BLACKPINK star Lisa was "scared and nervous" to embark on her solo career.
The 27-year-old K-pop star recently launched her own artist management firm, LLOUD, and has a solo album in the pipeline, and she's admitted she was terrified to go it alone without her bandmates - Jennie, 28, ROSÉ, 27, and Jisoo, 29 - but her fans' reaction to her singles was a "healing" experience and now she is enjoying every minute of it.
She told Billboard: “At first, I was scared and nervous because I never really come out here to do my own stuff.
“And now I’m having fun.”
On the response to her solo tunes, she said: “When [my singles] came out, the reaction from the fans, it’s healing me. It’s like, ‘Oh, my God. Yeah — I did a great job!’”
Lisa is excited for fans to see a different side to her as she insists she has a lot more to offer than just being a rapper.
She said: “I’m not like, ‘OK, I’m going to sit down and write the whole thing.'
"In BLACKPINK, I’m a rapper, so I always rap, but now it’s a chance for me to show the world that I’m capable of [so much more].
“It’s a little looser [now].
“We’re not rookies anymore. I’m 27 and headed toward 30. Of course I’m still young, yes, but I feel like it’s more flexible for us. And it’s nothing crazy … I feel like I’m just doing whatever I want, and it doesn’t hurt anyone. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings.”
The 'Sour Candy' hitmakers couldn't be more supportive of each other's solo ventures.
Lisa said: “We know each other so well and know how much energy we have to put into every single project.
“So we want to support and say, ‘You did really well!’ Like, Jennie and Rosie just released their own songs, and we’re on texts, we’re on FaceTime. They’re like family. I’m just so happy that they’re releasing something. This is what we all wanted to do, so I just wanted to say that I really do love their songs.”
BLACKPINK will return next year, and Lisa insists the band will always be "part of our lives".
She added: “Of course we want to do more, because BLACKPINK, it’s part of our lives. We still want to accomplish more, but on the other side, we also wanted to do something for our solo careers.”
