Skip to content

Lisa (rapper)

Ch. 1 of 8
— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

Contents

Lisa (rapper)

8 sections
  • Lisa, the Thai rapper, singer, dancer and actress, was the only person to qualify out of 4,000 applicants at a single audition held in Thailand. The audition was for YG Entertainment, a record label based in South Korea.

    She was still a child when she walked in, and the label had never signed anyone like her. Everything that followed depended on that one result.

    How does a girl from a Thai province become a name on charts, runways and stages around the world? What did she have to learn along the way, and what did she choose to leave behind? And why do record companies, luxury houses and even governments keep watching what she does next?

  • Buriram province in Thailand is where Pranpriya Manobal was born on the 27th of March 1997. She was an only child. Her mother, Chitthip Brüschweiler, is a Thai Buddhist, and her stepfather, Marco Brüschweiler, is a Swiss chef. She finished secondary school at Praphamontree School I and II.

    Later she changed her name legally to Lalisa, which means "the one being praised". A fortune teller had advised the change as a way to bring prosperity. Alongside Thai, she speaks fluent Korean and English, plus basic Japanese and Chinese.

    Dance classes began when she was four years old. She started entering contests regularly, including To Be Number One, and joined We Zaa Cool, a dance crew with eleven members. Among her crewmates was BamBam of the group Got7.

    In September 2009 the crew entered the LG Entertainment Million Dream Sanan World competition, broadcast on Channel 9. They won the Special Team Award.

    Singing was part of her early record too. In early 2009 she represented her school in Top 3 Good Morals of Thailand, a contest hosted by the Moral Promotion Center, and finished as runner-up.

    Her next competition, in 2010, would be run by a Korean record label.

  • At the age of 13, in 2010, Lisa auditioned in Thailand for YG Entertainment. She had grown fond of K-pop as a child through BigBang and 2NE1, and she wanted to follow a similar path. Her success prompted the label's then CEO, Yang Hyun-suk, to offer her a place as a trainee. One of the judges, Danny Im of 1TYM, later praised her confidence on stage and her attitude away from it.

    In 2011 she moved to South Korea to begin formal training. On the 11th of April she officially joined the label, as its first trainee who was not ethnically Korean.

    In November 2013 she danced in the music video for "Ringa Linga", a single by labelmate Taeyang. The backup dancers also included members of the label's boy bands iKon and Winner.

    Modelling came next. In March 2015 she took her first job, for the streetwear brand Nona9on. In 2016 she worked for the South Korean cosmetics brand Moonshot.

    August 2016 brought her debut as one of four members of the girl group Blackpink. Their first release was the single album Square One. Its lead single "Whistle" topped all South Korean charts on debut, and "Boombayah" was the other lead. In 2018 the group signed with Interscope Records in a global partnership with YG Entertainment.

    From the 21st of September 2018, Lisa joined the permanent cast of Real Man 300, the Korea Army Academy edition of a military variety program on Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. It was her first television role since debuting. It earned her an unofficial Character of the Year award at the 2018 MBC Entertainment Awards.

    On the 5th of November 2018 she opened a YouTube channel called Lilifilm Official, focused on travel, lifestyle and dance. By July 2019 it had over 1.3 million subscribers and a YouTube Gold Play Button.

    One of her dance performance videos went viral in 2020, after a meme grew out of it. Dolly Parton, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, Luke Evans and Lil Nas X all joined the trend.

    In March 2020 she served as dance mentor on Youth With You Season 2, a Chinese girl group survival program on iQIYI. In February 2021 she returned as mentor for the third season, which featured boy groups.

    On the 19th of April 2021, YG Entertainment told The Korea Herald that Lisa would be the third Blackpink member to debut as a soloist.

  • By the 12th of July 2021, the label had told Star News that filming for her solo music video was underway. The single album Lalisa, with a title track of the same name, followed on the 10th of September.

    The video drew 73.6 million views in its first 24 hours. That beat the record for a soloist, which Taylor Swift's "Me!" featuring Brendon Urie had held, and it earned Lisa two Guinness World Records. The song debuted at number 84 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number two on the Billboard Global 200, her first top-ten entry on that chart.

    The album sold 736,221 copies in South Korea in its first week. That was the highest first-week figure for a female artist there. It also made her the first female soloist to pass 500,000 copies in a single week.

    A B-side called "Money" had its own dance performance video, released on YouTube on the 24th of September. Social media picked it up, and its popularity began to climb on international charts. On the 9th of November 2021, Interscope Records sent it to US contemporary hit radio as the album's second single.

