Nearly two years have passed since YG Entertainment announced that the members of BLACKPINK would have their own respective solo albums. After almost a year, the public learned that Rosé would release hers following Jennie's solo track.
Fans, then, kept on waiting for the details of the said track collection. But, it was not until this week when the K-Pop idol revealed the title and release date of her first music venture outside the group.
Koreaboo reported that upon announcing the details of the solo track collection, many seemingly could no longer wait to hear what Rosé has to offer. In the 12 hours since the pre-order sale started, she has already sold thousands of copies, allowing her to break various records.
The publication said that the BLACKPINK vocalist has now become the first female artist to ever exceed 50,000 pre-order sales on Ktown4u's platform. She has, also, become the first-ever YG Entertainment artist to break the record within 24 hours.
This comes after Rosé's upcoming album has sold over 55,900 copies on the popular international K-Pop store. 33,106 sales are all for the standard version, 13,451 copies for the vinyl LP, and 6,683 for the kit album.
Rosé even surpassed her own group's pre-order record as The Album has only sold about 30,000 copies during its first day. This, then, appears to be a massive success for the K-Pop idol, as well as for her label.
On Thursday, the BLACKPINK member confirmed the details of her album on social media. She informed her fans and followers that her solo debut album, -R- will officially drop on March 12.
On Instagram, Rosé posted several teaser materials, including solo photos of her and posters for the track collection. She, also, took the moment to thank her fans for "waiting patiently."
Reports, then, said that -R- features "On The Ground" as its album title track. As for "GONE," which the BLACKPINK vocalist sang during the group's virtual concert last January, will serve as the B-side.
YG Entertainment, later on, released a statement to the press, explaining the name of the album, according to JoongAng Daily. As stated, -R- "symbolizes not only the first letter of Rosé's name, but, also, a new beginning for her as a solo artist."
The label, also, revealed that the production cost for the lead track's music video is one of their "highest." Although it has already been completed, YG Entertainment said that they are still doing their "best in post-production to perfect it."
