On November 23rd (local time), The New York Times published an interview with BLACKPINK's Rosé ahead of the release of her first solo studio album, ‘Rosie,’ set to drop on December 6th.

Rosé shared her excitement, saying, “It feels like I’ve been waiting my entire life to release this album.” She added, “While I dreamed of releasing an album someday, I never thought it would actually happen. When I began this process last year, I doubted myself a lot.”

Born in New Zealand and moving to Australia at age 8, Rosé became a trainee at YG Entertainment in 2012 after passing an audition at the age of 15. Reflecting on her trainee years, she described them as deeply isolating, saying, “The loneliness I had to endure was something I didn’t fully understand. It was traumatic to the point of being shocking, but I survived.”

Despite these challenges, Rosé persevered and made her debut with Blackpink in 2016. “The first few years were personally very difficult,” she admitted, “but over time, I started to adapt and learned how to navigate this new world.”

However, Rosé noted that K-pop fan culture brought additional challenges. She revealed, “We were trained to always present ourselves in a perfect way, especially when interacting with fans online. We were made to appear as the perfect girls to everyone.”

During the interview, Rosé grew emotional when asked about the harassment female artists face online. “I consider myself a strong person, and I don’t want to react emotionally,” she said, “but when it happens, it makes me feel really, really bad.”

Rosé also spoke about the solace she found in songwriting, describing it as a way to process her emotions and protect herself. “Songwriting came as a blessing when I really needed it. I would bring a big problem into the process, put it into a song, and then it would leave my heart,” she shared.

As Rosé prepares to embark on a new chapter in her career with her solo album, her journey continues to inspire fans worldwide.