Over the past couple of years, it’s been almost impossible to escape BLACKPINK and their members’ solo ventures. “APT.” and “Dracula” have been making waves around the globe, while the group itself released a new EP earlier this year, albeit one of questionable quality. Now it’s LISA’s turn to take the mic with PRESS PLAY, a six-track mini-album bursting with ambition but rarely living up to its own lofty goals.
The project opens with lead single “SaWaDiKa”, an aggressive pop-trap number in which LISA’s heavily auto-tuned vocals, buried beneath layers of processing, clash with a shrill, shout-along chorus. It’s an exercise in self-affirmation and, at the same time, a love letter to her homeland. LISA asserts her own worth while sending a passionate shout-out to Thailand, the country she comes from. It’s an energetic, hard-hitting track, but its chorus wears thin surprisingly quickly.
The bass-heavy “V12” offers virtually no progression, leaving Lisa sounding far less convincing than she did on the opening track. It’s as though someone has drained all the energy out of her performance. The two-minute “Cobra” is so grating that even its brief runtime is enough to give you a migraine. It’s the kind of song you’d expect to hear in some dubious, low-quality TikTok video, with something inexplicable happening on screen.
Fortunately, “Tarantino” comes to the rescue, propelled by a standout drum section that makes it the best track on the EP. With its Kill Bill references and cinematic instrumental, LISA seems to be creating her own action movie, taking on the roles of both director and leading lady. It’s the most convincing moment on PRESS PLAY. The Tarantino-inspired theme continues on “Cut U Off”, which samples the famous whistle from “Twisted Nerve”. Unfortunately, the track fails to make the desired impact: a sample that should have grabbed the listener’s attention ends up being little more than an annoyance.
PRESS PLAY is undoubtedly bursting with ambition, but its biggest problem is that LISA and her team seem to be running in circles, unable to figure out where to take the project next. The result is six songs that, for the most part, feel like variations on the same idea. BLACKPINK’s other solo ventures have offered worthwhile results alongside their concepts — not always successful, perhaps, but intriguing in their own right. On LISA’a latest EP, however, that initial curiosity fades much sooner than it should.
