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Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (March 10, 2023). Popularity of South Korean pop music (K-pop) worldwide as of December 2022 [Graph]. 

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| K-pop refers to South Korean popular music combining various styles e.g. pop, hip-hop, rap, rock, R&B, and electronic music (Leung, 2012). With the globalization and commercialization of the development of the culture industry, Korean pop culture has become a global sensation (YONG, 2016).

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Blackpink's promotion of female empowerment and ‘girl crush’ themes have largely contributed to its success. It has responded to the third wave of feminism, namely post-feminism. However, previous studies on media research on the topic of Blackpink has mainly focused on global communication (Kanozia & Ganghariya, 2021), social media post (Wicaksono & Sholih, 2022), and fandoms effects (Amri, 2020; Chang et al., 2021), with a few studies focusing on the semiotic study of feminism in their music video (Isabel et al., 2022) and counter-publics like queering and feminist (Zhao, 2021). And the research on how Blackpink’s news report reflects female empowerment are largely missing. Thus, this study takes a new perspective to analyze this topic.

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| As a representative of Hallyu 3.0, the popular Korean girl group Blackpink, a 4-member group, has become one of the most popular K-pop groups that is breaking records on Billboard, capturing the attention of a global audience.

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Introduction to ✨ Blackpink ✨ No roots editing ✨

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I'll appreciate if you subscribe 🥺💜#kpop #shorts #blackpink #blink #youtubeshorts #trueblink #trending #subscribe #like #share #introduction #introtoblackp...

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By applying the theory of Fairclough (2010), three dimensions of the discourse will be analyzed, respectively text, discursive practice, and social practice. In a preliminary study of these news reports, some textual features are presented, for example, some words with feminine characteristics such as “short skirt”, “high heels”, “pink”, “sweet” and “playful” are frequently mentioned in the reports. Moreover, a few reports use metaphors to express a particular point of view and to convey the attitude of the news writer. For instance, “bottom-up world” indicates the conservative world and contrasts with the word “sexual liberation”. In the follow-up study, I will emphasize more on the contextual analysis level to analyze the power relationship, social context, and ideology behind it.

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Blackpink star Jennie Kim has addressed claims that some of her historic performances lacked energy, saying she was often experiencing physical pain.

In the past, some K-pop fans criticised the star for being "lazy" and "unable to deliver" her choreography, even when it looked flawless to the uninitiated.

But the singer told Dua Lipa's At Your Service podcast she had been prone to injury in Blackpink's early days.

"I did not know how to control my body the way I should," she explained.

"It all started because I would constantly hurt myself during performances and live [shows] compared to the other girls.

"It was a stressful thing in my life. I'm like, 'There we go, I fell again, I tripped over again.

"So I feel like I've disappointed my fans at some points of my life, where it seemed like I wasn't giving my best."

It's the first time the singer has acknowledged the criticisms, but she stressed she had been working on her physical health since 2020.

"I've learned to take care of my body. And I've learned a lot about myself, with my health and how my muscles work, even how bendy I am with my arms," she laughed.

"In every detail, I've spent time."

Jennie also explained how the pressure to dance in high heels had contributed to her discomfort.

"Some people are amazing in heels," she said. "My feet aren't built for it."

"Sometimes, when I'm feeling perfectly fine, when my body's OK, it's fine. But when I'm travelling and my feet are bloated, if I try to dance in heels, my stamina just goes down."

On Blackpink's current world tour, the singer has generally opted for more comfortable footwear, including boots with ankle supports and with lower, Cuban-style heels, to protect her health.

Her admission is unusual in the tightly-controlled world of K-pop, where stars are expected to maintain high standards of professionalism at all times.

Criticisms of Jennie's performances have often been couched in those terms, with fans suggesting she's being unprofessional - even when she exceeds the standards of most Western artists.

But the star said she wanted to be upfront about the challenges she'd faced.

"I've wanted to come clean... not come clean, but wanted to share with my fans that I'm still at a point where I'm learning about myself," she explained.

Dua Lipa was able to sympathise, having seen one of her early, awkward dance routines become a meme in 2019.

"Figuring yourself out while you're also in the public eye can be a little bit scary," she told Jennie.

"Not everybody really knows what happens behind the scenes, so I think it's really nice to be to share those moments."

Speaking of her own experiences, the Grammy winner said she had "realised how much I needed to be in rehearsal and keep my body strong with yoga and pilates... so [that] I'm able to perform.

"But I assure you, you're doing a really good job and you're not letting anybody down whatsoever."

In the half-hour interview, Jennie also spoke about how she "broke down in tears" after Blackpink's historic headline set at the Coachella music festival; and how the band had started to assert their own personality on their latest album, Born Pink.

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Blackpink star Jennie Kim addresses 'low energy' performances

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The star was accused of laziness in the band's early days, but she was actually in physical pain.

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BLACKPINK unleashed their defiant new song "Pink Venom" and its accompanying music video Friday, officially starting the countdown for their forthcoming album, "Born Pink."

Speaking with ﻿ reporters, the group -- which includes members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa -- took a deep dive into what their new single represents.

"Since our album's title is 'Born Pink,' we wanted to relay our identity in the song as much as we could," Jennie said. "Since 'pink' and 'venom' have contradicting images, we thought they were kind of reminiscent of us."

"We are named BLACKPINK and contradiction is our charm -- we wanted to show that. It's pink venom, a lovely poison, it's words that most express us," she added, noting the song captures the group's "essence" and "confidence."

She noted that while some fans "worry that we might stray away from our identity ... we believe it's the most distinct and clear way to represent us."

The group also launched the #PinkVenomChallenge on YouTube, which is designed to start a global dance party by encouraging fans to show off their best moves to the new single via YouTube Shorts.

Lisa, BLACKPINK's main dancer, opened up about the video's "powerful" choreography. She pointed specifically to the "fang dance," which is primed to become a new TikTok dance trend.

"We visualized a fang with our hands, which most intuitively expresses the 'Pink Venom' concept; everybody can follow it easily," she said.

The "Pink Venom" video is already a smash hit with fans: At the time of publication, the video had amassed more than 62 million views on YouTube alone.

Despite BLACKPINK's soaring popularity -- they are the most followed musical act on YouTube, with 76.5 million subscribers -- Rosé said their priority is their music.

"Rather than breaking records, we have really focused on our new songs," she said.

"Born Pink" arrives Sept. 16, and BLACKPINK sets out on tour Oct. 15.

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BLACKPINK drops new song 'Pink Venom': Watch the viral music video

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K-pop group BLACKPINK dropped a new song titled "Pink Venom" and an accompanying music video that has since gone viral.

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In summary, a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Blackpink’s female empowerment in news report helps to provide insights into women’s place in the entertainment industry, media’s role, power relations, cultural differences, and global attention to feminist issues. In order to reveal how the media shapes and reflects social issues, thus providing a new perspective for future social, media, and cultural studies.

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In my study, I will analyze 10 news reports from five mainstream media outlets (BBC news, ABC News, CNN, and Billboard News) over a two-year period about Blackpink women empowerment through critical discourse analysis (CAD) to reveal the power relations, discourse patterns, and ideologies involved.