Blackpink’s Lisa has been making headlines recently with all of her releases, showing time and time again that she is capable of making her own music. She truly shines when rapping, even in her group. Lisa uses this to her advantage when writing songs and knows how to create a compelling hook. This album has a total of 15 songs in which she collaborates with big artists such as Doja Cat, RAYE, ROSALIA, Future, Megan Thee Stallion and Tyla. I’ll be honest, at first, I didn’t think that I would like this album. Her last few releases were great to me but nothing that really stood out. But for “Alter Ego”, I knew I would like a lot of these songs just based on the teased snippets.
Out of her new songs, she doesn’t have very many solos, but that doesn’t make them any less capable than others. “Elastigirl” is another example of how amazing Lisa is at creating a catchy chorus. From what I can tell, the song is about how resilient she is no matter what anybody else does. The track “Thunder” has truly grown on me the more I listen to it. The combination of the backtrack and her vocals make it very satisfying to listen to, which is why it is one of my top favorites on the album. On the opposite end, “BADGRRRL” was a song I didn’t love as much. The track is very short, and it doesn’t necessarily stick out against the others to me. But it is a very Lisa-sounding song to me, and I will continue to listen to it. I really love the track “Lifestyle” for its fast-paced chorus. This anthem really has so much energy, and I would recommend it. Similarly, another one of my top songs would be “Chill”. It has a very laidback vibe, and her voice is heavenly. “Dream” is a track that is very unlike Lisa’s usual style. It is very dreamy and nice and vaguely sounds like Melanie Martinez’s “Training Wheels”.
Her new collaborations are truly diverse in this album. With American rapper, Future, Lisa releases the song, “FXCK UP THE WORLD”, which showcases her rapping and flow. This song is a very in-your-face song, that can be overwhelming at times but also has so much good energy. “Rapunzel” with Megan Thee Stallion did not sound how I thought it would. The backtrack sounds were very tropical and laid back, but the chorus ties the whole song together. My favorite collaboration that Lisa has done is with Tyla in “When I’m With You”. It perfectly combines the style of both of them and they harmonize together very well.
One other thing that needs to be mentioned is the innovative concept that Lisa came up with. She gives herself alter-egos that correspond to her personality, hence the name of the album. Their names are Kiki, Roxi, Speedi, Sunni, and Vixi. These five characters sing specific songs within the album or even have their own versions of the songs. For example, Kiki sings “New Woman” and Roxi sings “Rockstar”. Lisa even took it a step further to release a comic, “Alter Ego: The Official Comic”, based on these women. In it, cyberbullies trap one of her personas, Vixi, in a virtual reality world and her friends (the other four characters) go rescue.
Overall, I really love this album for multiple reasons. The songs sounded so different than what I had expected, with some coming across as more experimental and others more lyrical. The thing that truly got me was how much Lisa had come up with outside of just the music, she created a whole comic related to it. It is really impressive, and I hope that she continues to do something similar or even continues the story with her characters.