Rockstar by K-pop artist Lisa is an anthem that defies international stereotypes of ‘Thainess’

Thai singer, dancer and rapper Lisa, a member of South Korean girl group Blackpink, released her latest solo single, Rockstar on June 28. Within 30 minutes, the video had over a million views on YouTube.

A Thai native who is one of very few non-ethnically Korean performers to succeed in the K-pop industry, Lisa’s success has been followed closely in Thailand. Rockstar caused a sensation in Bangkok. Mobile data usage increased sharply across the city after the single’s release, and Lisa-themed merchandise flooded both street markets and luxury shopping malls.

Yet there is a sense that eager Thai consumers and (even more) eager Thai authorities were unprepared for, and unsure how to react to, the success of this track. Filmed in Yaowarat (Bangkok’s Chinatown), the music video’s Bladerunner-esque aesthetic has caused tourists and locals alike to flock to the filming location. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration had to install barriers and redirect traffic to ensure crowd safety.

Anyone and anything connected to Lisa – be it her favourite meatballs or her used toilet seats – has become fair game for commercialisation through association. The mish-mash of responses from Thais of various social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, evident in the many reaction videos posted online, adds to the confusion – as does the Korean struggle to define the song as K-pop or T-pop (Thai pop music).

Over the past decade, Lisa’s rise has been praised by Thai officials and co-opted as part of official Thai soft power by the Thai ministry of culture. Both the previous regime and current coalition government dubbed her a “cultural ambassador”. She was praised her for spreading Thai soft power by using emblems of culture such as headdresses from traditional Thai dancers in her previous video, Lalisa (2022).

Lisa’s “Thainess” has became a large part of her distinctive star image and appeal within the K-pop industry. Yet Rockstar is significant as her first video based solely in Thailand. It’s also the first from her newly created company and personal platform, LLOUD.

The song’s huge success comes at a moment when the official domestic definitions of “Thailand” and “Thainess” are in flux. After two decades of rapid export-orientated economic growth, Thailand has transitioned to an upper-middle-income economy with a significant reduction in poverty since 2011. Yet when this “turbo-capitalism” fully accelerated, domestic national discourse became unclear – an unusual situation in a country long used to authoritarian control.

Definitions of Thailand and Thainess have been tightly controlled since the colonial era of the late-19th and early-20th century, when Thai elites sought to retain control over the region in the face of western powers. Clearly defining and outlining these official notions of Thai culture led to the national identity becoming a conformist exercise.

While the Thai political system remains highly problematic, the 2023 coalition government has offered a sense of stability and social progression. This is in contrast to ten years ago, when several high-profile international performers (including Frankie Valli, Taylor Swift and Eric Clapton) cancelled Bangkok concerts due to political unrest. Just two years ago, researchers still saw the country’s political values as an “impediment” to the development of soft power. After Rockstar’s impact, however, this seems a significant overstatement.

A new vision of ‘Thainess’

Lisa’s single presents a very different image of Thailand to that previously recognised internationally. Moving away from global orientalist stereotypes of “sun, sea and sex”, Thailand’s new international image aims to showcase the rapid development and global prominence of the Thai creative industries.

The branding and launch of Bangkok as a media capital and centre of entrepreneurship is evident in the many financial incentives being offered by the state to international media companies including Netflix. Wider social changes, such as the decriminalisation of cannabis and legalisation of same-sex marriage, are also indicative of a nation undergoing rapid social change.

However, there remains a lack of a clear narrative and national discourse, in comparison with those projected by nearby nation states such as Singapore. The perception of Thailand as a “work in progress” remains, despite its significant wealth and rapid development.

Similarly, while Thai soft power continues to be pushed heavily by the new coalition government, appearing in official documents and promotional websites, there is little definition as to what “power” this refers to.

Rockstar has garnered international attention

Rockstar’s lyrics and Bangkok-based video seem to articulate the changes and confusion inherent in defining Thainess after such rapid economic growth and social change. Whereas Lisa’s previous videos foregrounded traditional symbols of Thailand, on her home turf in Rockstar she chose a neon-grunge aesthetic of nighttime cyberpunk, complete with tattooed bikers. It’s a far cry from the internationally-recognised Thai iconography of silks and lotus flowers.

In Rockstar, Lisa references both Bangkok and her international fame: “Been MIA, BKK so pretty / Every city that I go is my city”.

This local representation, embedded in a pan-Asian noir aesthetic, is far removed from the “amazing Thailand” touted by the nation’s tourist board. It is more in keeping with the country’s disaffected (and underground) urban youth culture, a movement vilified and jailed for anti-government protests throughout the past decade.

Eight years ago, I published arguably the first paper to address the reaction to and impact of Korean pop culture in Thailand. One key finding was how consumers in areas of Thailand that were (at the time) undergoing rapid development were keen to invest themselves in the Asian-centric modernity represented in Korean pop culture.

The reaction to Lisa’s video from both the Thai state and public suggests consumers are now keen to seek such “modernity” closer to home. Yet the definition of what constitutes this Thai-style modernity is still very unclear.

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Mary Jane Ainslie is a visiting professor at Kasetsart University Faculty of Humanities. She received support from the institution in the writing of this article.