BLACKPINK’s LISA teases cinematic single ‘Tarantino,’ arriving Oct. 23 with her ‘Press Play’ EP. See the lyrics, artwork and release details
LISA is turning her solo rollout into a movie, and she just dropped the trailer. On Wednesday (Oct. 14), the BLACKPINK member announced “Tarantino,” the second single from her forthcoming EP “Press Play,” confirming that the track and the full project will arrive together on Oct. 23 via LLOUD Co. and RCA Records. The reveal came with a snippet on TikTok and circular cover art showing LISA hiding her face behind a red envelope, a tease engineered to keep her fanbase refreshing their feeds right up to release day.
The title is exactly the flex it sounds like. Named for Quentin Tarantino, one of modern cinema’s most stylized auteurs, the song leans into the swagger that has become LISA’s solo signature.
Got my nails really long like the barrel of my gun and my lipstick all over your face,” she raps over pounding percussion in the preview, before the snippet closes on the project’s tagline: “It’s a movie, baby, come and press play”
A Cinematic Concept, Built on Purpose
That cinematic framing is not an accident. LISA first hinted at the song during a September appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” where she laid out the thinking behind the EP. She told Fallon the project traces her journey from her roots to the present, explaining that every song carries its own character and vibe, and that stitched together, the result plays like a film you simply press play on. It is a tidy concept, and one that extends the alter-ego logic of her debut, where LISA split herself into five distinct personas.
The movie metaphor also tracks with where LISA’s career has drifted. In the past year she has moved from pure pop star into genuine multi-hyphenate territory, with an acting turn in HBO’s “The White Lotus,” an Oscars performance, and a documentary, “Always Lalisa,” that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September before a worldwide cinema release on Oct. 12. “Tarantino” lets her score that big-screen persona without leaving the recording booth.
The Chart Stakes Behind the Rollout
Commercially, the “Press Play” campaign is building on a solid foundation. Lead single “SaWaDiKa,” whose title nods to the Thai greeting, debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 23 on the Billboard Global 200 in September, giving LISA another entry on both charts and a running start into the EP cycle. The six-track set rounds out with “V12,” “Cobra,” “Cut U Off” and “Sweat,” a compact, character-driven tracklist by design.
The context raises the ceiling. LISA’s 2025 debut album “Alter Ego” bowed at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top Album Sales chart, her first-ever solo appearance on the flagship albums ranking and a sign that her individual pull now rivals BLACKPINK’s collective footprint. That album moved roughly 45,500 equivalent units in its opening week, hard numbers that make “Press Play” less a curiosity than a genuine commercial event.
The timing is aggressive by design. By naming the single a week out and dropping the full tracklist simultaneously, LISA is compressing the usual tease-and-wait cycle into a single sprint, a strategy that keeps anticipation at a boil and funnels streaming intent toward one release date. With a Las Vegas residency also in motion and demand strong enough to warrant added dates, she is operating at a pace few of her peers can match.
For now, the clues keep coming, and the countdown is on. When “Tarantino” and “Press Play” land on Oct. 23, LISA will find out whether the cinematic gamble converts into the chart numbers her rollout is clearly chasing. The early signs suggest the audience is already seated.
