Following BLACKPINK’s departure from YG Entertainment, I was very interested to see what direction each of the girls would take in relation to their solo careers. They had all released solos while still under YG, but it’s well-known that those releases didn’t capture the members’ true creative visions, at least not fully. So, when LISA became the first BLACKPINK member to come out with a solo release post-departure from YG with “Rockstar” it felt very exciting to see her seemingly come into her own with a song that wasn’t fully divorced from her sound and image while under YG, but still felt more mature and fleshed out. Three more great singles later, and “ALTER EGO” was shaping up to be one of the best solo projects to come out of BLACKPINK. However, what ended up being released was a decent, if a bit average, project which showcases some of LISA's potential, but not all that she can give.
"ALTER EGO" isn't a bad album, but it isn't spectacular either. There are some good ideas behind it, with very great executions in some places, but for the most part, the ideas aren't fleshed out the way that they should've been. The whole concept of "ALTER EGO" is that, as the name implies, LISA adopts 5 different personas which represent different facets of hers: Sunni, Vixi, Roxi, Speedi, and Kiki. This whole bit sounds interesting enough, but when I actually listened to the album itself, I just ended up feeling confused. There are moments where it's not clear what character a song is meant to represent. Mostly this happened to me with the Vixi, Roxi, and Speedi songs. With how similar these 3 are, I wish that she would have just combined them into one persona. It would've made more sense for this album to have 3 alter egos rather than 5 and then separate those tracks with interludes (which would've also helped the sequencing situation with this album which isn't great). The softer, vulnerable songs for Sunni's side; the bubblier pop songs for Kiki's, and the confident, hip-hop songs for the Vixi/Roxi/Speedi hybrid. If we're being real, part of the reason they probably went this route was just to sell more albums, although I don't think that was fully the reason because I'm sure they would've just made several versions of this album even without the alter ego concept.
I just want to dedicate a full paragraph to talk about the first track, “Born Again”, because not only do I believe it to be the best thing LISA has ever put out as a soloist, I think it’s genuinely one of the best things to come out of BLACKPINK, PERIOD. “Born Again” is an earworm if I’ve ever heard one, with all 3 women showcasing their best vocal abilities on a gorgeously produced and silky smooth disco track. Despite with how oversaturated the airwaves and FYPs were with disco influenced pop in the earlier part of the decade (and kinda still are), the way LISA (or I should say Raye, since this song was originally her demo) approaches disco is done in a way which feels true to the original 70s disco hits in which it draws inspiration from, while also sounding fresh. LISA and disco are two things which I never would’ve thought would work as well as they do, but I’m glad she decided to prove everyone that that is indeed the case.
Even though most of the album cuts were just fine, there were a couple of songs on this album I could've done without. Firstly, "Rapunzel." The instrumental is kinda annoying and the lyrics are just the typical boastful/confident theme we've come to known from LISA done in a way which is neither special or exciting. Then we have "BADGRRRL," which has essentially the same issue as "Rapunzel." These songs are filler if I've ever heard it, and not even the good kind. "BADGRRRL" is probably the most filler-esque out of the two, though, clocking in at just over 2 minutes. At that point, why even bother including it on the album? It's honestly a shame that Megan thee Stallion's appearance on the album was wasted on such a mediocre song. I get she probably wanted to market this album as a full-length to boost hype for it before release and sales post-release, but even if you remove these two songs from the album you're still left with a more concise and perfectly serviceable 11-track album, which can still be padded out with the inclusion of interludes if there's still a desire to have more tracks. Then, out of the remaining ones, I would've chosen "Thunder" as the song featuring Megan, which would've made more sense to me than "Rapunzel."
One thing I noticed while checking out LISA’s website is that the physical copies of the album have a different tracklist than the digital version. The main difference (aka CRIME) is that “Born Again” is NOWHERE to be found. Another big difference is the omission of the featured artists Future and Megan thee Stallion from their respective tracks. It seems to me that the physical tracklist of the album was at some point supposed to be the final tracklist; the inclusion of “Born Again” and the feature versions of “FUTW” and “Rapunzel” must’ve been done after the physical copies of the album had already been pressed. I REALLY don’t like this. To me, you should make sure that your album is as complete as possible before sending it to be pressed, because even if physical albums aren’t the main way of listening to music anymore, a lot of people still prefer it over streaming and even digital downloads (like my friend Flint!). I hope that in future pressings of the album they’ll make the changes, but considering how LISA and her team haven’t addressed this yet, I doubt it. As far as how much this would've affected my thoughts on the album had I listened to this edition first, I can live without the features; they're not bad, but they don't particularly add anything to the songs they're on. However, leaving out "Born Again"? NO. ZERO. (jk but still) I theorize what happened is that LISA was either given or gave herself a deadline to turn in the album for the physical copies to be made, and then the features + "Born Again" were done after the fact. Obviously, this is just me speculating. I have really no clue what actually happened with LISA's label for there to be such changes between editions of the album.
I think one of the downfalls of the album was the rollout. The first single “ROCKSTAR” was released back in July 2024 and in the time since, LISA released 3 more singles from the album. I really enjoy all of the singles released from the album, which raised my expectations for the project itself. So, when the album actually came out and it ended up being kinda just fine it was a bit of a let-down. I don’t think I would’ve felt that way had she saved some of the singles for after the release of the album. But hey, I get it. We live in different times, album release cycles aren’t what they used to be. By the time an artist might even consider releasing a song as a single post-album release, fans are already expecting brand new music from them. The public just doesn’t have the same patience that they used to, and it’s really because of how streaming has changed the way we listen to music. Still, I think I would’ve enjoyed the album a bit more had there been a bit more of a sense of surprise. Not to mention how the fact that all the singles and hard-hitters (which, if represented as a Venn diagram would almost look like a circle) are all placed towards the beginning of the album. Like I mentioned before, the sequencing of this album isn't stellar.
Ultimately, “ALTER EGO” is an album that feels unbalanced, and that suffers from its own hype. The end result isn’t necessarily terrible, but it’s a bit off from what LISA has shown herself to be capable of. “ALTER EGO” honestly just ends up feeling like a slightly better produced version of her YG solo music, which is ironic because in “FUTW” she mentions people complaining about missing the “old LISA” and tells them to listen to her “old stuff” if that’s the case (mind you “LALISA” came out like just 4 years ago). With that being said, “ALTER EGO’s” highs are REALLY high. Even if the alter ego concept wasn't that well executed, we still were able to see different sides of LISA which we hadn't been able do before. From transforming herself into a disco diva with "Born Again," to trying something a bit more experimental with "New Woman," we can at least say LISA has set some foundations for herself going forward as a solo artist. It's true that she and/or the people at YG created an image for herself of being this ultra-confident bad bitch with lots of money that she uses as she sees fit, but I find that there is a way to incorporate that image into something which feels a bit more mature and believable, instead of feeling like a slightly more advanced version of YG LISA. She was getting there with this album, but in the end she still wasn't able to reach the finish line. Still, it's important to remember that this is only her first full-length project out of who knows how many. I'm very excited to see what she does in the future, having seen glimpses of what she is capable of with "ALTER EGO."
Just as a little bonus, here's how I would've done "ALTER EGO" if it were up to me:
