Emma Lee

Overall, while Blackpink’s third mini-album “DEADLINE” was certainly highly anticipated, it failed to meet expectations by a long shot, and its name has turned out to be ironically fitting.

One thing is clear: Blackpink’s deadline has come.

“DEADLINE” marks K-pop girl group Blackpink’s most recent release after four years of solo activities. Launched on Feb. 27, this EP features five tracks and marks a shift to more EDM-heavy music compared to their past, more hip-hop centered works. Although I didn’t have high expectations, the mini-album somehow still managed to be a let-down: the songs reek of familiarity, and the whole EP feels like they were, quite fittingly, making it on a deadline.

This mini-album opens with the dance-pop track “JUMP,” which was released as a digital single before the rest of the EP. Trite lyrics and the “Meet Her at the Love Parade” by Da Hool sample give this song an unshakeably generic feel, and this effect is only exacerbated by the heavy, persistent beat that contributes to a one-dimensional sound. The track begins at a rapid 145 BPM, sounding rushed and resembling a speeding car about to crash. The second verse, where Blackpink member Lisa sings, “All gas, no brakes,” literally reinforces this. The song speeds through the verses into the empty chorus consisting almost entirely of instrumental, which I found undeniably catchy but still lazy.

However, these are the least of “JUMP”’s problems — what bothered me the most was the outro. After the second post-chorus, the track fades away for two seconds and then returns with the group’s chant, “Blackpink in your area,” and a few repetitions of the chorus’s beat, as if building up to another round of the chorus. This setup turns out to be anticlimactic: just when I thought the chorus would return, the song suddenly terminated. The preemptive ending gives the impression that the producers originally meant to include a bridge, but since they were on a deadline, they hurriedly rehashed it into an outro.

Overall, though, “JUMP”’s catchy tune saves it from dragging the rest of the album down; while boring, it is far from the worst in the mini-album.

If “JUMP” was a speeding car with a broken brake pedal, “GO” is where the crash happens. To me, this industrial-pop title track feels like “JUMP” but worse, making many of the same mistakes without a catchy chorus to fall back on. In Jennie’s rap in the second verse, she says, “What could go wrong?” Turns out, a lot.

“GO” opens with what may be an attempt at syncopation but to me sounds like a misaligned beat in the first verse. The pre-chorus unfortunately has the same melody as the first verse, which I thought was lazy (but at least synced properly). Like “JUMP,” “GO” also has an empty chorus, except this time, rather than a catchy beat, the discordant synths make it sound like they were imitating a car accident. As someone who prefers softer songs and rarely enjoys harsh beats, this track is definitely not for me.

The bridge of “GO” offers a temporary relief from the loud instrumentals, although this section sounds awfully like the melody of One Direction’s “Night Changes,” which in of itself already uses a common chord progression. After repeating the chorus, the track segues to the outro, where it once again appears to set up a reprise only to cut away while the members shout “Blackpink” repeatedly. While the anticlimax effect isn’t as obvious as “JUMP” since “GO” already has a bridge, the chanting makes it sound like they didn’t know what to do for the ending so they just repeated one word over and over again.

“GO” is the first track in which all four members hold songwriting credits. While this is usually a feat I would celebrate, since most K-pop idols play little to no role in creating the music they perform, I find “GO” so uncompelling I almost wish they hadn’t been involved in the production. Usually, a song like this would be a solid last place in an album for me; however, the EP’s third track manages to steal this title.

“Me and my” starts off like a swag hype track, at least for the first 20 seconds. I soon realized the whole song was essentially them repeating “just me and my girls” over and over again with the same short-short-long beat pattern in the background. In fact, the phrase “just me and my girls” appears a whopping 25 times in the whole song, which really makes me wonder how it’s possible that six whole people collaborated on the lyrics. The fact that the track opens with the chorus and lacks a bridge only makes the repetition worse. Honestly, there’s not much to comment about this song because there really isn’t much to it.

From here on, things get better, at least slightly. “Champion” started off with potential, and I don’t have as many complaints compared to the previous tracks besides the questionable bridge choice, where they once again chant “Blackpink” over and over again to what sounds like a helicopter descending in the background. Some have criticized the chorus for sounding like Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” although I personally am reminded more of the first verse of “How Far I’ll Go” from the first Moana movie. Overall, though, the chorus definitely has a familiar feel to it.

The mini-album’s final track, “Fxxxboy,” is where they finally hit the brakes. This song was definitely not what I expected on my first listen: unlike the name may suggest, this ballad feels like it could’ve come straight from Rosé’s “Rosie” album with its soft vocals and minimalist guitar instrumental. Of all the tracks in this EP, this one is the only one I can imagine myself listening to voluntarily. While some have attacked the song for being “boring,” I disagree: this track is necessary to balance the rushed and loud sound of every other song in the EP, although it feels slightly out of place compared to the others.

Overall, while Blackpink’s third mini-album “DEADLINE” was certainly highly anticipated, it failed to meet expectations by a long shot, and its name has turned out to be ironically fitting. Blackpink’s legacy in K-pop is undeniable regardless of whether you like their music or not; nevertheless, this EP disappoints compared to both their previous group and solo releases. As a whole, the mini-album feels like a forced and half-hearted attempt to profit off of the members’ previous success as a group even though they’ve already moved to prioritize their solo careers. “DEADLINE” not only marks the end of the group’s prime era; it’s a deadline for fans to move on and support the members’ new individual directions rather than cling onto an irrecoverable past.

Rating: 2/5