    "Money" peaked at number ten on the Billboard Global 200, her second top-ten hit there. In the US it gave her a second solo entry on the Hot 100, and at the time it was the first song by a female K-pop soloist to chart for multiple weeks. In the UK it reached number 46 and charted for eight weeks, the longest run for a female K-pop soloist there at the time.

    On the 22nd of October 2021 she released "SG" with the French producer DJ Snake, the Puerto Rican singer Ozuna and the American rapper Megan Thee Stallion. It became her first number one on the Latin Airplay chart.

    Awards followed. On the 28th of August 2022 she won the MTV Video Music Award for Best K-Pop with "Lalisa", the first K-pop solo artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. On the 13th of November she added the MTV Europe Music Award for Best K-Pop, again a first for a K-pop soloist.

    In 2023 Guinness recognized two records for those wins, plus a third for being the most followed K-pop artist on Instagram. On the 25th of April 2023 she appeared on "Shoong!", an album track by BigBang member Taeyang.

    In May 2023 she added two more records. One was for the fastest solo female K-pop artist to reach 1 billion streams, and the other for the first album by a solo K-pop artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, with Lalisa. Her total of seven passed the five held by Psy.

    In September 2023 she headlined five performances at the Parisian cabaret Crazy Horse. She performed several solo scenes and joined the troupe for numbers from the cabaret's own repertoire, including "But I Am a Good Girl" and "Crisis? What Crisis?". That month came her eighth record, for the first K-pop solo track to reach 1 billion Spotify streams, with "Money". Her total later reached nine.

    To mark that milestone, she appeared in November on the fourth episode of Spotify's Billions Club series. In Paris she received a plate-shaped plaque, and she cooked a Thai dish to serve on the plate.

  • King Charles III invested Lisa as an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire on the 22nd of November 2023. The special ceremony at Buckingham Palace also honored her bandmates, and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol attended.

    On the 5th of December, YG Entertainment announced that Lisa and the other Blackpink members had renewed their contracts for group activities. Their individual contracts were still under discussion. On the 29th of December, the label confirmed that all four had agreed not to proceed with a contract for individual activities.

    On the 26th of January 2024 she headlined Le Gala des Pièces Jaunes, a charity event in Paris organized by Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France. She performed a medley of "Lalisa" and "Money". She also made a surprise appearance in DJ Snake's set, where they performed "SG" live together for the first time.

    On the 8th of February she announced her own artist management company, Lloud. On the 10th of April came news of a partnership between Lloud and RCA Records to release her solo music. Under the deal, she has full ownership of all her recordings.

    The teasing of new music began on the 6th of June 2024, when she created a new TikTok account. A video with a short snippet earned her a million followers in two hours and 18 minutes, which set another Guinness World Record.

    On the 27th of June she released "Rockstar" through Lloud and RCA, the lead single from her debut studio album Alter Ego. Its music video was filmed in Bangkok and paid homage to Thai culture. The song debuted at number four on the Billboard Global 200 and at number one on the Billboard Global Excl. US, her first number one on the latter chart. On the US Hot 100 it debuted at number 70, her third entry there.

    On the 15th of August she released "New Woman" with the Spanish singer Rosalía. It debuted at number six on the Billboard Global Excl. US and became her fourth Hot 100 entry.

    On the 11th of September she performed at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. It was her first major performance as a solo artist, and no K-pop soloist had ever performed on the show before. "Rockstar" earned four nominations and won Best K-Pop, making her the first solo artist to win that award twice.

  • On the 28th of September 2024, Lisa headlined the Global Citizen Festival, her first solo festival performance. The festival is part of a mission to end extreme poverty. During the set she debuted a new song by surprise, "Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me)", which came out on the 3rd of October as the third single from Alter Ego.

    On the 15th of October she performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2024. Her 2024 Fan Meetup tour of Asia followed, five shows starting on the 11th of November. On New Year's Eve she headlined the Amazing Thailand Countdown 2025 event in Bangkok.

    The 6th of February 2025 brought "Born Again", the fourth single, with the American rapper Doja Cat and the British singer Raye. It became her first number one on the newly launched Official Thailand Chart. It also became her fifth entry on the Hot 100, and the highest, at number 68. At the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards it won Best K-Pop, her third win in that category, which tied her with BTS for the most in it.

    On the 18th of February she announced Lalisa Comics, a company launched with Zero Zero Entertainment. Its first release, on the 24th of March, was a graphic novel called Alter-Ego: The Official Comic. Lisa wrote it as a companion to the album, and Minomiyabi illustrated it.

