Kpop idol Rose (Blackpink) recently released her first full solo album in her career called "rosie" with 12 songs.
Including 2 previously released songs: “APT.”, “Number one girl” and 10 new songs: “3 PM”, “Two years”, “Toxic till the end”, “Drinks or coffee”, "Gameboy", "Stay a little longer", “Not the same”, “Call it the end”, “Too bad for us” and “Dance all night”.
According to the Korea Times, the album “rosie” marks a change not only from the familiar stereotypes of Kpop but also from Blackpink's musical range.
Fans expecting tracks similar to the previous single “APT.” (featuring Bruno Mars) may be in for a surprise, as the album is almost “Number one girl” in tone.
Unlike typical K-pop hits that focus on choreography, the album “rosie” mainly features introspective ballads that express Rose’s most genuine emotions.
The album is inspired by the female idol's personal experiences, such as facing difficulties as a Kpop trainee, the pressure of malicious comments, especially the pain of being caught up in a toxic relationship in the past.
The overall atmosphere of the album is sad and haunting. Therefore, “APT.” was unexpectedly “cold-shouldered” by fans who enjoyed the entire album.
In many opinions, “APT.” with its cheerful pop-rock style is completely out of place on the album. Many listeners said that the song made them “feel down”, and they created a new playlist to remove “APT.” from the album, experiencing the pain of a broken heart to the fullest.
However, another opinion holds that, if we look at the whole story that Rose told through the album "rosie", putting "APT." in this album is still acceptable.
The song revolves around two people having fun partying and flirting with each other. This can also be seen as a part of Rose's past relationship.
On the other hand, with the previous success of “APT.”, including the song in the album gives Rose a huge advantage.
On the day of the album's release (December 6), "APT." returned to the Top 1 on the global Spotify chart, with over 10 million streams.
“APT.” contributed greatly to the 28 million first-day streams of “rosie” on the global Spotify chart (9 songs charted), making it the second-highest-streamed debut album by a K-pop solo artist after BTS’ Jungkook, and the highest-streamed debut album by a K-pop artist in 2024.
To date, “APT.” still maintains around 9-10 million streams a day and has spent its seventh consecutive week at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US charts.
"APT." has set a very good foundation, making Rose the Kpop artist with the highest monthly listeners on the Spotify platform, with a record 62 million listeners as of December 10.
