Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Rosé is a member of Blackpink, the chart-topping K-pop girl group. Like their boy-band counterparts in BTS, they are currently busy with spin-off projects. Rosé’s colleague Lisa will release an album in February. Its lead singles jump around indecisively between styles as though uncertain of how to present her. Meanwhile, Rosie is Rosé’s solo debut. Her album has a more coherent sound, but lacks the bite of Blackpink in full flow.Its songs are billed as bringing us the real Rosé. “I’m hoping this album shows people that I’m just like you,” she has explained. The “you” is mainly directed at western listeners. Recorded in Los Angeles and mostly sung in English, Rosie illustrates K-pop’s increasing use of songwriters and producers from outside South Korea. Lisa’s forthcoming solo album has been made with US super-producer Ryan Tedder; Rosé’s has almost 20 producers, none from South Korea. The singer, real name Roseanne Park, is herself something of a K-pop outsider. She was born in New Zealand to South Korean immigrant parents and moved as a child to Australia. Following an audition held in Sydney by a Korean entertainment company in 2012, she relocated to Seoul aged 15 to join a K-pop training programme. Work often lasted until 2am and she had one day off each fortnight. The regimentation continued after she joined Blackpink, among the most successful girl groups ever, in 2016. “Idols”, as K-pop stars are known, face shadowy contractual restrictions on their behaviour, including no-dating rules. Rosie’s break-up songs therefore have a mildly defiant aspect, a sign that Rosé is determined to live an ordinary life. The use of English also chimes with her Australasian upbringing. She sings with more feeling than Blackpink’s sharply drawn, ultra-catchy hits usually allow. But the songs struggle to slip the moorings of their inspirations.Hit lead single “Apt.”, an irritatingly grabby outing with Bruno Mars, is the closest in style to Blackpink. The rest is classier but unmemorable. “Stay a Little Longer” and “Number One Girl” are Olivia Rodrigo-style ballads, while “Toxic till the End” is cast in Taylor Swift’s mould. “You wasted my prettiest years,” Rosé chides the song’s villainous ex, like Swift accusing a former boyfriend of taking “all that youth for free” in “So Long, London”. These are decent songs, but their generic design detracts from the idea of presenting us with the real Rosé. ★★★☆☆‘Rosie’ is released by Atlantic Records/The Black Label
