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| The Hierophant [reversed] card image via the Smith-Waite deck of Tarot |
i hope that it's no secret that i am a BLACKPINK fan.
&i hope that it's no secret that i am not-a "Blink."
as a korea-korean, i find my support for these ladies, almost, obligatory.
as an adopted korean, i find my support for these ladies, almost, obvious.
as a korean-american, i find my support for these ladies, almost, necessary.
&as the group has evolved over time
each of the members has, essentially, tried to tell us who they are
&for me
the two capricorns piqued my interest the most
as the korea-koreans
which is no slight to the other two
i simply do not find their solo music to be interesting
since i am interested in the korean-ness of the group
first and foremost
&so
it's turned out to be 지수 [JISOO]
who is maybe the "dark horse" in all of this
which probably makes me sound stupid
since she is
after all
the 언니 of the group
never. the. less.
as we know
age is only a number
not a reflection of one's ability &or maturity
never. the. less.
지수 caught my attention in january of this year
when i watched one of her vlogs on uTube
*sigh*
i had been subscribed to JENNIE
obviously
but then i really grew off her for reasons that i'd rather not-spread
cause overall
i absolutely loooooooove that these ladies are on top of the fucking world
rn
&really
none of them can do any wrong
in my book
never. the. less.
i decided to tune into 지수 to see what she's about
&the first vlog of hers i watched was one about how she celebrated her birthday with her company staff
&it's not only that this was my first introduction to how she presents "herself"
but also
the entire event was so down to Earth
&so
i subscribed on uTube
&followed on insta
&i've been seeing what she presents to the world as "herself"
for nearly the entirety of this year
&i gotta tell ya
i think i picked one helluva year to JUMP on the 지수-Ship
cause like i said
she's gonna start pulling away as the Dark Horse in this "race"
&i hate to put it in these terms
but it is a race
cause entertainment is a competition sphere
cause eyeballs are at stake
cause they're all vying for our attention
so that they can turn that attention into money
&this is where 지수 pulls away from the pack
for me.
BLACKPINK
Here's the thing about Power:
You cannot know what type of powerful person you will be until you have Power.
This is what makes Power so dangerous:
The wielder does not even know how they will wield their Power until the Power has been acquired.
This is why "becoming famous" is so fucking difficult:
You cannot be trained to wield Power on faux-power.
Enter: BLACKPINK
(&of course i only know these ladies as they're presented &distorted through the media-machine. i do not know any of them personally, &i have had zero reciprocal contact with all of them, &i am well-aware that who they seem to be is hardly ever who they actually are after being run through the media-machine, &so, this is merely an analysis of their top-of-the-world global personas as they are presented to us, &despite whatever criticisms i seem to be laying out here, i am thrilled that they are so famous, obviously, and i hope that they rule the world for the rest of my life, cause this is not about tearing them down, it's about critically analyzing their decisions as famous artists as a public consumer of these decisions. i used to follow jennie on uTube, but now i only follow jisoo on uTube and ig.)
JENNIE's company website used to describe her as wanting to do/be "the unexpected,"
&i wrote to her (via her company contact email)
about how making it a goal to be "unexpected" will become routine
&then doing something "unexpected" is what's expected
&about how trying to be the "not" of a thing
as in "unexpected" or "not-expected" is not the same as being the thing.
(hint: she's having an identity crisis)
someone on her team opened the email (my biz email says so)
&the copy changed
but it still missed the point
lol
Rosé thanked herself while accepting some award for a song that is a lot like an older hit
&while i understand the impetus behind mustering the psychological framework
wherein one thanks oneself for "doing the work"
i think that her therapist was very misleading if the therapist guided Rosé in this way
so
hopefully
this was all Rosé
but if it was all Rosé
i guess i get it
&i just don't know how helpful this sorta thing is for a person in her industry.
Lisa's playing the body game
&she snagged one of the richest men in the world
(a man who is sorta technically her boss)
for a time
lol
&she is a fucking Boss.
&finally
지수 [JISOO] described on her BLISSOO [which i imagine sounding like blee-soo] company website as:
"... a combination of BLISS, symbolizing complete happiness,
and JISOO, an artist whose charm unfolds like a precious gift."
*boom*
from my pov
she's been last to hit the sorta global newsfeed
but i'm sure she's everywhere in korea
&prolly "asia"
but for me
as a united statesian
she has been the last to arrive
&so
as stated above
her vlog was very intriguing to me:
she's gotta really husky talking voice
&loud goofy laugh
&actually there were two other previous instances
when she showed up in some other videos (not about her specifically)
wherein she said in some blackpink vlog [maybe translated?], "nobody will ever see me cry"
&then later in a "jump" bts video [maybe translated?] "i wasn't scared at all"
&after these two pronouncements
i was intrigued by her
&then it was the birthday vlog earlier this year
that really made me a fan of hers
&now
after beginning the launch of her album
i am beginning to see
thereby understand
지수's Power.
