BLACKPINK’s Rosé Makes Solo Debut With Poignant ‘On The Ground’

Late last year, BLACKPINK’s Rosé revealed a more sombre persona in the Netflix documentary, BLACKPINK: Light Up The Sky, as she spoke about wanting to share her stories through her music. Four months later, the lead vocalist of one of the world’s biggest girl groups bares her soul in her debut solo single album R, proving that the studio is indeed, Rosé’s throne.

“On The Ground” is an electric pop anthem with a catchy guitar riff and picturesque set designs. Rosé offers listeners a chance to recognize her various capabilities as an artist as she experiments with semi-rapping to accompany her signature breathy vocals. The English-language single album is R is a tribute to Roseanne Park– her identity before she debuted with BLACKPINK. It’s a message reinforced towards the end of the music video, where she is seen gazing upon another version of herself who’s cheerfully playing the piano. 

Rosé further reflects on her trainee days as she sings and comes to the realization that after reaching unfathomable heights of success, everything that she’s ever wanted is right there beside her, “I worked my whole life/ Just to get high, just to realize/ Everything I need is on the ground.” The singer-songwriter explained the inspiration behind the track during her segment on YouTube’s RELEASED, stating, “Basically the song is kind of about looking for answers in life for a purpose in life, and I feel like people especially these days, can relate to it, sometimes when you’re always kind of on that roll, you kind of forget to take care of what actually matters to you most, and it’s just a song that says everything we need is already within us. There’s no need to go out and look for it.”

In a press conference held earlier today, Rosé also revealed that “On The Ground” was recorded a few months ago while the second track “Gone” was recorded roughly two years back, a snippet of which was released during BLACKPINK’s January 2021 virtual concert, THE SHOW.