Stars: 4/5
BLACKPINK has been at the forefront for a while now. The Korean girl group is the highest-charting female Korean act on the Billboard 100 and the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella. Since the band’s debut four years ago, they have broken several worldwide records. 
BLACKPINK is made up of four members: Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie and Rosé. Lisa is from Thailand and Jisoo is from Korea and the only one who didn’t move to join the band. Jennie was born in Seoul but moved to New Zealand, while Rosé was born in Australia and moved to New Zealand when she was eight years old. 
What makes BLACKPINK different from other groups is the diversity of nationalities and how they combine both eastern and western influences in their music. The group doesn’t follow the typical girl group aesthetic. They don’t wear matching outfits which allows them to each standout. 
Before watching the documentary, I did not know much about BLACKPINK outside of a few songs and the casual Kpop fancams on Twitter. I knew in general how the K-pop industry worked after learning about BTS’s training and come up. BLACKPINK’s rise to fame is definitely unique.
“BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky” introduces the group well by giving each singer a decent amount of time in their interviews, even though I wanted to know more about Jisoo. I loved Rosé’s commentary and vulnerability. She opens up about feeling the intimidation behind singing a song on her own. They all seem easygoing and their hard work is admirable. The documentary highlights BLACKPINK’s amiable, charismatic personalities, especially Lisa’s. 
I expected to learn more about their first album as well since the documentary came out two weeks after it. We also do not get a full performance of any of the songs until the end.  Squeezing in snippets of their concert performances showed the world what made BLACKPINK so unique. Their message is that both their music and group are more than just K-pop.  
The documentary not only dived into the history of BLACKPINK but also the Korean pop industry. Entertainment companies train singers and performers years before a group forms. Trainees live in dorms, take lessons and practice for monthly performances for years. In BLACKPINK’s case, they would get a one day break every two weeks.
Although the training takes a lot of hard work, the trainees can refine their technique at a young age. Yet after their Coachella performance, Jennie said that those trainee days were worth it.
The documentary also showed the immense pressure that the girls had. Their debut single soared through the charts and gained international attention quickly. They also toured for nine months straight.
BLACKPINK’s producer, Teddy Park, brought up a point about Korean pop’s reputation. 
“We’re just Korean people trying to do music, so if Korean people make music, it’s K-pop? I don’t even get it…like…the only thing is the language. Why don’t they do that for every country?”
Korean pop’s standards are higher than in any other country. The genre itself is almost its own even though it’s the same. Pop music. English pop music is accepted widely without a second thought. 
No matter the language, if music is good, then it’s good, and BLACKPINK is proving that.