    Alter Ego arrived on the 28th of February 2025. Critics gave it mixed reviews. It debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 and at number one on the Top Album Sales chart. The fifth single, "Fxck Up the World" with the American rapper Future, was released alongside it.

    On the 2nd of March she performed at the 97th Academy Awards, the first K-pop singer to do so. On the 11th and the 18th of April she played songs from the album at Coachella 2025.

    On the 2nd of May she appeared on "Priceless", the lead single from the eighth studio album of the American band Maroon 5, Love Is Like. It became her sixth Hot 100 entry. On the 16th of May she released a music video for the album track "When I'm with You", featuring the South African singer Tyla.

    Sony Music Vision announced on the 29th of May that it was producing a documentary about her. Sue Kim directs the film, which follows her first year as a solo artist.

    On the 13th of August Lisa premiered a short film for the album track "Dream", in which she stars with the Japanese actor Kentaro Sakaguchi. The song then reached number one on the Official Thailand Chart, her second chart-topper there after "Born Again".

  • The 16th of February 2025 was the premiere of the third season of the HBO series The White Lotus, where Lisa made her acting debut. She played Mook, credited under her given name, Lalisa Manobal.

    On the 29th of September she signed with the talent agency WME to represent her acting work. On the 22nd of October she signed with the booking agency Wasserman Music for touring worldwide.

    On the 4th of December, Netflix announced her film debut in Tygo, a spin-off from the Extraction franchise. She stars alongside Don Lee and Lee Jin-wook.

    On the 11th of January 2026, she appeared in person at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, presenting the Best Actor award for a television drama series. Priyanka Chopra presented with her. On the 5th of February came the announcement of a second Netflix film, a romantic comedy described as Notting Hill-inspired. David Bernad produces it, and he was an executive producer on The White Lotus.

    On the 30th of March, she announced a concert residency called Viva La Lisa at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. It runs from the 13th to the 28th of November and makes her the first K-pop artist to stage a Las Vegas residency.

    On the 8th of April she released "Bad Angel" with the Italian-American producer Anyma. On the 18th of April she surprised the crowd at his Coachella 2026 set by performing it live.

    The 21st of May saw the release of "Goals", with the Brazilian singer Anitta and the Nigerian singer Rema, for the official soundtrack of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The three are set to headline the opening ceremony in Los Angeles on the 12th of June. That would make Lisa the first female K-pop act and the first Thai artist to headline a FIFA opening ceremony.

  • January 2019 saw Lisa become the muse of Hedi Slimane, the creative and image director of the French luxury house Celine. After appearing in its Essentials campaign, which Slimane photographed in June 2020, she was named global ambassador in September 2020. In February 2021 she joined the guest jury for the French fashion award ANDAM. In May 2026 she was named a Host Committee Member of that year's Met Gala.

    In July 2020 the Italian house Bulgari appointed her brand ambassador, and she appeared in digital campaigns for its Serpenti and Bzero One collections. In June 2022 she attended Bulgari's Eden The Garden of Wonders event with Anne Hathaway. She also attended its Mediterranean high jewelry event in Venice in May 2023. She collaborated with Bulgari on limited-edition watches in 2023 and again in 2025.

    Louis Vuitton named her a house ambassador in July 2024, after she attended its Autumn/Winter 2024 show in March. She appeared in its Spring/Summer 2025 campaign alongside Saoirse Ronan, and she made her Met Gala debut in Louis Vuitton. In January 2026 she became a house ambassador for Nike and the NikeSKIMS spokesperson.

    On the 21st of March 2018 she became the China brand ambassador for the cosmetics brand Moonshot. On the 28th of March 2019 she signed her first solo endorsement, with Thailand's largest GSM mobile operator, Advanced Info Service. She became its highest-paid brand presenter, and her campaign was the highest-rated commercial in Thailand.

    In May 2019 she began endorsing the Samsung Galaxy S10 in Thailand. In July 2019 she appeared as a character in the mobile game Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. In January 2020 she joined labelmate Mino of Winner for an Adidas clothing range. Over 2020 she also became a spokesperson in China for the fabric softener Downy, the yoghurt brand Zhengouli and the mobile game Brawl Stars.

    In October 2020 MAC Cosmetics named her a global brand ambassador. Its global creative director, Drew Elliott, said of her: "Always confident and never one to shy away from risks, she embodies our commitment to celebrating individuality and self-expression above all else." On the 13th of November 2021 she announced her own makeup line with MAC, titled MAC X L. Later endorsements included Chivas Regal whiskey in March 2022 and Bose earbuds in September 2024.

