BLACKPINK's ROSÉ Says 'Number One Girl' Was Inspired By Reading Self-Hate Comments

It's not easy being number one girl — just ask ROSÉ.

In a candid interview with Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe that arrived on Friday (November 22), the BLACKPINK star opened up about the inspiration behind her new solo single, “Number One Girl,” which was released on the same day: reading hateful comments about herself. “We wrote this song the day after I went to this event,” ROSÉ explained. “I felt so grateful to be at these events, but I didn't feel complete. It felt like I was chasing something that I'm like, 'What am I chasing?'”

“I felt so empty and I remember feeling so miserable,” she continued. “And then that night, I end up on social media and then I end up looking at all these comments that are obviously going to destroy me… I'm so disappointed in myself. Because I think I grew up saying, “Be sure of yourself. When people say things to you, don't let it get to you.”

Noting that “Number One Girl” represents “toxic” relationships overall, the New Zealand native added: “I was so obsessed with these people who weren't nice to me and who really didn't know me.”

The new track is just one of the many things ROSÉ and the radio host mentioned during their conversation, which comes just two weeks before the K-pop star's debut solo album, rosé. Of the 12-track LP, she spoke of feeling “pressure” to complete the project during her absence from her BLACKPINK commitments — especially with the clock ticking down to a 2025 band reunion.

“And we as BLACKPINK, as mature as we are, got together and decided, 'Let's promise ourselves a good year to be inspired,'” ROSÉ told Lowe of bandmates JENNIE, LISA, and JISOO. “The first thing that happened was stress, because I had the privilege of having this one year in my hands to do whatever I wanted with it, but I wanted it to be the right decision and it had to feel right… Whatever do” you don't believe in my thing? And what if I'm in a place where I have to do things that don't feel like me?'

ROSÉ also touched on a past relationship that inspired some of the other songs roséincluding “Game Boy,” which she says was the last track she wrote for her album. “I would never want the person to know, but I would speak up [them] so much,” he told Lowe. “I had to get it off my chest.”