronic dance chorus. The song also includes a middle rap section and a melodic final bridge. This is BLACKPINK’s signature sound as a group and it shows how their voices compliment each other to build the high energy that is unmatched anywhere else. This is the first BLACKPINK song where all four members are credited as writers and composers. Relating to their solo work because they all use their own sound to build upon this track. The music video enhances this message because it shows how they juggle the struggle of this success and fame they have achieved together.
However, this is where the quality of the album becomes questionable.
“Me and My” is a song that has a brass sound and hip-hop style put together. However, the lyrics are a bit questionable. They tend to sound corny or out of touch with what people would say in an upbeat song like this. An example of this would be, “If we ain’t in the spot, ain’t a party / We gon’ make it pop like a lolli’ / Pull up with a lot servin’ body.” This marks a drastic change in lyricism that “JUMP” and “GO” had. The chorus is very catchy and captivating but the line distribution is all over the place. LISA gets the majority of the lines in the song, making it feel like the rest of the members did not get to shine as much. The track feels like it could have used a lot of lyrical reworks in terms of line distribution, however, the catchiness and instrumental really saves some of the track.
“Champion” almost has the same problem as “Me and My”. It is very different in terms of lyrics. The song contains high energy instrumentals but, it has the same problem of lacking soul in the lyrics. They, again, feel out of touch or time. An example of this would be in the chorus, “And if I take a, take a L, I’ll still fight / ‘Til the bitter end, I’m strong, ‘cause I know I’m a champion”. The verses are delivered really well and the lyrics flow throughout, its the chorus that throws a lot of it off and could have been delivered better without the chanting or beat changing up. It could have used a rework in the chorus and the “BLACKPINK” chanting at the end sounds repetitive because we already heard that in “GO”.
“Fxxxboy” has an issue with the instrumental and line delivery. The message of the song itself is very simple. The song shines a light on the members voices but it sounds like it was recorded and produced all in one take. It feels very rushed whilst ROSÉ had the only clean line delivery throughout. The adlibs in the song are all over the place as well. Some adlibs fit and some do not. An example of this would be “We already tried that once or twice (twice, twice, twice)”. It would have sounded much better without the random adlibs. It seems like the producers tried to add flavor to where it was not needed. Another thing is the lyrics again. They sound outdated and tacky. “Call me icy, icy, yeah you made me ice cold”. The song could have sounded so much better given more time and effort with the mixing of the vocals.
However, it seems like the DEADLINE project really is dead. The album released and as of now, there has been no official promotion behind the album besides the behind the scenes. Usually when an album is released there is a music show, dance performance, or other promotions involved. However, BLACKPINK has barely discussed the album itself making it disappointing for fans that have waited years for them to come back.
BLACKPINK shows time and time again they can deliver well thought out projects but DEADLINE heavily lacked in flavor and lyrics after a 3.5 year wait. The project also lacked in length, only 5 songs after that long of a time makes it seem very rushed. The DEADLINE tour was before the album was released, there were no live promotions, and no release events from the members themselves.
JENNIE was just revealed as a headliner for Lollapalooza 2026 in Chicago. Although it is very exciting to see JENNIE perform, it is somewhat disappointing it is not all 4 BLACKPINK members, together to promote their latest album.
Over all, they really crossed the line with DEADLINE, making it feel like an end of a long reign for BLACKPINK because of how disappointing this project was.
Velocity 
Leave a comment