    Outside advertising, her limited-edition book 0327 is made entirely of photographs she took herself on a film camera. The first volume came out on her birthday in 2020. Four volumes had appeared by 2023. In September 2021 she also lent her name to a program for her home province of Buriram. It aims to build a 160-square-meter cultural compound at Non Suwan Phitthayakhom School, with computers, projectors and a K-pop dance academy staffed by local instructors.

    Her sway shows in numbers. After she uploaded a dance video to "Tomboy" by Destiny Rogers, the song's daily streams on Spotify rose by 1939%. Rogers thanked her on Twitter. The girl group Nature's Gaga and Hot Issue's Mayna have both named her their role model.

    When Harper's Bazaar Thailand put her on its cover in May 2019, all 120,000 printed copies sold out. A typical issue prints about 30,000 copies, and well-known celebrities may reach an average of 60,000. After she attended the Celine Men's Spring Summer 2020 show in Paris, global searches for the Celine Triomphe bag rose 66% on the 28th of June 2019. Launchmetrics partly credited the success of her endorsements to her habit of featuring the same brands on her social media.

    Her Instagram following grew just as fast. She became the most-followed K-pop idol there in April 2019, with 17.4 million followers, and in April 2021 she was the first to pass 50 million. By January 2023 she had 87 million followers. In September 2021 her YouTube channel Lilifilm Official had 8.24 million subscribers, the most for a female K-pop soloist.

    Thai officials took notice. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha praised her for promoting Thai culture in the "Lalisa" music video. Local markets in Bangkok reportedly sold more traditional Thai costumes and accessories after it came out. In March 2021 she received the Inspirational Role Model Award. In 2023 Thailand's Ministry of Culture gave her an honorary Wattanakunathorn Award as a Cultural Ambassador Leader.

    On the 10th of April 2023, researchers at Chiang Mai University named a Thai flower species Friesodielsia lalisae after her. That October she was inducted into the Asian Hall of Fame, alongside Freddie Mercury and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Updated

Common questions

Who is Lisa, the Thai rapper from Blackpink?

Lisa is a Thai rapper, singer, dancer and actress, born Pranpriya Manobal on the 27th of March 1997 in Buriram province, Thailand. She debuted in August 2016 as one of four members of the South Korean girl group Blackpink.

Why did Lisa change her name to Lalisa?

Lisa legally changed her name to Lalisa, meaning "the one being praised", on the advice of a fortune teller who said it would bring prosperity.

What records did Lisa set with her solo debut Lalisa?

The music video for "Lalisa" drew 73.6 million views in 24 hours, a record for a soloist. The album sold 736,221 copies in South Korea in its first week, the highest first-week figure for a female artist there.

When did Lisa leave YG Entertainment and start Lloud?

On the 29th of December 2023, YG Entertainment confirmed that Lisa and the other Blackpink members would not proceed with individual contracts. On the 8th of February 2024 she announced her own management company, Lloud. She then joined RCA Records on the 10th of April 2024, with full ownership of her recordings.

What is Lisa's debut studio album Alter Ego?

Alter Ego is Lisa's debut studio album, released on the 28th of February 2025. It debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 and at number one on the Top Album Sales chart. Its singles include "Rockstar", "New Woman", "Born Again" and "Fxck Up the World".

Which acting roles has Lisa taken?

Lisa made her acting debut as Mook in the third season of the HBO series The White Lotus, which premiered on the 16th of February 2025. Netflix also announced her film debut in Tygo, a spin-off of the Extraction franchise.

Which luxury fashion brands has Lisa represented?

Lisa has been a global ambassador for Celine since September 2020 and for Bulgari since July 2020. She became a Louis Vuitton house ambassador in July 2024 and a Nike house ambassador in January 2026.

How many Guinness World Records does Lisa hold?

Lisa holds nine Guinness World Records. By September 2023 she had eight, the most of any K-pop soloist, ahead of Psy's five.

