Rating: 6/10
Through a series of new but unoriginal characters, LISA attempts to create new identities for herself in her debut album, “Alter Ego,” which was released on Friday.
Lalisa Manobal, known as LISA, has already broken into global superstardom, starting as a member of the well-known K-pop group BLACKPINK. She began her acting career earlier this year in the wildly popular HBO original series, “The White Lotus.” The show follows casts of rich, twisted vacationers causing chaos in beautiful locales.
“Alter Ego” lets LISA shed her K-pop origins and emerge as a global pop star.
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While she possesses the talent and quality of an icon, LISA’s newest album fails to establish her presence in the already saturated modern music scene.
The album’s rollout introduced LISA’s five alter egos, parts of herself she wanted to debut. One such character is Vixi, who fears nothing and whose favorite drink is “your tears.” Another is Speedi, who has a pet cheetah.
“It feels like I can express myself in a different version of me, and it’s fun,” LISA said during her Hot Ones interview with host Sean Evans.
These characters range from uninteresting to actively cringey, full of trends and buzzwords that are only cool to fans in middle school. These don’t seem like real aspects of LISA — they’re just marketable aesthetics, selling five more copies of the same album.
The music isn’t as generic but doesn’t push LISA outside her comfort zone. Tracks are generally catchy, dark and driven by pounding bass, a recipe already present in many BLACKPINK songs.
“ROCKSTAR” is the perfect example of this repetitiveness. The track is framed by an extremely simple bass line and shrill, short synth notes meant to feel edgy but instead create an awkward middle ground, neither powerful nor memorable. LISA has a fantastic voice, but she uses it in lyrics that keep cycling the same tropes of having gold, diamonds and fame.
These issues can’t be attributed to LISA alone. The K-pop industry thrives off of redundancy and, in many cases, unoriginality. Multiple melodies and harmonies, mixed with a fast tempo and generally positive lyrics, are at the forefront of what keeps listeners engaged.
LISA fails to break out of this loop in “Alter Ego.” With a fairly unoriginal slate of songs and a constantly shifting personality and vibe, there isn’t anything to establish an identity for the artist — which is especially bad for a debut album.
Many positives keep this album from completely missing the mark. The songs are produced well, and occasionally, a track is just punchy and ridiculous enough that it overcomes its derivativeness and rounds back to being fun.
“BADGRRRL” is extremely similar to “ROCKSTAR,” but its use of quick harmonies and occasional ad-libs give the song an amusing personality that doesn’t take itself as seriously as other tracks.
The best parts of the album are its features. LISA pulled out all the stops, singing with Megan Thee Stallion, Future, Tyla, ROSALĺA and more. When singing with other artists, LISA gains a foil that highlights her own bubbly personality and singing style, making the songs much more energizing.
“Alter Ego” set out to explore new identities that the singer could embody, but a lack of originality didn’t fuel any persona to win over another. LISA will certainly continue to make fun music, and hopefully, she’ll find an identity she can call her own.
