BLACKPINK Part 1 — Four Strangers, One Dream: The Origin Story
How four girls from South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia ended up in the same YG dormitory — and became BLACKPINK. The casting stories, the 6-year training, and the debut that changed K-pop girl groups forever.
In 2010, YG Entertainment — home of BIGBANG and 2NE1 — started looking for the next big girl group.
What they ended up with was something nobody planned: four girls from four completely different corners of the world, finding their way to the same cramped dormitory kitchen in Seoul.
One night early in their training, all four of them stayed up until dawn — in their pajamas, Rosé playing guitar, Jisoo harmonizing, all of them singing together for no reason except that it felt right.
“It was us four,” Rosé later said. “I don’t even know why, but it was us four.”
That night in the kitchen might be the real beginning of BLACKPINK.
📌 This is Part 1 of a 3-part BLACKPINK series.
- Part 1 — Four Strangers, One Dream ← you are here
- Part 2 — How Four Girls Conquered the World
- Part 3 — In Your Area — Everywhere
🏢 YG Entertainment: The Label That Waited Seven Years
YG Entertainment is one of Korea’s “Big Three” labels. In K-pop, this matters enormously. SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment were producing major girl groups throughout the 2000s and early 2010s. YG had BIGBANG and 2NE1 — but after 2NE1 debuted in 2009, there was no new YG girl group for seven years.
The wait wasn’t laziness. YG founder Yang Hyun-suk was famously particular. He announced a new girl group in 2011 — originally planned to have seven members — and then kept delaying. Members came and went. The lineup changed multiple times. Years passed.
During that time, four trainees stayed. Prepared. And waited.
🎤 How Each Member Was Found
Four girls. Four countries. One practice room in Seoul — and six years of waiting.
Jennie (Kim Jennie) — The First to Arrive, 2010
Jennie grew up between Seoul, New Zealand, and briefly Florida. As a student at ACG Parnell College in Auckland, she was filmed for a documentary about K-pop-loving overseas Korean students — making her the first future BLACKPINK member to appear on television, long before debut.
At 14, she convinced her parents to let her return to Seoul to pursue music instead of a law school path in the US. She auditioned for YG performing Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” and became the first trainee in what would eventually become BLACKPINK.
She spent nearly six years as a trainee — the longest of any member — waiting for a debut that kept getting delayed. She has said she genuinely feared she would never debut at all.
💡 Jennie didn’t rap until she became a YG trainee. When executives discovered she was fluent in English, they began training her specifically as a rapper. Today she’s one of the most iconic rappers in K-pop.
Lisa (Lalisa Manoban) — One of 4,000, 2010
Lisa was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, where she had been dancing since childhood. She was part of a dance crew, and performing was the only thing she ever wanted to do.
In 2010, YG Entertainment held open auditions in Thailand. More than 4,000 people showed up. Lisa was the only applicant to pass that day.
She moved to Seoul in 2011, becoming YG’s first-ever foreign trainee. She spoke almost no Korean. She was 14 years old, thousands of kilometers from home, in a country whose language she didn’t know.
She learned Korean through classes, through daily life with her fellow trainees, and through sheer determination. Five years later, she debuted as one of the fastest-spitting rappers in K-pop.
💡 Lisa is the only non-Korean member of BLACKPINK. Her Thai identity has remained central to her artistry — most visibly in her solo work, where her Bangkok roots are a source of deep pride.
Jisoo (Kim Jisoo) — The One Who Was Born for This, 2011
Jisoo grew up in Gunpo, a city about 20 miles south of YG’s Seoul headquarters. Her family loved music and singing — she grew up performing at family gatherings, and eventually joined her school’s drama club.
Her first audition was for YG Entertainment. She had never auditioned anywhere before. She didn’t fully understand what YG was when she walked in.
She passed. She became a trainee in July 2011, training for five years before debut.
During those trainee years, Jisoo appeared in TV commercials, music videos (including Epik High and HI SUHYUN), and even had a cameo in the popular K-drama The Producers. She was one of the most visible YG trainees — even as she hadn’t debuted yet.
💡 A plot twist: While training at YG, Jisoo was approached by an SM Entertainment casting agent at a YG concert who wanted to recruit her. She turned them down. She was already where she was supposed to be.
Rosé (Park Chaeyoung) — First in Australia, 2012
Rosé was born in Auckland, New Zealand and raised in Melbourne, Australia. She grew up singing and playing guitar and piano — mostly at home, in a quiet suburban life far removed from the Seoul music industry.
