BLACKPINK's "Deadline" Album: Five Tracks After 3.5 Years of Silence
BLACKPINK hasn't released a group album since Born Pink hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in September 2022. That was nearly three and a half years ago. In the interim, all four members went solo: Jennie appeared in HBO's The Idol and released her solo album Ruby. Rosé put out rosie. Lisa joined Netflix's The White Lotus and dropped Alter Ego. Jisoo released AMORTAGE and is filming the Netflix drama Boyfriend on Demand.
Then in December 2023, YG Entertainment announced the group had re-signed — new album, world tour, the whole thing. It took over two years to materialize. The result is Deadline, a five-track mini album dropping February 27, 2026.
"Jump" already proved BLACKPINK still sells
The pre-release single "Jump" came out July 11, 2025, and the numbers were immediate. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 — BLACKPINK's third chart-topper there. It set the record for largest streaming debut by a female artist in 2025, surpassing Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild" (70.1 million streams). On the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, it entered at No. 28, making it the group's 10th career entry on the chart. Forbes named it the best K-pop group song of 2025.
The sound was a departure: hardstyle and Eurodance production over a Western-movie guitar intro. That willingness to experiment raised expectations for whatever would follow.
Why fans are angry about the tracklist
On February 5, YG revealed the Deadline tracklist: JUMP, GO, Me and my, Champion, Fxxxboy. Five tracks. Roughly 15 minutes of music. The announcement came with a single poster — black glittery sand, cloudy sky.
The backlash was swift, and it came from three directions.
The track count. Five songs after a 3.5-year wait. One of them, "Jump," already came out eight months earlier. So really, four new songs. Fans who'd waited since 2022 felt shortchanged.
The leaks. Lyrics from "Me and my" and "Champion" had circulated online in 2025. At the time, most people assumed they were fake. Once the tracklist confirmed both songs were real, the damage was done — fans already knew the content of three out of five tracks.
The rollout. The concept photos were four grayscale shots with the members' faces obscured. The tracklist poster was a single desert image. After years of silence, the promotional effort felt thin. "Just disband" trended on X (formerly Twitter).
Lyric controversy and the "Fxxxboy" question
The title "Fxxxboy" got attention, but it wasn't the main source of controversy. Leaked lyrics from "Me and my" drew criticism for what some fans called misogynistic language. The exact wording can't be verified before the official release, but the perception matters. BLACKPINK has built its brand around female empowerment since debut — any perceived departure from that identity gets scrutinized hard.
The quiet shift from Interscope to The Orchard
Something that got less attention than the tracklist drama: Deadline is the first BLACKPINK release distributed globally through The Orchard, a Sony Music subsidiary that handles independent artists and smaller labels. Previously, Interscope Records managed their North American and European distribution.
The logic isn't hard to follow. Each member has a solo deal with a different major label — Jennie with Columbia, Rosé with Atlantic, Lisa with RCA. Picking any one of those for the group's distribution would create friction. The Orchard is neutral ground. It also suggests YG wanted more direct control over the group's global rollout.
The album comes after the tour, not before
Normally an album drops, then the tour follows. BLACKPINK did it backwards. The Deadline World Tour launched in July 2025 at Goyang Stadium and ran through January 2026, ending in Hong Kong. Thirty-three shows across 16 cities. They became the first K-pop girl group to play Wembley Stadium. Additional dates were added at Wembley, Stade de France, Citi Field, and SoFi Stadium after initial shows sold out.
Touring without a new album says something about BLACKPINK's live-performance brand power — it operates independently of their release schedule. But it also feeds the criticism. The tour is done. The album is 15 minutes long. For fans, the math doesn't feel right.
The 3.5-year gap created impossible expectations
This situation reflects a recurring problem in K-pop. When groups go on extended hiatus — military service, contract disputes, solo projects — fan expectations inflate with every passing month. But the standard K-pop mini album format is still five to seven tracks. Any group returning after 3.5 years with a five-song EP would face the same reaction. The gap set expectations that the format couldn't meet.
Born Pink moved 2.2 million copies in its first two days on the Circle Chart and eventually sold over 3.4 million. Billboard 200 No. 1. Following that with anything feels insufficient. It's expectation inflation.
That said, the fan frustration isn't irrational. Four members each released full solo projects during the hiatus. The optics are clear: solo work got the full effort, the group album got 15 minutes. "Just disband" is an extreme reaction, but beneath it sits a more reasonable disappointment — the group doesn't seem like the priority.
K-pop's domestic market has also been shifting in interesting ways, with indie acts and virtual idol groups carving out space that legacy groups once dominated. Whether BLACKPINK's extended absences contribute to that shift or simply coexist with it is an open question. And as K-pop continues eyeing the Grammys, the pressure on top-tier groups to deliver substantial bodies of work only grows.
February 27 will answer the real question
The music is what matters. If the remaining four tracks maintain the sonic ambition "Jump" showed — the hardstyle beats, the genre-blending — then the track count complaint will fade. Fifteen minutes of dense, surprising music is better than 45 minutes of filler. But if the songs play it safe and stick to the standard K-pop template, the "lazy" label will stick.
BLACKPINK has always operated on a scarcity model. They went from 2016 to 2020 without a full-length album, building a global fanbase on singles and mini albums alone. The strategy has always been quality over quantity, rarity over regularity. The only question that matters is whether the quality justifies the wait.
Deadline drops February 27. We'll know then.