Lisa Says Solo Careers Changed BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK did not simply reunite after spending time on individual careers. According to Lisa, the four members came back knowing themselves — and their own opinions — better.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone Canada published September 18, Lisa reflected on the period when she, Jennie, Rosé and Jisoo focused on their own projects and what changed when they eventually returned to the group.

For Lisa, the biggest difference was not distance between the members. It was confidence.

“I think we all, like, found ourselves more and more during that break time,” Lisa said.

That individual growth, she explained, changed the energy the members brought back to BLACKPINK.

The comments offer an unusually revealing look at what the group’s solo era may have meant internally: four artists becoming more distinct individually without necessarily becoming less connected as a group.

Lisa Says She Found Her Own Voice

Lisa’s reflections come alongside Always Lalisa, director Sue Kim’s new documentary chronicling a pivotal year in the BLACKPINK star’s life.

The film follows Lisa as she steps into a period of greater independence, develops her solo career, takes on acting and deals with the pressure accompanying life outside the structure she had known for years.

Sony Music Vision describes the documentary as following Lisa during her first year of independence from BLACKPINK since childhood, with her eventual return to the group always approaching.

For Lisa, that year also involved confronting something less visible than chart positions or stadium performances: burnout.

She told Rolling Stone Canada that after singing and dancing since childhood, she sometimes felt burned out.

Acting offered the opposite experience.

Her role as Mook in The White Lotus Season 3 placed her in unfamiliar territory and gave her an opportunity to challenge herself rather than rely on skills she had spent years perfecting.

Director Sue Kim describes Lisa’s journey in the documentary as something resembling a delayed coming of age — a period in which an artist who had pursued one goal since adolescence began exploring what else she could become.

Going Solo Didn’t Make BLACKPINK Less BLACKPINK

One of the most interesting parts of Lisa’s interview is what she says about the other members’ solo work.

Listening to music made separately by Rosé, Jennie and Jisoo did not make them seem like different people to her.

It made their individual identities clearer.

Lisa said their respective projects felt unmistakably like each member — “so Rosé,” “so Jennie” and “so Jisoo.”

That distinction matters.

K-pop group members pursuing solo careers are often discussed through the language of separation: Who needs the group? Who becomes bigger alone? Does individual success weaken the group?

Lisa’s description suggests a different possibility.

The time apart allowed the members to define themselves more clearly before bringing those identities back into BLACKPINK.

“We’re doing the same thing, but we’re trying to find our own selves,” she told Rolling Stone Canada.

The Biggest Change May Be How BLACKPINK Makes Decisions

Lisa also described a practical change in herself.

She speaks up more.

Rather than simply accepting decisions involving styling or creative work, Lisa said she now feels more comfortable expressing her opinion.

“I’m more confident to, like, say it out loud,” she said, adding that she believes the other members have changed in a similar way.

That could be one of the more significant consequences of BLACKPINK’s solo era.

The members returned not merely with individual albums, acting credits and brand ventures, but with stronger ideas about what each of them wants creatively.

Lisa does not portray that confidence as conflict or a struggle for control.

Instead, she describes BLACKPINK’s decision-making as a conversation.

The members listen to one another, she said, and try to find a “middle ground” that leaves everyone comfortable with the outcome.

She also said YG Entertainment remains open to hearing what BLACKPINK wants to do.

The shift, then, is not that one member suddenly controls the group.

It is that four artists who already knew one another extremely well may now be more willing to say what they individually think.

Why Always Lalisa Matters Beyond a Celebrity Documentary

That makes Always Lalisa more interesting than a conventional behind-the-scenes film.

The documentary follows a year in which Lisa recorded and promoted solo music, explored acting and prepared for major performances including Coachella — but Sue Kim also captured moments when the machinery surrounding a global pop star temporarily disappeared.

The director told Rolling Stone Canada that her crew sometimes struggled simply to keep pace with Lisa’s schedule.

Other moments were deliberately intimate.

The film follows pressure, uncertainty and vulnerability alongside the polished performances audiences normally see.

That contrast helps explain Lisa’s description of her solo period.

She was not trying to replace BLACKPINK with another identity.

She was discovering how many identities could coexist with it.

Singer. Dancer. Solo artist. Actor. Global celebrity.

And BLACKPINK member.

BLACKPINK Returned With Four Stronger Individual Identities

BLACKPINK’s time apart could easily have produced the opposite narrative.

Four globally successful members building independent careers might have made questions about the group’s future even louder.

Instead, Lisa describes their return as carrying more energy, confidence and mutual respect.

That does not mean individual careers will no longer pull the members in different directions. Their schedules and ambitions are now larger than ever.

But Lisa’s comments reveal something important about BLACKPINK’s current phase.

The group’s identity no longer has to erase the identities of the four women inside it.

If anything, their solo years may have made those differences clearer.

Lisa left BLACKPINK temporarily to discover what she could do on her own.

When she returned, she says she was more willing to speak.

And according to her, she wasn’t the only one.

Always Lalisa, directed by Sue Kim, opens in IMAX and cinemas worldwide for a limited engagement beginning October 12 before streaming exclusively on YouTube Premium later in 2026.

Sources
Rolling Stone Canada Interview
Sony Music Vision Announcement