One of the biggest things fans have been looking forward to from Lady Gaga’s Chromatica album (besides her Ariana Grande collab and their hilariously NSFW Instagram filter) is ‘Sour Candy’, her highly-anticipated collab with K-pop girl group Blackpink.
Speaking of Lady Gaga, the GOAT team talk about her most underrated album, ‘Artpop’, on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
In the hours after Lady Gaga released ‘Sour Candy’ ahead of Chromatica‘s big launch, stans from around the world have already been doing their thing in getting this Blackpink collab to the top of the charts through social media campaigns via trending hashtags and propping up the view counter on YouTube.
This is pretty standard behaviour from K-pop fans and pop stans so it’s not too surprising. What is surprising though is how some Blackpink and Lady Gaga fans are actively trying to use the ‘Sour Candy’ to raise awareness about racism instead of trying to get the song to number one on the charts.
Due to the horrendous George Floyd killing and rise of racial tensions in America, some Blackpink fanbases are actively encouraging stans to promote the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag instead of plugging ‘Sour Candy’ and anything to do with Lady Gaga or Chromatica.
Blackpink fanbases told Insider why they decided to eschew the usual promotional push for ‘Sour Candy’ in favour of raising awareness for #BlackLivesMatter and what happened to George Floyd: “Considering that Blackpink fanbases have very large reach, we have collectively decided to postpone our event, and instead help in the promotion of a fair and just society.”
“Music, in general, brings us happiness, but how do we celebrate such occasion knowing that people are being harassed and killed for the most unjustifiable reasons. Our favorite artists’ music will forever be out there, but the life of the victims won’t.”
Given the reach of hyped-up K-pop stans and Lady Gaga’s fandom, it’s perhaps no surprise that the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag started trending on Twitter, all while still managing to push ‘Sour Candy’ to the top of the charts.
That’s not to say this shift in focus didn’t draw criticism from certain fandoms, but hey, that’s the nature of this particular beast.
I’ve made it no secret at how much I detest K-pop stans sometimes when it comes to serious issues, but this is one instance where I can take my hat off to the fans for doing something meaningful and isn’t just self-serving promotion of their favourite groups.
Racism is a serious issue and if fighting it means getting Blackpink stans onboard, then here’s to them for contributing to the good fight.
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