LISA, Stealing the Hearts of Thai People
[조선일보=이해운 기자] “I would like to express my absolute respect to LISA who became a member of the famous girl-group BLACKPINK after going through intense training and practice in the competitive Korean music industry. Her determination and struggle to accomplish her dreams has been an inspiration to Thai people in the field of art⋅music⋅film.”
Royal Thai Government spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on the 13th that Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said so regarding BLACKPINK LISA’s solo album. The Bangkok Post which is Thailand’s daily newspaper also released an article and picture of LISA on the very front page.
LISA’s first solo album ‘LALISA’ which was released on the 10th is garnering great attention. It recorded 73.6 million views in the first 24 hours of release on YouTube, which is the highest number of views within that time period among solo artists from around the world. This figure is higher than pop star Taylor Swift’s record for “ME!” which was released in April 2019 with a record of 65 million views.
LISA is a Thai national born in Thailand. Her full name is Lalisa Manobal and was born in Buriram Province, Thailand. Another reason why LISA is stealing the hearts of many Thai people is because she’s from a working class family, rather than a famous family or part of the upper class. Thai society is a hierarchy society with flexibility where a King and royal families exist. The upper class families also known as ‘Hi-So’s took over the wealth and honor, and most of them are usually Chinese living abroad, or chinese mixed-race, characterized by their fair skin. Most well known Thais such as Nichkhun from K-pop boy band 2PM are part of this Hi-So group. But here came LISA, once part of the Low-So in Thailand, who now became a world star after passing YG’s Thailand audition and spending 5 years and 3 months as a trainee. A businessmen in Thailand said that “The Thai people are going crazy over LISA’s self-made success story.” He also added “For them, Lisa is a real divine being.”
LISA is also very proud about being Thai. She chose her real name for the solo song title, and Thailand elements have been portrayed here and there in the song. LISA said “I said that I really want to add Thai-elements to this song and I was so touched how TEDDY arranged the song in such a style”. Even when looking at the music video, you can see LISA dancing Thai’s traditional dance wearing a Thai costume such as the traditional headdress. Traditional Thai crafts can also be seen in the M/V and a stone tower which is located within the Phanom Rung Historical Park of her hometown Buriram Province can be seen. The Bangkok Post reported on the 14th that “Currently, traditional headdress models similar to what LISA wore are being sold like crazy” adding that “Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he is ready to promote the country’s soft power so that the value of creative economy can be further increased, following the phenomenal success of LISA’s music video.”
2021. 9. 17.
