Luxury idols: who is Blackpink’s most powerful member? Brand values, ranked – from Lisa’s Celine and Bulgari gigs to ‘human Chanel’ Jennie, Rosé’s Tiffany partnership and Jisoo in Dior and Cartier

Mar 3 , 2023

Blackpink’s Rosé, Jisoo, Jennie and Lisa are among the most sought-after luxury brand ambassadors in the industry. Which got us wondering who is really worth the most ... Photo: @blackpinkofficial/Instagram

Blackpink

Typically in pop groups, there’s 1 star who shines brightest – think Beyoncé in Destiny’s Child’s and One Direction’s Harry Styles – but Blackpink’s members see success in (nearly) equal measures

Labels have jumped on the opportunity to sign deals with Lisa, Jisoo, Rosé and Jennie – but which idol has the strongest brand pulling power in cold hard cash? We asked the experts

Pop groups may be carefully constructed with a balance of personalities to ensure maximum fan appeal, but typically there’s always one megastar member who goes on to become a long-standing household name – for Destiny’s Child it was Beyoncé, with One Direction it was Harry Styles.

Guessing who exactly that will be has always been part of the fun, but when it comes to Blackpink – already one of the most successful (and richest) pop groups of this decade – it’s somewhat more difficult to figure out who we’ll still be fawning over decades from now.

Who will emerge the most era-defining member of K-pop girl band Blackpink? Photo: Handout

Much of this is due to their natural cohesion as a foursome, and the tendency of K-pop stars to stay together longer than their Western equivalents (in part, due the industry’s strict seven-year contact cycle). As a result, members’ individual popularity is often more clearly demonstrated by looking at brand affiliation – in other words rather than fruitlessly debating who, out of Lisa, Jennie, Rosé and Jisoo, is likely to have a solo career that will eclipse the rest when the time comes, we can just look at the number and nature of the brand’s queuing up to court each member.

Blackpink are considered to be the most successful K-pop girl group of the decade. Photo: @sooyaaa__/Instagram

Why Blackpink are ideal brand ambassadors

Since Blackpink was formed in South Korea in 2016, it has been the girl band of choice for a generation – this is as true in Austria and Australia as it is in Korea and Japan. More active online than any other group at their level of fame, Blackpink has broken records for their traction on social media and for viewings of their music videos on YouTube; they also have a fiercely loyal fan base – the Blinks – and unsurprisingly, big brands have come knocking.

Blackpink performs at the Sahara Tent during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival in April 2019, in Indio, California. Photo: Getty Images

Together, the four women have leveraged their beauty, popularity, cuteness and approachability to create a new, highly lucrative relationship between music and fashion.

Blackpink has been notably popular among the famously fussy French houses, taking Paris Fashion Week by storm – in fact, a major show in either Paris or Milan feels barely complete these days without one of them sitting on the front row. And the brands know this more than much as anyone. Their mere presence is a product.