Lisa’s evolution as an artist: From trainee insecurities to creative independence

The effect of shining light on success tends to cast the efforts behind those successes into darkness. In the case of Lisa, who was born Pranpriya Manoban, her ascent to international fame in pop music has been a story not only of exceptional achievement but of perseverance through struggle. Before Lisa was entertaining crowds around the world in her position as a lead performer in BLACKPINK, her development as an artist occurred in the rigorous environment of the Korean pop training program. Underneath all of her spectacular dance moves and aggressive rapping, however, lay a personal struggle with her vocal identity.

The majority of recent conversations about her upbringing have been brought about by the documentary film Always Lalisa, which was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before its October release date. People who got an opportunity to view the film posted reviews online about the candid parts where the star revealed her past experience as a trainee in the YG Entertainment group. Initially, it was believed that certain situations that took place during her time as a trainee left a feeling of uncertainty about her singing ability. One of such instances involved the director of the video telling her to redo her dance video recording since she had decided to sing rather than rap. In another incident, people at the premiere mentioned that her vocal coach praised her Bruno Mars song during a monthly review, but her company mentor told her to stick to rapping.

However, despite such passionate responses from the online community regarding the limitation of her vocal range, a detailed analysis of the original source reveals quite a different picture. The artist herself had addressed such issues in a very lengthy interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, conducted on May 24, 2022. When referring to the period between the albums As If It's Your Last (2017) and DDU-DU DDU-DU (2018), the artist explained her experience of feeling insecure in the recording studio. In particular, she admitted having a difficult time singing some songs as she could not reach some notes, which caused her to cry due to fear of slowing down her band.

Importantly, her description did not position her emotional barrier as a reflection of a lack of control on her part, but instead as a vulnerability on the part of a human being who is working under intense conditions during a process of creativity. During the same 2022 interview, she directly credited BLACKPINK's producer of many years, Teddy Park, as a critical component to how she got through that obstacle. Rather than letting her walk away because of frustration, he constantly pushed her back into the booth and made her try again. She specifically credited his strictness with helping her through that difficult period.

The strength of this perseverance was supported by the foundation of solidarity between the members themselves. In an interview given to The Wall Street Journal in 2025, published by ELLE, she shared her memories of the exhausting trainee years when sometimes she experienced great doubts about whether she would ever make her debut. In those times of uncertainty, she found comfort in having been able to talk about these worries with Jennie, Jisoo, and Rosé, as well as being lucky to have had them next to her in such a tough atmosphere.

Her career development brought about her artistic evolution towards a broader sense of self-confidence. Thus, as early as September 2021, just before she started to work on her debut solo album LALISA, she said in an interview with Vogue that she wanted to convey the feeling of total self-assurance to her fans in her music, so she decided to include such tracks as the title song and MONEY, which connected to her essence from the very first moment of listening to them. Although this album was focused on showcasing her already established qualities as an artist, her further career trajectory showed the opposite.

With the start of 2024, her shift into total creative freedom became a definite point of change. Creating her management company LLOUD Co. in collaboration with RCA Records, she gained full ownership over all her master recordings and had control over her artistic direction herself. In an interview with ELLE that same year, she described how gaining control over her decisions had changed her as a person, explaining how she was growing braver and learning the power of "yes" and "no", becoming able to speak up easily.

Such artistic freedom produced beautiful fruit for her career in 2025 when her solo album, Alter Ego, was released. In an interview with AnOther magazine in September 2025, she expressed a great deal of pride about her completed work since, in this one, the balance between her rap skills and exposed vocals became much more complex than ever before. Songs like Dream were reviewed by Billboard, The New York Times, and The Irish Times for their skillful use of her naked, expressive vocals as the song's structure. Another example of her vocal abilities in songs can be found in her collaboration with Tyla called When I'm With You.

Rather than retreating from her origins, her continued development as an artist showcases her command of all of her artistic talents in her own way. In September 2026, she released the fast-paced song SaWaDiKa, produced by Thom Bridges and Ojivolta, as the headline single for her six-track EP Press Play, due out October 23 through LLOUD Co. and RCA Records. Named after a Thai greeting and featuring a dynamic music video filmed by Bang Jae Yeob in her native city of Bangkok, the song signals a triumphant return to her rapping skills and is just the beginning of a stellar fall for her, with her residency show at the Viva La Lisa at Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas in November 2026 on the horizon.

Moving forward, according to the profile she did in June 2026 for Vanity Fair, she was even experimenting musically in recording sessions in the United States, making sure that she had music that would help her upcoming performances on stage. It would be wrong to characterize Lalisa Manobal’s journey thus far as one in which she only needed to deal with one issue.