South Korean pop, known as K-pop, is not just a type of music — it’s a culture, where bold style, perfectly choreographed dance moves and ebullient earworms that draw from pop, hip-hop and traditional Korean music attract a huge and particularly devoted global fan base. The genre’s stars, known as idols, are trained, often for years, by entertainment companies that then place the most promising trainees in groups, write and produce their music and obsessively manage their public images. It’s a system that works for the idols who make it big, but it has also drawn criticism for its grueling methods, which some call exploitative.
One of the biggest stars to come out of that system is Rosé. Born Roseanne Park, she trained for four years with one of K-pop’s largest agencies, YG Entertainment, eventually breaking through as part of the girl group Blackpink. Now at age 27, she is striking out on her own with her first full-length solo album, “Rosie,” which comes out on Dec. 6 from Atlantic Records. (The album’s first single, “APT.” a collaboration with Bruno Mars, is a true bop and has made history as the first track by a female K-pop artist to break into the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.) She is still a member of Blackpink, and the group re-signed with YG in 2023. But after years of singing other people’s songs and performing as Rosé, which she described to me as “a character that I really worked hard on as a trainee,” writing her own songs for this solo album has made her think about where she came from and who she is, separate from the system that turned her into a global phenomenon.
You’re about to release your first full-length solo album. Can you tell me what you’re feeling? Like I’ve been waiting to release this album for my whole life. I grew up listening to a lot of female artists. I used to relate to them, and they used to really get me through a lot of tough times. And so I would always dream of one day having an album myself. But I never really thought it would be realistic. I remember last year when I first began the whole process of it, I doubted myself a lot.
It probably would be surprising to anyone who would look at Rosé, with all your success, with the enormous fan base that you have, to know that you doubted yourself so much. I don’t think I ever learned or trained myself to be vulnerable and open and honest. So that was the part I feared, because it was the opposite of what I was trained to do.
You were born in New Zealand to South Korean immigrant parents and then you moved to Australia when you were 8. In 2012, when you were 15, you auditioned for a slot in YG Entertainment’s trainee program, which is basically a boarding school for becoming a K-pop star. It was your dad’s idea, right? Yes.
What was it that made your dad want you to audition, and did you understand what you were getting into? Yes. That’s when I was watching YouTube a lot. And if you would search K-pop, there’d be this whole world in Korea where there are trainees, and they all train and become K-pop stars. And I would sometimes dream at night and imagine myself actually doing that. And I’d be like, Oh, that’s ridiculous. It’d never happen. It wasn’t much of a possibility in my head until my dad saw that YG was flying to Australia. Back then, it was very rare that Korean companies would come all the way to Australia. My dad was like: “Rosie, you sing every night till like past midnight. You obviously like to do this. You should take the audition.” And I was like: Me? I really thought he was joking. I’m like, “I don’t even know how to sing properly.” And he was like, “You don’t want to be 26 and regret that you never tried it.” So we flew to Sydney, and I took the audition, and I remember being like, “OK, that was fun, bye!” But to my surprise, they called us back. They asked us to pack up our bags and come to Korea within two months.
Becoming a trainee is a full-time commitment. It’s based in Seoul. It isn’t something it seems that you enter lightly. What were the conversations like in your family when you were deciding whether to stay or go? My mom was very against it at the beginning. Obviously she worries about a lot of things, which she should. And nothing was promised really. But my dad won, and I think I was too young to really think about everything. Like, I didn’t understand the fact that I’d be apart from my family. I just thought I’d be going and, ooh, I’m in a dorm, yay. And then I remember when I got there, my parents were like, “OK, we’re going now, we’re leaving.” And I was like, “Where are you going?” And they’re like, “We have to go now, we have to fly back.” And I remember freaking out, and that’s when it hit me: This is very real.
Did you know much about the Korean idol culture at that point? I did because that’s again when YouTube started blowing up, and they were releasing a lot of content in Korea about the trainee life, and it was a bit glamorized, for sure. It looked really like everyone was chasing their dreams and working so hard, but I didn’t understand the lonely part. The loneliness that I would have to go through — that was a bit traumatizing. A bit shocking. But, you know, I survived it.
