BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez have come out with their latest single together, ‘Ice Cream’. And while I do enjoy a good tub of ice cream and jamming to BLACKPINK songs when needed, when it comes to this song, I must admit, we do have a bit to unpack.
Understandably, ‘Ice Cream’ was worked on during this current global pandemic, which explains why in the music video Selena Gomez and BLACKPINK are sadly never in the same place (oceans apart and honestly, what a shame). The music video does make up for their lack of ‘coming together’ with very colourful, light and fluffy fun summery visuals, but like the song itself, the music video feels rather… off.
While all girls involved (yes, including Selena Gomez) provide great performances with their vocals, the song is only 2 minutes and 55 seconds long. As you can imagine, there is absolutely no way that a song of this length is long enough for even distribution. So, do they manage to evenly distribute lines in ‘Ice Cream’? If you’re thinking ‘no’ then you’d be correct.
Sure, ‘Ice Cream’ does sound cute and catchy, but it isn’t great when some members of the popular K-Pop girl group barely get any lines (specifically Jisoo and Rosé, and let us not even get started on Jennie not having rapped in ages even though she’s supposed to be the main rapper of the group). Considering that BLACKPINK are internationally successful with a massive following, one would wonder on the decision to make the song so damn short.
At first, I thought regarding BLACKPINK’s collaboration with Lady Gaga on ‘Sour Candy’ (approximately 2 minutes and 37 seconds long), perhaps because it was for Gaga’s record ‘Chromatica’ and not BLACKPINK, that it was Gaga’s decision for ‘Sour Candy’ to be so short. But seeing this ‘super short song’ thing happen again with Selena Gomez (for their own record), maybe it isn’t a coincidence? Maybe this has everything to do with YG Entertainment and how much time they are willing to charge for BLACKPINK’s time?
Sure, this is all speculation, but it really is a puzzling and illogical situation. The fans (Blinks) are the ones that have helped support BLACKPINK over the years and they are the ones that pay for the music. So why not let every member have their time to show their skills? I really do not understand. Had the song been longer, everyone would have gotten their moment and there would be more of the song to enjoy. ‘Ice Cream’ however is over too quickly and leaves you unsatisfied. The song also can’t decide if it’s completely in English or not, with the tiniest amount (and I do mean the tiniest) of Korean lyrics injected into it – probably out of fear by the producers.
Hopefully BLACKPINK’s upcoming album (titled ‘The Album’, I kid you not) is much better. Although, to tell the truth, I am not feeling optimistic about it, considering YG Entertainment have a track record of turning the same tricks. They also have yet to give the girls their creative freedom with their music.
To quote ‘Ice Cream’ itself, “Looks so good, looks so sweet, lookin’ good enough to eat”. As a BLACKPINK fan (Blink) with Rosé as my bias, I really do not feel fed, and I assure you – I’m not the only one dissatisfied with the aftertaste.
Images by YG Entertainment.
