BLACKPINK‘s Rosé has dropped her long-awaited solo debut album ‘rosie’, alongside a Gilmore Girls-coded music video for its lead single, ‘toxic till the end’.
The Australian-Korean singer released the album on December 6, before dropping the accompanying visual for lead track ‘toxic till the end’ shortly after.
Starring Rosé with Gossip Girl actor Evan Mock, the music video takes a more cinematic approach in portraying a love story with a bitter end, even with both characters knowing it had been toxic from the beginning.
In an interview prior to the album’s release, Rosé revealed that she drew inspiration from a past relationship of hers for the song. “I think that was something that was living with me for a few years, I personally don’t think I deserved it, but it was there,” said Rosé. “I’m actually shocked that today I can wake up and be like, ‘I don’t talk about that anymore’.”
“Back then, when I was runnin’ out of your place / I said, “I never wanna see your face” / I meant I couldn’t wait to see it again / We were toxic till the end,” she sings on the chorus.
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Entirely co-written and co-produced by the singer, Rosé’s new solo effort features 12 tracks in total, including ‘toxic till the end’.
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Her previous viral hit ‘APT.’ featuring Bruno Mars, recently named by NME as one of the 50 best songs of 2024, as well as another pre-release song co-produced by Mars titled ‘number one girl’ are also on the new record.
On ‘APT.’, NME‘s Nick Levine wrote: “Rosé’s first solo single in three years is a brilliant, unexpected blast. Few could have predicted that the BLACKPINK star would turbocharge her solo career with a rollicking pop-punk stomper that recalls noughties indie-poppers the Ting Tings. Bruno Mars’ presence only adds to the infectious sense of chaos.”
‘APT.’ also emerged as the sixth most-streamed song by a K-pop artist on Spotify, as revealed by the streaming platform as part of its annual Wrapped event for 2024. Other entries on Spotify’s Top 10 list of K-pop songs and acts include her group BLACKPINK and bandmates Lisa and Jennie.
‘rosie’ marks Rosé’s first body of work since her debut single album ‘R’ in 2021, which included the songs ‘On The Ground’ and ‘Gone’. She also sang the solo track ‘Hard To Love’ on BLACKPINK’s 2022 studio album ‘Born Pink’.