I think a lot of people outside Korea don’t quite understand how intense the process is to become an idol. What was a typical day like for you? I had to wake up at 9:30 a.m., and then we’d be at the dance hall that we all shared between us, seven to eight girls, and we’d have vocal lessons and dance lessons and language lessons. Practice would end at 2 a.m., but I used to want the hall to myself, so there were many days when I’d just stay back and use the hall after hours. And then it would repeat like that every single day.
You were clearly very driven to make this work. I think a big part of that was because I had traveled so far for it. If I failed, then I would have to fly all the way back to Australia and all my friends who asked me: “Where are you going? I don’t understand what you’re doing.” I didn’t want to have to explain to them this whole process of me failing and flying back. And so I could not let that happen.
I read you would get only one day off every two weeks. Yes.
What did you do on your day off? Lisa is from Thailand, so Lisa and I didn’t have friends or family there, so —
Another member of Blackpink. Yes, another member of Blackpink. We were in the same room, and so we’d wake up, and I’d be like, “I’m going to church.” And I’d meet her after church. And then we’d go shopping for the things that we had to wear for training. We’d have to do these weekly and monthly tests. And so for that, we need to look good. So we’d have to style ourselves, but we didn’t know much about clothes, and with the money that my parents would send us, we’d go out and try to look good. It was a constant battle of proving to the company that this is who we are, this is the artist that I can be, this is the artist I am. And fashion is a big part of it and how we present ourselves. So we worked really hard on that.
The idea here is that they’re training you to be this huge star. So in addition to singing and dancing, did you get instruction on the public-facing aspects of the job? Did they try to prepare you for what fame might be like? No, not necessarily. I personally think that, especially us four, Blackpink, we’re all smart enough to navigate our way through, and we’re all very responsible. And so I’m guessing that’s why. But yeah, it’s not like they told us anything specific, like, “This is what you’re going to be going through mentally,” etc. It was more organic than that.
What was the transition like from being a trainee with all the time in the world to do your music to suddenly becoming an actual pop star with Blackpink? I think that might’ve been the hardest part for me, because I think being a trainee, yes, settling into this whole new world with people you don’t know, that is challenging, but it was still off camera, and I got to make mistakes. But I feel like the transition of now having to be on camera and being an artist and presenting to the world who I am, that’s something we just had to learn as we went. So the first few years were very difficult for me, personally. But a few years in, I started picking it up and learning.
What was hard about it? I think it’s still hard, actually. It kind of never stopped since then.
One of the things that is unique about K-pop is that the fan culture is so specific and so enormous. Can you tell me a little bit about that relationship? How authentic did you feel you could be? How authentic did you want to be? We were trained to always present ourselves in the most perfect, perfect way. And so even when we were interacting with fans online, it was when I was ready to give perfect answers and give them what they wanted. And making sure that I’m a perfect girl for everyone. That was the culture. And that’s why leading into this album, it was more of a personal want and need to be able to write an album like an album that I grew up with, music that I could relate to. In order for that, I’m sure artists had to be vulnerable, but we hadn’t trained to talk about our emotions and feelings and experiences.
When you had to sit down with yourself and write this album, what was that like to have to dig deep? To be honest, that was like breathing. All the stories in there are stories that anyone around me has heard more than 20 times. It was about time I wrote it in a song. I had moments where I was like: “Wait, can we say this? Wait, maybe we shouldn’t put that word in there. Maybe this is too much. Should we not?”
What’s the fear? Can I show this side of me, and am I allowed to talk about this? But it’s not even crazy things, to be honest. It’s very normal things.
The themes are heartache, lost love, anger sometimes — the range of human emotions. Yeah, romance. But even that — it’s scary for me. I could see the faces of the producers and songwriters, they were like: “So interesting, Rosie! Why are you so nervous about this?” And I’m like, “You guys, you don’t know.”