Her father heard about a YG audition being held in Australia and signed her up. She competed against more than 700 applicants — and placed first.
At 15, she packed her guitar and flew to Seoul. She would train for four years and two months before debut.
The night she arrived at the YG dormitory, she met her three future bandmates for the first time. Lisa noticed the guitar. She asked Rosé to play something. The four of them stayed up covering songs until morning.
💡 That guitar is still with Rosé. It has appeared in performances, music videos, and interviews throughout her career. In 2022, she noted that “it’s older than my dog Hank.”
📋 Member Roster at a Glance
| Member | Real Name | From | Joined YG | Training Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jennie | Kim Jennie | Seoul / New Zealand | 2010 | ~6 years |
| Lisa | Lalisa Manoban | Bangkok, Thailand | 2010/2011 | ~5 years |
| Jisoo | Kim Jisoo | Gunpo, South Korea | 2011 | ~5 years |
| Rosé | Park Chaeyoung | Auckland / Melbourne | 2012 | ~4 years |
💅 What Does “BLACKPINK” Actually Mean?
The name was revealed on June 29, 2016 — along with the confirmation that the group would have four members, not seven.
YG’s explanation: “Pretty isn’t everything.”
- PINK represents beauty, femininity, and the visual appeal of a girl group.
- BLACK represents talent, strength, and the substance behind the image.
Together, the name says: we are not just pretty. We are more than that.
Other names that were considered included Pink Punk, Baby Monster, and Magnum. They went with BLACKPINK — and it fit.
The four-member structure was deliberate. Unlike the large-ensemble groups becoming popular at the time, BLACKPINK would be lean and focused: two rappers (Jennie, Lisa), two vocalists (Jisoo, Rosé), with each member distinct and irreplaceable.
🏋️ Six Years of Training: What It Really Cost
K-pop trainee life is notoriously demanding. At YG, trainees went through a rigorous monthly evaluation system where they performed solo and in teams for judges — developing choreography, styling, and their own creative choices. There was no guaranteed debut. There was no guaranteed anything.
For BLACKPINK’s members, the wait was especially long. The debut kept getting pushed back. Members who had trained alongside them were cut. The original seven-member plan became five, then four.
Jennie has said she genuinely didn’t believe she would ever debut. Rosé has described crying alone in bathrooms when things got hard. Lisa, away from her family and culture in a country she had to learn from scratch, pushed through isolation and homesickness with a smile that became her signature.
What kept them going? Each other — and music.
When YG finally set a debut date in 2016, the four members had already been living, training, and growing together for years. The group that walked onto the stage on August 8, 2016 wasn’t assembled at the last moment. It had been forged slowly, in a practice room, over half a decade.
🎬 The Debut: August 8, 2016
On August 8, 2016, BLACKPINK released their debut single album Square One, featuring two tracks: “Whistle” and “Boombayah.”
Both songs moved immediately.
“Whistle” topped the Gaon Digital Chart within days. “Boombayah” hit #1 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart — making BLACKPINK the fastest act ever to achieve that and the first girl group to hold the top two positions simultaneously.
Thirteen days after debut, BLACKPINK won their first music show award. At the time, it was the fastest debut-to-win record for a Korean girl group.
The industry paid attention.
| Debut Date | August 8, 2016 |
| Debut Album | Square One |
| Lead Singles | “Whistle” / “Boombayah” |
| Label | YG Entertainment |
| Members | 4 (Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, Rosé) |
| First Music Win | 13 days after debut (fastest record at the time) |
| First Billboard #1 | “Boombayah” — World Digital Song Sales |
▶ Watch BLACKPINK ‘Boombayah’ MV on YouTube
▶ Watch BLACKPINK ‘Whistle’ MV on YouTube
💭 Why This Origin Story Matters
Most K-pop girl groups are built from the same country, often the same city. They share a language, a culture, a common reference point.
BLACKPINK was built differently. One member from Thailand who couldn’t speak Korean. One from Australia who grew up playing guitar in a suburban home. One who had been overseas in New Zealand and came back with fluent English and a different perspective. One who was the only Korean-born member and turned down a rival label’s offer to stay loyal to the company she chose.
Four very different people — four different backgrounds, four different skill sets, four different ways of moving through the world — who found each other in a practice room in Seoul and became something none of them could have been alone.
That’s BLACKPINK.
🔗 Continue the Story
- 👉 Part 2 — How Four Girls Conquered the World — Coachella, Ddu-Du Ddu-Du, and the global breakthrough
- 👉 Part 3 — In Your Area — Everywhere — Records, solo careers, Born Pink, and DEADLINE