Almost three years after its K-pop debut in August 2016, wildly popular girl group Blackpink is making back-to-back U.S. TV debuts: first on late-night TV via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday night, followed by daytime TV on Good Morning America Tuesday.
The TV appearances coincide with the social media announcement of the dates for the North American leg of their “2019 In Your Area” world tour, posted on the girl band’s official Instagram and that of their label, YG Entertainment—the Korean entertainment company that’s also behind other big K-pop names like 2NE1 and Big Bang (with whom they did a collaboration back in 2016).
#BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR IN NORTH AMERICA!
Blackpink is coming to your AREATOUR INFO @ https://t.co/3OTd31Fsf6#블랙핑크 #BLACKPINKinNORTHAMERICA #BLACKPINK2019WORLDTOURwithKIA #INYOURAREA #POWERHOUSELIVE #POWERHOUSE #KIA #GOLDENVOICE #YG pic.twitter.com/SZl3uz4Bc4
— YG FAMILY (@ygent_official) February 12, 2019
The tour kicks off in Los Angeles on April 17, “in between the two weekends of Coachella, where they’ll also be performing,” Billboard reports. “They will become the first K-pop idol group to appear during both weekends of Coachella 2019,” the website notes in a separate report.
According to Billboard, the band will be performing in arenas and plans to release a new EP next month. The quartet’s first U.S. performance was at Universal Music’s annual Grammy Artist Showcase last week.
Blackpink’s members are Jisoo, Rosé, Lisa, and Jennie (who also made her solo debut last November and is the first Korean female soloist to hit iTunes top 10 in the U.S.). Their songs include “Whistle,” “Boombayah,” and “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du.” (The video for the latter, released in June 2018, became the most watched music video by a Korean group on YouTube, now with over 660 million views as of this writing.) Besides their singles, you might also be familiar with their collab with Dua Lipa, “Kiss and Make Up.”
Tickets to all U.S. tour dates are rumored to go live on Feb. 20, and fans, who call themselves Blinks, are getting ready to shell out to see their K-pop idols.
“Shut up and take my money” is pretty much what every Blink is saying now:
https://twitter.com/YG_BLACKPINK/status/1095156674346786817
Can we buy them now???
— bernie2020 (@goldensol_) February 12, 2019
A GIRL IS SELLING HER LIVER FOR THESE TICKETS
— ♥️ (@saddisttic) February 12, 2019
Blinks in the U.S. are very emotional about this announcement:
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
— ᴳᵃᵇᵇʸ ♡'ˢ ᵂᵒⁿʰᵒ | seeing bts!!!! (@J00HE0NDIMPLES) February 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/jm0168374/status/1095163576149512192
Some stans have already scoped out the venues and their respective capacities:
This is the arena BLACKPINK is performing at in Los Angeles, The Forum is one of the biggest ones in there with a capacity of 17k people pic.twitter.com/skYMSKO7gt
— ً (@jennieslyrics) February 12, 2019
The capacities of the arenas for BLACKPINK's north american tour:
The Forum (Los Angeles) – 17,500
Allstate Arena (Chicago) – 18,500
Firstontario Centre (Hamilton) – 17,300
Prudential Center (Newark) – 18,500 pic.twitter.com/Kuu3RJmfwZ— ً (@jennieslyrics) February 12, 2019
So far, only five dates have been announced in the U.S. (L.A., Chicago, Newark, Atlanta, and Fort Worth) and one in Canada (Ontario). Blinks have yet to see whether the quartet will hear the clamor for more dates and venues. There seems to be a lot of fans begging for a South America tour leg, too:
SOUTH AMERICA
BRAZIL PLEASEE!!!!— ⋆ ceo of kokichi !! (@luv4amane) February 12, 2019
BLACKPINK IN LATIN AMERICA? I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT
— cami (@trilogyrosie) February 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/bpchaelvly/status/1095156226336452609
https://twitter.com/swftjennie/status/1095157521646583808
YG Entertainment should consider the calls for more tour stops. Especially after Blackpink’s late-night television performance of their hit single “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” naturally earned them more new fans, including @TheLateShow Twitter, which “is now a Blackpink stan account.”
This is now a BLACKPINK stan account. https://t.co/At6tm8OX8K
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) February 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/nceety/status/1095205200376356865
The Blinks blew up Twitter, expressing how “proud” they are to watch their favorite Korean female group on American television. “It’s their first time performing in U.S. and they did so great,” gushed @chichuchikin.
https://twitter.com/chichuchikin/status/1095198120198197248
https://twitter.com/jennievantes/status/1095199271740162049
https://twitter.com/JenLis23/status/1095197502846885889
https://twitter.com/black2dpink824/status/1095196536445784064
https://twitter.com/intoblackpivk/status/1095195348119695360
Fans praised their dancing skills and vocals:
https://twitter.com/jennievantes/status/1095197535591940096
https://twitter.com/black2dpink824/status/1095194335853854720
https://twitter.com/ultchaelis/status/1095199498681311232
https://twitter.com/lovechaees/status/1095204918573465600
https://twitter.com/rubyjanemanoban/status/1095199913158176770
The Blinks are an organized fandom that can make hashtags trend in the U.S. and worldwide—like last night’s #BlackPinkonLSSC. They’re poised to make #BlackPinkonGMA trend any minute now.
This is today's official hashtag for their USA television debut on Stephen Colbert, also don't forget to mention the group's @ to help them increase and climb on the Billboard Social 50 #BLACKPINKonLSSC @ygofficialblink pic.twitter.com/DW6O6qyNiE
— ً (@jennieslyrics) February 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/exobp_updates/status/1095138609399771136
https://twitter.com/lilogurl88/status/1095198755622596608
https://twitter.com/OnlineBLACKPINK/status/1095203802452557824
Let’s get those fans working on booking more tour dates.
H/T Billboard