What happens when the internet turns on you overnight? For Lisa Manobal, one-quarter of global K-pop force Blackpink, the nightmare became real right as she prepared for the biggest performance of her life.
It was 2025. Lisa was gearing up for a career-defining solo set at the Coachella Music Festival when old footage leaked online. The videos, filmed years earlier when the Blackpink members were teenage trainees, showed the band covering American rap songs. Crucially, they left racial slurs, including the n-word, uncensored. Furious fans demanded answers. But instead of letting the stars speak, their record label blocked them from issuing any statement.
In the middle of this high-stakes crisis, documentary filmmaker Sue Kim was right there in the dressing room. Her camera was rolling.
An Unfiltered Look Inside the Crisis
Kim’s new documentary, Always Lalisa, offers a rare, unvarnished look at a K-pop idol in freefall. Speaking ahead of the film’s release, Kim recalled telling the young superstar to just speak her mind, even if she was still processing the shock.
What followed was a moment of raw honesty, far removed from the carefully polished public relations statements typical of the Korean music industry. In the film, a visibly shaken Lisa admits the situation is “bad.” She explains that she was only 15 or 16 when the clips were recorded. Growing up in Thailand, English was not her first language. She had only ever heard the word in rap lyrics and had no idea of its painful, historic weight.
“Now I would never ever do that because, now, I’ve got education,” Lisa says in the documentary. “Now I know better.”
Though Lisa later issued a formal apology during an interview, some critics remained skeptical. Yet Kim believes the raw, unscripted moment in the dressing room shows who the singer truly is. There was no media training or damage control in that room. Kim asked a single question, and Lisa talked for a straight hour in a stream of consciousness. It is, according to the director, impossible not to feel some empathy for her.
Death Threats and Solo Ambitions
The timing of the scandal could not have been worse. Lisa was launching her debut solo album, Alter Ego, and preparing to step out from Blackpink’s shadow. Instead of a celebration, the launch was clouded by online abuse and literal death threats. The film captures the terrifying reality of trying to perform while safety concerns constantly spin in your head.
At one point, an exhausted Lisa admits that while she has to accept criticism, sometimes it simply becomes too much to bear.
While the documentary was funded by the film division of Lisa’s own record label, it resists the urge to be a simple promotional tool. The film includes uncomfortable moments, like a vocal coach scolding Lisa for a lack of effort. Remarkably, when Kim showed the final cut to the star, Lisa did not ask for a single scene to be removed.
Breaking the K-Pop Mold
At its core, the film is about a young woman trying to reclaim her own life. Despite her massive global fame, millions of records sold, and lucrative deals with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Bvlgari, Lisa found herself trapped by the rigid constraints of the K-pop system.
Under her original management, she faced strict rules that governed everything from drinking to dating. For years, she complied. “I don’t want my dating to be the thing to hurt Blackpink’s popularity,” she says in the film. But turning 25 changed her perspective. She realized she could no longer live under such tight restrictions.
In a bold move, Lisa chose not to renew her solo contract with YG Entertainment, the South Korean agency that discovered her as a teenager. Instead, she signed with US-based RCA Records to launch her global solo career. It was a risky, defiant step for an artist trained from childhood to obey.
Always Lalisa is set to hit theaters on Monday, 12 October, offering fans and critics alike a chance to see the real person behind the global brand.