BLACKPINK To Make Full-Group Comeback Later This Year

SEOUL, May 26 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- Girl group BLACKPINK will return with a new song featuring all four members later this year, the head producer of the group's agency said on Monday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We'll soon be able to announce news about BLACKPINK's new song," Yang Hyun-suk, founder and executive producer of YG Entertainment, said in a video posted on the company’s official blog.

Yang did not provide a specific release date.

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The upcoming single will mark the group’s first release in two years and eight months, following its second full-length album, Born Pink, in September 2022. The only exception since then has been The Girls, an original soundtrack for a video game.

BLACKPINK is set to launch a new world tour, titled Deadline, with shows in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, on July 5 and 6.

Yang also shared release plans for other YG artists.

Rookie girl group Babymonster will drop a pre-release single, Hot Sauce, on July 1, followed by a second single in September and an EP on Oct 1.

Describing Hot Sauce as a "highly addictive hip-hop song with a late 1980s feel," Yang said, "It's a gift we're releasing in hopes that you'll have a fun summer."

He added that the company experimented with how Babymonster, whose average age is in the teens, would interpret a classic hip-hop genre from four decades ago and was pleased with the result.

Boy group TREASURE will release a new EP on Sept 1 and begin a new world tour in October.

Yang said the company aims to support the group in releasing more than two albums annually.

YG Entertainment also plans to introduce a new four-member girl group and a new boy group next year.

Starting Wednesday, practice videos of the girl group members will be released one by one.

"Currently, YG has two boy groups and two girl groups preparing for their debuts," Yang said. "I definitely want to launch one boy group next year."

However, the company noted that the debut of the new girl group is expected to come later, as Yang expressed a desire to focus on Babymonster's growth through the end of next year.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP