{"id":873561,"date":"2026-10-07T04:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873561\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T04:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:54:11","slug":"from-guardian-angels-to-opening-her-heart-lisa-on-life-beyond-blackpink-in-always-lalisa-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873561\/","title":{"rendered":"From guardian angels to opening her heart: Lisa on life beyond Blackpink in Always Lalisa movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 Years before K-pop girl group Blackpink was shattering streaming records and headlining Coachella, 14-year-old Lalisa Manobal (known mononymously as Lisa) was flying from Thailand to South Korea, alone, to chase her dream of performing onstage.<\/p>\n

The Thai singer rose to fame as a member of the quartet, which also comprise Jennie, Jisoo and Rose, but the new documentary Always Lalisa captures the year she stepped away from Blackpink to try new projects \u2013 including making her acting debut in the third season of Hollywood drama series The White Lotus that aired in 2025 \u2013 for the first time since that flight to South Korea 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Reuters after the film\u2019s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, Lisa, 29, discusses how she forged her own path in the industry, what has changed since her year-long break and whom she always invites to watch her perform.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This documentary focuses on one year of your life, in 2024, in which you took a step back from Blackpink to try new things. Was one year long enough?<\/p>\n

I thought it was long enough. We ended up squeezing everything in one year. It was a lot, but it was fun. I tried my best to take a little break for myself and just be with my family. During The White Lotus, I got to spend six months (in Thailand). Of course, I was back and forth doing music in Los Angeles, but it\u2019s always nice to be close to your family.<\/p>\n

The film touches on how navigating the K-pop world was hard for you, coming from Thailand. Walk me through how your career began and what that extra pressure felt like for you.<\/p>\n

I auditioned for YG (Entertainment, the South Korean talent agency and record label) when I was 13. When I turned 14, I flew to Korea to start my training season. It was fun for me because I got to do the things that I love. I went to practice every day. I learnt Korean every day, two hours a day. I trained for five years, then I debuted with Blackpink.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t easy for me at a young age to just live there alone. Yes, there\u2019s a little pressure there, but I\u2019m just lucky that I have my girls with me. I think that\u2019s why we bonded a lot and that\u2019s why we\u2019re a family.<\/p>\n

When you first started your break from Blackpink, you spoke about how you found it difficult to find your own voice. Do you feel like you\u2019ve reached that point now?<\/p>\n

I feel like it\u2019s not so much finding my voice \u2013 it\u2019s more like trying something new, something to challenge myself. When I was with Blackpink, my position was a rapper. I always wanted to sing and I never really had a chance to do that on my own, so it was a year of trying to figure things out, (to) try something new.<\/p>\n

How were you able to get to a spot where you could be open and comfortable talking about the more sensitive topics in the documentary?<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa and director Sue Kim at the premiere of Always Lalisa at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on Sept 11.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: REUTERS<\/p>\n

I feel like it\u2019s because of Sue (Kim), the director. She has an energy that just makes me feel calm and want to be open about everything, to open my heart. I would talk to her for three, four hours non-stop and then just feel like I wanted to share something about me to her and also to the audience.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re back with Blackpink now. What\u2019s changed since you took your break?<\/p>\n

I feel like we\u2019ve gained a lot more confidence in ourselves. We were able to do our own stuff and find our own voice, so (now that) we\u2019re back together, we bring good energy. We missed each other so much, so when we\u2019re back together we\u2019re like, \u201cOh my God, finally back with my girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it hard to take the break?<\/p>\n

No, (because) I feel like we always have each other\u2019s back. Even when we\u2019re doing our solo projects, we still text each other, we still call, we still FaceTime, we still sometimes meet and eat some good Korean BBQ. Of course, I felt lonely sometimes because I had to do some things alone, and usually I have three more girls to talk and chat with, but it\u2019s always nice to have them as supporters. And we respect our break time \u2013 we needed a little break.<\/p>\n

What surprised you most about yourself making this documentary?<\/p>\n

Being able to open up to my fans and have them see behind-the-scenes stuff. Even though my old archive videos from when I was little are so embarrassing. Like, what is that fashion? Mum, why do you do this to me?<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa performing onstage during the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards on Sept 27 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n

Speaking of your mum \u2013 she and your stepdad were a big part of this documentary. What did that mean for you?<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been my biggest supporters since day one because they trusted me from the start. If it weren\u2019t for them, I wouldn\u2019t be able to do this. I mean, to send your daughter to another country alone when she was only 14. I don\u2019t think it was easy for them to do that. But they trust me so much and they want me to do whatever I want to do. I\u2019m here now, and they\u2019re super proud.<\/p>\n

Before you went onstage for your solo performance at music festival Coachella in 2025, you mentioned something you do before every performance, which is to invite your grandpa and dance teacher, both of whom have since died, to join you. Tell me about why you do that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m super close with my grandpa and during Covid, I couldn\u2019t go back (to see him in Thailand), and that\u2019s when he passed away. He was always my biggest supporter; he always believed in me. And teacher Nok, I think he\u2019s one of the key people that made me, me today. I just want to invite them to come and see me perform because he didn\u2019t have a chance to see me here today, so that\u2019s why I\u2019m always like, \u201cHey, come watch me. I\u2019m gonna do this here, just watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

I feel like they\u2019re my guardian angels. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Always Lalisa opens in Singapore cinemas on Oct 12.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 Years before K-pop girl group Blackpink was shattering streaming records and headlining Coachella, 14-year-old Lalisa Manobal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-873561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}