BLACKPINK Star Lisa Covers ELLE’s September 2024 Issue

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Lalisa Manobal—known as Lisa since the 2016 debut of the phenomenally successful girl group BLACKPINK, is ready to be unleashed. With a new solo project, her own management company, and her acting debut in THE WHITE LOTUS, the BLACKPINK idol is sitting pretty. For ELLE’s September 2024 issue, Lisa spoke with Stephan Lee, author of the K-Pop Confidential books, about her K-pop training, her new management company, working with THE WHITE LOTUS creator Mike White who she calls ‘a genius’, and the future of BLACKPINK: “Of course we’re continuing [BLACKPINK], for sure. It is not just because of our fans, it’s for ourselves. There was no doubt. This is our life.”

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To Blackpink fans worried that the members’ solo pursuits mean an end to the group, Lisa offers reassurance: While she has parted ways with YG for her solo career (as have members Jennie, Jisoo, and Roseì), all four renewed their contracts for future work as a group. In July, YG founder Yang Hyun-suk teased a potential tour in 2025. “Of course we’re continuing, for sure,” Lisa says. “We’re so proud of Blackpink, and I love Blackpink. It is not just because of our fans, it’s for ourselves.” She shifts into Korean to say, “There was no doubt. This is our life.”

In spite of the undeniable success of “Lalisa,” the new project (which was still tightly under wraps at press time) feels in some ways like a reintroduction for Lisa, her true debut. It’s her first work that’s independent of YG. Unlike “Lalisa,” it’s being released under a partnership between RCA Records and Lisa’s own management company, Lloud Co.—the name of which serves as a perfect, one-word manifesto while also playing on the double L’s of her given name.

 On making creative decisions under her own label: “I think what I’ve learned from last time is me, myself, saying what I like and what I don’t like. I think that’s the most important. Because if I say, ‘Ah, it’s okay,’ [people] don’t know—like, am I really okay with it? So I have to be able to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Not in between.”

Another profound perk that comes with taking control of her own career with Lloud is that she’ll now own her master recordings outright—a seemingly basic privilege that even famously self-directed American stars like Taylor Swift have had to fight for: “I don’t think it’s easy for anyone to be able to get that,” Lisa says. “It feels like a dream. I’m not sure if it’s real or not.” (But don’t expect her to go on her own Eras Tour just yet. “She’s incredible!” Lisa says of Swift, whose show she caught in Singapore. “Singing alone on a stage for three and a half hours is crazy…I maybe could do it with a lot of practice.”)

On taking on her first acting role in the Thailand-set third season of The White Lotus, the wildly popular, culture-shaping HBO social satire created by Mike White, who Lisa calls ‘a genius’: Filmed in Bangkok and the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui, the project was a welcome chance “to be back home, to have Thai food every day,” and to have her mother close by on set.

“Oh my God, Mike White? I think he’s a genius,” Lisa gushes as she recalls learning she nabbed the role. “I think I cried. I was with my friends, my mom’s friends, and my mom as well, but I didn’t tell them that I auditioned for it. I’m super excited and nervous, because it’s my first acting project. So I was happy for a second, and then I was like, ‘Oh, wait, wait, how am I going to deliver this?’”

While she can’t let slip any details about the season or about her role—she expertly dodges the question when I ask if she’ll be singing or dancing—she’s taken acting classes and seems characteristically confident after her initial doubts: “It’s pretty new to me, but I think it’s similar to shooting music videos…I’m excited for my fans to see it.” The anthology series follows a set of privileged vacationers luxuriating in jaw-dropping settings and clashing with locals, but we know from Lisa that at least one major character will come off well: “I feel like people are going to fall in love with Thailand even more.”

On waiting to unleash the extent of her rock-star spirit on the world:  Lately, she’s been expanding beyond the chunky hoodies and leaning into her baddie self. “I’m into leather stuff,” she says. “Big, big earrings. Silver accessories. When I wear it, I just feel like, ‘Okay, I’m a rock star.’ I’m going to walk like a rock star. I’m going to sit like a rock star.”

For the style icon, fashion tells her inner story as well: “To be honest, I’m not the type who’s really good at expressing my feelings,” she admits. “Lately, I feel more confident of what I think, and say it out loud.”

[Photo Credit: Gregory Harris for ELLE Magazine]

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