I’ve seen reporting that K-pop agencies have strict rules when it comes to dating, in part maybe because they want fans to feel as if idols are in a relationship with them. Is that part of the fear? That it’s not normal for stars to share that part of them? Yeah, it was not normal. It isn’t normal. But also it’s just not normal for me too. I had never really spoken about it too, because I feel like there’s no need for me to ever confirm anything or talk about it. But that’s why this album means a lot to me, because these things are just inspirations for my art. I do want to make sure that that’s very well addressed: The fact that it’s not about the story of who Rosie has been with or whatever. It’s really more about the art.
I was really struck by a song off the album, “Number One Girl.” When I listened, it felt as if it could be about a romantic relationship or about a relationship with fame and celebrity. One of the lyrics goes, “Tell me I’m that new thing, tell me that I’m relevant.” Can you talk to me a little bit about that song? That song was written after a terrible night of scrolling through the internet till like 6 a.m., and I barely got any sleep. I walked up to the studio the next day very cranky, and they asked me, “How have you been?” And I was like: “Very bad. I’m so exhausted. I’m exhausted trying to please everyone.” I’m always just trying my best to be my best version, but I felt a little lost and like I was never good enough. I was a bit cranky against the world. And I wanted to write a song that’s just so, like, disgustingly open and honest. Things that I hate myself for thinking — all those thoughts that are written in those lyrics are thoughts that I don’t want to admit that I actually think. Because I like to present myself as a very positive girl who doesn’t think about negative things, who’s very bright-minded. But that was honestly the day I was like, nope.
What were you watching online? Comments. Just searching topics that were not going to necessarily satisfy me. Rabbit holes of negative comments. I don’t think I knew what I was searching for, but I was looking for validation and, wow, it was a lonely world that night on the internet. And as I was writing the song, I felt there must be so many other girls who experienced this. I just want people to know that I’m no different.
What does “vampirehollie” mean? It’s your new handle on Instagram and one of the songs on the album. “I can’t let you break me like this” is one of the lines. “Vampirehollie” was my private Instagram account. My official account has a lot of followers, and I always have to think about what people are going to think of me, but I wanted an Instagram where I didn’t have to be cool.
It’s your Finsta. It’s my Finsta. And then a few fans found out about it, and there are certain people who want to be negative, and they were trying to find all the ways to get to me. They ended up getting to that account and then using that to cause drama and create — actually trigger me. It felt like they were obsessed with the thought of controlling me, and I was obsessed back. But then I remember after I wrote that song, I let it all go ,and I never went back to it again.
There is a big anti-fan movement in K-pop, where there’s a lot of bullying online, especially of female artists. It sounds as if you were experiencing that? I think so. [Rosé starts to cry.] I don’t want to get emotional about it, because I would say I’m pretty strong-minded. Like, I am very positive, and I like to be smart about how things affect me. But when it actually did get to me, it felt pretty, pretty bad. I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I am going through this.” I never thought I would. I would see things online, and I’d always think, I wonder why they let that get to them? When it did, I was shocked.
I’m sorry that happened to you. You’ve talked about your own mental health and how demanding it can feel to protect yourself from this stuff. What do you do? Well, now that I’ve found songwriting, we’ll write it in a song. It was kind of surprising because songwriting came to me as a blessing at the moment I really needed it. I’d walk in with a big problem, and I’d store it in a song, and it would leave my mind. It would leave my heart. But then there are some days where I don’t like the song, and I’m like: “That didn’t help! [Laughs.] That song’s not going to be on the album.”
Do you think it changed who you were? Everything that you went through at YG and this whole crazy journey? Who I am? Like inside? If I talk to my mom and my sister and my dad, I feel like this has always been me, my personality. It was just when I went to Korea, that’s when it opened up. And that’s when I started to see, Oh, this is me as a person. Yeah, I don’t know: Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t, but I don’t know if that’s something I can say. It’s something we have to ask the people around me. Like, I don’t know about myself. I think that’s why I asked a lot of my friends: What do you think? Was I too nervous? Do you think I was this? Do I think I was that? You know, I like to ask around.
This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations. Listen to and follow “The Interview” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music or the New York Times Audio app.
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