Always Lalisa
Always Lalisa uses many colors to paint a portrait of its titular star, complicating one of the world’s biggest musicians in the process.
The pop music industry is one of single stories. Regardless of the language or nationality of the industry, pop musicians are essentially told to fit into the ideal mold: find a sound that makes money and keep it, stay away from trouble, hold the beauty standards instead of transgressing them, don’t get married, and definitely don’t have children. Lisa, one of the four members of the South Korean girl group BLACKPINK, refuses to reduce herself to a monostory. Always Lalisa uses many colors to paint a portrait of its titular star, complicating one of the world’s biggest musicians in the process.
Director Sue Kim’s documentary is a filmic accompaniment to Lisa’s 2025 solo debut album Alter Ego, an intentional melange of contrasting sounds and aesthetics. Lisa creates five characters — Roxi, Kiki, Vixi, Sunni, and Speedi — to make her point: she is more than a one-dimensional K-pop rapper. The doc runs parallel to this assertion by showing the many faces of Lisa: a daughter, singer, prayer, friend, pottymouth partier, would-be lover, and even a controversial edge. She speaks in three languages and isn’t afraid to say “cunty” on camera. She cries. She even points a middle finger to the industry that made her a superstar, while giving a glimpse to the darker side of K-pop. Rarely do these documentaries work so well in thematic tandem with the music at their center.
Born as Pranpriya Manobal in Thailand, the future global popstar’s mother later changed her daughter’s name to Lalisa on the advice of a fortune teller. Thai is her native tongue, and though she has never shied from speaking the language to the media, Always Lalisa noticeably favors Thai over Korean, English, or any of the other languages she speaks. Here, she is Lalisa — Thai for “the one being praised” — rather than Lisa.
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