Blackpink’s Lisa took Coachella through a tour of her alter egos, established for her album Alter Ego, and boy was it a ride. Here are my thoughts on Lisa’s stage for Coachella week one.
Lisa took to the stage as Vixi to kick off the performance. Continually donning each of her alter egos as her performance went on.
Stood on a raised platform Lisa started her set in a black floor-length puffer jacket, due to her physical position on the stage, there was not much she could do in the way of choreography, but her dancers put on a show, chained to her stage to start but breaking free as she hit the ground to finish the song with them. This portion of the song was good, but it highlighted something that would be one of my key issues, her backing track.
As she joins the choreo, her years of training seem to have meant nothing as she skips multiple lines doing seemingly some of the simpler choreography moves. This would be fine, but it highlights how loud the backing track is, as at some points where she’s doing more intense choreography, it looks like she is reverting to lip-syncing as it’s unclear on Livestream if she is singing or just holding her mic to her face and letting the backtrack do its thing.
Once she was on the ground, the song transitioned into Fxck up the world and Lisa shed her coat to reveal her bodysuit, which highly resembled dragon skin.
This being one of my favourite tracks on the album, left me a little disappointed in the live performance. Lisa shines when she raps and because of that, I wish she’d rapped all her lines through this song. Coupled with the choreography – which could have gone harder- I felt like she didn’t do this song justice, but this part of the set was more interesting than Thunder.
To close out Vixi’s set, Lisa closed this portion with a classic, LALISA, which you could hear fans go crazy for. The transition was well planned, going from the line “They want the old LISA, then listen to my old shit” to her singing the “old shit”, and it still going hard for fans. It also showed that Vixi’s bravado may not translate into how Lisa really feels about her old music.
The next part of the set embodied her Kiki alter ego, which saw her swap out her hands-free mic for a traditional one, and her body suit for a neon two-piece with our favourite 50-year-old cat printed all over, Hello Kitty for anyone wondering.
This song started with Lisa and her dancers using clear acrylic seats as props and Lisa making a considerably larger effort to perform more of the song. The dance break was short and I’m not sure it added much to the performance. It was one of the better ones in the set.
Between songs, Lisa took a break to shoutout all the White Lotus fans who may not know she is an artist, before an actor. She also called out all the fans holding her star light stick but not the waves of fans holding the official Blackpink light stick in support of her. Following this short crowd interaction, she continued her set with When I’m With You.
This song had more laid-back choreography, and again Lisa got to spend more energy actually rapping her song, but she opted to skip out on the chorus where she had to sing, and when she did sing along with her back track, she cut herself off when the ‘you…’ trails off in the chorus. There was some choreo during the chorus that was quite fun and energetic whilst looking effortlessly cool before Lisa left the stage for another outfit change.
Sunni took the stage to perform some of Lisa’s softer, more loving songs. Dressed in an LED powered bodysuit, she was staged in front of a beautiful nature scene as she stripped it back performance wise.
She started with Dream, and I won’t lie, singing isn’t Lisa’s strong point. I appreciate her trying for the album but in person, her performance felt like it was lacking. The song itself is a beautiful track, but it felt like she was straining to hit the notes she had recorded in the studio. She has potential, but she needs more vocal training.
This track, about her French billionaire boyfriend and heir to LVMH Frédéric Arnault (although Lisa and her fans deny it), was a fun take on the sample of 1997’s Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer. The performance saw the return of the backup dancers and Lisa’s backing track. This, I will say, is one of the better performances of this track in particular for a while.
I think Chill was the best track in the Sunni segment. Lisa’s rapping felt more natural for her. She opted to keep the mic away from her mouth for half the chorus, the half that she was sat on the stage for. But when she continued the song, it was a really strong performance from her vocally.
Lisa’s alter ego Speedi took the stage to close her set in a top that was her Lisa star logo and a pair of shorts made of belts. Speedi opened the set with a middle eastern inspired instrumental to open Elastigirl.
After seductively walking on stage, Lisa’s dancers spread across the stage, stretching some fabric across the stage to visualise the Elastigirl of it all. It was quite a fun idea for the song. The dance break could have been more interesting, fans know that Lisa is capable of sexy choreography when she wants, footage having been leaked that she did a private set at the famed Paris cabaret club Crazy Horse in 2023.
Lisa then jumped into Money, a song popularised worldwide from Squid Game Season One promotion. It was really nice to hear her sing it live, I remember when you literally could not escape the song, and I won’t lie, I was a big fan of it. It was really fun to hear fans scream it back to her. She had her own silent trend moment during the song, which the crowd participated in on the fly. One note, I wish the dance break had been a standing dance as she was sat down with her dancers, which really didn’t add the impact that this monumental song needed.
She transitioned into Born Again, which you could hear fans singing along with, due to its recent success. Honestly this song was one of the better vocal performances for Lisa, singing wise. I loved that she rocked out with the band during their guitar solo, it was a nice touch.
Following this song, she donned the Roxi alter ego, but kept the same outfit with a few additions, most notably, a jacket with spotlights on her shoulders. Yes, fully operational lights.
Lisa opened this portion of her set with Lifestyle, another one of my favourite songs from Alter Ego. You could hear fans singing along before Lisa started to rap her first verse. This song felt like watching a scene in a play, with the dancers circling her like sharks before a carefully choreographed chorus. The outfits made me think of Starlight Express a little bit. The backing track sounded a lot quieter in this song, giving way to hearing when Lisa was rapping.
A siren sounded in Rockstar as Lisa closed her set with arguably one of her most popular songs. Jacket gone, Lisa stood front and centre and clapped in Rockstar, like it was we will rock you, which I guess she did.
Unfortunately, the backtrack was loud as hell for Rockstar as we could see in the live that she was singing /rapping every other line, but the backing track meant we heard every word even the ones she didn’t sing.
It was really cool to see the whole dance crew on stage, as she’d been swapping out the girls and guys per song. I do with the Rockstar dance break had been more intense, but it was a fun way to close her set, coming back with a bit of Fxck Up The World as one of her backup dancers grabbed some flame throwers to spray behind her as she thanked fans for attending.
Overall, the song choices were stellar, but the performance was lacking that bit extra. We await to see how she switches it up for weekend two.
replay 