Rosé

Let’s start from the beginning. Rosé came into the world in Auckland, New Zealand, but her story as we know it really took shape in Melbourne, Australia, where her family moved when she was just seven years old. Her father works as a lawyer, her mother runs her own business, and her older sister, Alice, followed their dad into law. Growing up in Box Hill, Rosé went to Kew East Primary School and later Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College, where she sang in her local church choir and taught herself to play guitar and piano on the side. None of this looked like a planned path to stardom — it was just a kid who loved to sing.

That changed in 2012. Her father encouraged her to try out for a YG Entertainment audition being held in Sydney, and 15-year-old Rosé walked away ranked first out of roughly 700 hopefuls. Within two months she had signed with YG and relocated to Seoul to begin training. By her own account, those early years were tough. She had to learn Korean from scratch and adjust to a completely different culture, all while putting in the grueling hours that K-pop trainees are known for. Still, her training period of about four years turned out to be the shortest among her future groupmates.

On June 22, 2016, YG revealed Rosé as the fourth and final member of a new girl group, and on August 8, 2016, BLACKPINK officially debuted with the single album Square One, led by the tracks “Whistle” and “Boombayah.” From there, the group’s rise was fast. Square Up (2018), Kill This Love (2019), The Album (2020), and Born Pink (2022) each pushed BLACKPINK further into the global mainstream, blending K-pop with EDM, hip-hop, and trap influences along the way. In 2019, the group made history as the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella, and they later became the first Asian act to headline the festival in 2023. The Born Pink World Tour (2022–2023) sealed their status as a worldwide phenomenon, running 66 shows across 22 countries and becoming the highest-grossing concert tour ever staged by a female group.

Rosé didn’t wait long to step out on her own. On March 12, 2021, she released her debut solo single album, “-R-“, featuring “On the Ground” and “Gone.” “On the Ground” made her the first artist in history — soloist or group member — to reach number one on the Billboard Global 200, and the accompanying music video set a Guinness World Record for the most-viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours by a solo K-pop artist. In late 2023, after BLACKPINK renewed their group contract with YG, Rosé chose to manage her individual career independently, parting ways with YG and Interscope for solo work. In June 2024, she signed with THEBLACKLABEL for management and Atlantic Records for global distribution.

What came next turned Rosé into one of the biggest solo stars to emerge from K-pop. In October 2024, she released “APT.” with Bruno Mars, a song that topped the Billboard Global 200 for 12 consecutive weeks, broke streaming records, and became the fastest K-pop track ever to reach a billion Spotify streams. Two months later, on December 6, 2024, she released her debut full-length album, Rosie, a 13-track project she co-wrote and co-produced herself, exploring themes of fame and heartbreak. The album debuted in the top three of the Billboard 200, making her the highest-charting Korean female soloist in U.S. chart history.

The accolades kept coming through 2025 and into 2026. “APT.” earned Rosé three Grammy nominations at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year — making her the first K-pop artist ever nominated in one of the genre’s “Big Four” categories as a lead artist. She became the first K-pop act to win Song of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2025, and in February 2026 she made history again, becoming the first Korean artist ever to win a Brit Award, taking home International Song of the Year. Alongside her bandmates, she also received an MBE from King Charles III. Throughout this stretch, she continued touring with BLACKPINK on their Deadline World Tour (2025–2026), their first all-stadium run, while also expanding her fashion résumé as a global ambassador for Saint Laurent, Tiffany & Co., Sulwhasoo, Rimowa, Puma, and, most recently, Levi’s. Off stage, she’s been named to Time’s 100 Most Influential People list and recognized with a South Korean Presidential Commendation for her cultural contributions — proof that the girl who once sang for fun in a Melbourne church choir has become one of music’s defining global voices.