All sources

178 references cited across the entry

  1. 4NewsBlack Pink to Light Bangkok on Fire This SummerAsaree Thaitrakulpanich — May 2, 2019
  2. 13MagazineEverything to Know About K-Pop Group BlackpinkKat Moon — April 4, 2019
  3. 16NewsMoneySKim — April 17, 2020
  4. 21The Dong-A IlboAugust 12, 2016
  5. 22YG Entertainment unveils K-pop group BlackpinkKim Yu-young — August 9, 2016
  6. 23OSENAugust 14, 2016
  7. 25Yonhap News AgencySeptember 28, 2018
  8. 27InsightNovember 6, 2018
  9. 31OSENOctober 15, 2019
  10. 32The Dong-A IlboJanuary 8, 2021
  11. 34Star NewsJuly 12, 2021
  12. 35Top Star NewsKim Hyun-seo — August 25, 2021
  13. 42Top Star NewsSeptember 23, 2021
  14. 436 K-pop B-Sides that Broke the Internet (2021)Oysmita Majumder — December 15, 2021
  15. 46NewsXports NewsJi-hye Kim — October 18, 2021
  16. 50MagazineHow Anitta and Lisa's Wins at The 2022 MTV VMAs Made HistoryAshley Joy Parker — August 28, 2022
  17. 51MagazineTaylor Swift Is Top Winner at 2022 MTV EMAs: Full Winners ListPaul Grein — November 13, 2022
  18. 52MagazineBLACKPINK's Lisa Sets Three New Guinness World RecordsGlenn Rowley — March 30, 2022
  19. 56MagazineBLACKPINK's Lisa Just Broke a Guinness World Record With 'Money'Starr Bowenbank — September 27, 2023
  20. 61NewsBlackpink Lisa ignites the French gala alongside Brigitte MacronJa-ah Kim et al. — January 28, 2024
  21. 65MagazineLisa Reminds You She's a 'Rockstar' on Clubby New SingleBrittany Spanos — June 27, 2024
  22. 66LISA Shares New Song "Rockstar": ListenDanielle Chelosky — June 27, 2024
  23. 68LISA's "Rockstar" debuts at No. 70 on this week's #Hot100. It's becomes the highest-charting solo song of her career. She previously charted with "Lalisa" (No. 84 peak) and "Money" (No. 90), both in 2021.Billboard Charts — July 8, 2024
  24. 69MagazineLisa and Rosalía Rev Up Their Aura on New Single 'New Woman'Brittany Spanos — August 15, 2024
  25. 75MagazineLISA Drops 'Moonlit Floor': Stream It NowRania Aniftos — October 4, 2024
  26. 76MagazineLISA to Perform at Victoria's Secret Fashion ShowRania Aniftos — September 19, 2024
  27. 80The Official Southeast Asia ChartsInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry
  28. 85BLACKPINK's Lisa releases 1st LP, 'Alter Ego'Sun-ah Shim — February 28, 2025
  29. 86MagazineLisa Launches Comic Company to Accompany Debut Album 'Alter Ego'Jeff Benjamin — February 18, 2025
  30. 87MagazineLISA of BLACKPINK Launches Lalisa Comics Ahead of 'Alter Ego' AlbumHannah Dailey — February 18, 2025
  31. 90MagazineLisa Joins Maroon 5 for Buoyant Pop Single 'Priceless'Zemler Emily — May 2, 2025
  32. 93MagazineWatch Lisa's cinematic new short film for 'Dream'Surej Singh — August 14, 2025
  33. 94BTS sweeps MTV awards with Lisa taking best popJung-joo Lee — September 28, 2026
  34. 95Magazine'The White Lotus' & Blackpink's Lisa Inks With WMEMatt Grobar — September 29, 2025
  35. 101MagazineLISA & Anyma Release 'Bad Angel': Stream It NowKatie Bain — 8 April 2026
  36. 110Star MKJuly 24, 2020
  37. 111vogue.com.twJune 7, 2022
  38. 117VogueAsaree Thaitrakulpanich — January 28, 2026
  39. 118TopstarnewsMarch 21, 2018
  40. 123Herald PopJanuary 27, 2020
  41. 124Yonhap News AgencyMay 13, 2020
  42. 128For the Love of Lisa!October 19, 2020
  43. 135OSENMarch 27, 2020
  44. 140MyDailyMyeong Hee-suk — August 13, 2018
  45. 141NewsSports KyunghyangKim Won-hee — April 28, 2021
  46. 145NewsK-pop sensation Lisa thrills Thai fans with traditional headgearJuarawee Kittisilpa — September 13, 2021
  47. 158JournalMolecular phylogenetic and morphological support for the recognition of Friesodielsia lalisae (Annonaceae), a new species from S. ThailandAnissara Damthongdee et al. — April 10, 2023
  48. 169MagazineLisa Makes a Surprise Appearance During Anyma's Coachella SetAlyssa Bailey — 19 April 2026
  49. 173MagazineBLACKPINK's Lisa Brings 'Lalisa' to 'The Tonight Show' for Solo TV DebutAshley Iasimone — September 11, 2021
  50. 174Herald PopEun-mi Cho — September 19, 2021
  51. 175X Sport NewsMi-ji Kim — September 25, 2021
  52. 176X Sport NewsYu-jin Kim — September 26, 2021

Queue