RESTRAINT
I never knew that RESTRAINT could be so sexy.
지수 is schooling all of us on the Power of Restraint.
Power wielding, as argued above, is impossible to teach.
Power cannot be transferred (there are transferrable positions of power, but this is not about that).
Power eludes, not only because so few claim it but also, because so few even know that they have access to it.
(&i'll write to these points in later posts throughout this month)
Jennie declares her Power:
She kicks down the door and says, "I'm here, Bitch, and I'm strong and powerful."
(she's also going through an identity crisis, and i feel for her)
Rosé overestimates her Power:
She's playing the numbers game with her songs, "I'll be played long after I die."
Lisa exerts her Power:
She fucking knows how rare she is and says, "I know you're looking, so cheer."
지수 restrains her Power:
She's her center, "I will be me, and you will adjust."
As stated above, the argument is not about "good" or "bad" or "better" or "best" or anything that's comparing them in a negative sense. We're simply looking at what is, through my interpretation of their outward public-projections of themselves. What their personas say have little to no bearing on my opinion about who they might be in private. This is all speculation, conjecture, the ramblings of a writer who couldn't be happier that FOUR gorgeous asian women are ruling the world.
Nevertheless, the contrast:
From my pov, the type of Power that we are dealing with here is the kind that is larger than the ladies, themselves. They sorta exist on this enormous rolling ball, a ball that's just sorta rolling around on top of the Earth, a ball so large that we can all see it rolling around on the top of the Earth no matter where we are located on Earth.
Jennie (acts as if she) believes that she is running in front of the ball.
Rosé (acts as if she) knows that she's got this.
Lisa (acts as if she) runs after the ball like this is all a fun game.
지수 (acts as if she) stands in place while she has the ball in a strap as she pulls the ball into her control.
RESTRAINT
I never knew that RESTRAINT could look so powerful.
If the entertainment environment that they're navigating is all about "being on top" so that you can claim as many eyeballs as you can so that you can sell to those eyeballs, and then those eyeballs will give you their money, the seemingly obvious answer to "staying on top" is to sell yourself out.
This is the route that's been chosen by Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa.
The less-obvious answer is to know that the Truth is that none of you ever needs to work again, and so, the reality is that they can do whatever the fuck they want, and the only one of the four of them who seems to understand this is 지수, or put another way, the only one with enough confidence in themselves and the courage to believe in themselves, fully, is 지수. What evidence do I have? None.
What I have is whatever you have: their content.
So what am I seeing, exactly?
Well, that birthday vlog was so interesting to me, because it revealed to me what 지수 finds to be important. She took her staff to a very-korean restaurant. She gave away her own preparation of the meal they were going to consume as a "gift" that one of her employees could win. And that laugh. There is something so genuine in the way she embraces her laugh so whole-heartedly. It's not what I would consider to be a "cute laugh," and she laughs fully.
I had this impression of her that she's sorta uptight, a perfectionist, almost snobbish, and she is both of these first two things, but it's by design. And she is certainly not a snob. She's not succumbing to the pressures of the public, she's practicing restraint. She has total control of her image, because she knows who she is. I am very confident that 지수 is the captain of her ship, and as captain, she is not stepping headlong into anything. She thinks, hard, about every little detail of her life. She exercises her Power by showing all of us that she will "unfold like a precious gift," and so, it is on us to wait, and her confidence in herself promises that it'll be worth it for she is a "gift." She is not trying to be anything in particular. She's not trying to be anything specific. And she's certainly not trying to be not-something. She has stated her goal outright: "Transcending the boundaries of genres and fields, our mission is to share the happiness that JISOO creates in her own unique way."
The diction and ideology behind her company name and mission is deep, y'all.
She creates happiness, and she wants to share it, and she's going to share it her own way.
The simplicity of her mission is sooooo complex. I love it. It's elegant, again, totally on brand.
She's here, cause she's famous, and her top-of-the-world existence is being documented and broadcast whether we like it or not, whether she likes it or not, but of course, none of this will last, and so, who is 지수?
This, to me, is the most-important question a person can ask of themselves, and let's be honest, most famous-people are not keen on being known, really, and so, 지수 knows herself and she's very confident in this knowledge of herself, and so, she is not going to move in any other way or at any other speed than her very own. She will not be rushed. She will not be slowed. She is her center, and the rest of the world can bend to her is-ness.
She's not performing. She's creating. What she creates, she shares, cause she's an Artist, but artistry is oftentimes lost under the magnifying glass of the media-machine, under fame, under fortune, and so, it's not so much her music or her productions that are the work of her art, but instead, it is the way in which she is choosing to live this incredible top-of-the-world life of hers that she has dedicated herself to as an Artist.
Her life is her Art, and that's so fucking beautiful 지수.