Music’s Number One Girl: Rose On APT’s Success and Blackpink Reunion
The Blackpink star talks to Zane Lowe of Apple Music on the chaotic year she’s had.
“All you gotta do is just meet me at the…” – love it or hate it, there’s no denying that you know what lyric comes next. For the uninitiated, the word is APT, and it’s also the title of Apple Music’s most streamed song of 2025.
Written and performed by Rose of Blackpink and pop music heavyweight Bruno Mars, APT is arguably the K-pop princess’ most iconic track. It’s upbeat and leans heavily into pop-punk and dancepop influences, complete with tongue-in-cheek lyrics inspired by Apartment, a Korean drinking game.
Since its release in October 2024 as the lead single for Rose’s debut solo album, rosie, it’s been absolutely inescapable. It topped the charts in 55 countries this year, and is in the running for three Grammys in 2026 – Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – a major first for the K-pop industry.
Zane Lowe and Rose look back on the unhinged success of APT and her debut album, rosie.
“I think my self-consciousness was telling me it could be a life-changing song,” Rose told Zane Lowe in a recent interview. Speaking on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show on December 13, the singer opened up about the weight of her latest release.
The conversation comes at the tail-end of a whirlwind year for the star, having released her album last December, and reuniting with the rest of her Blackpink team for the Deadline World Tour this July.
She recounts her initial “fifty-fifty” stance on APT., only deciding to release it as the lead single after seeing how instantly it stuck in the heads of everyone she played it for. Its meteoric rise was something Rose never could have predicted: “[APT.] suddenly just grew its own arms and legs and then just went to Harvard Law and became like, I don’t know, became a president or something like that.”
Yet, the release of her album rosie in December 2024 subverted the expectations set by her viral hit. Moody, raw, and deeply confessional, the record traded stadium-pop for intimacy. Looking back, Rose describes the move to open the album with “Number One Girl” instead of APT. as “gutsy”—a choice that felt right, even if it meant leading with her heart rather than her biggest hook.
Rose gets candid about the making of her debut studio album, rosie.
The song, unlike its light-hearted and carefree predecessor, is an intimate revelation of the singer’s deep desire to be accepted and loved. “I describe all of my songs in my album as if I had 12 kids. They all have different personalities… Some are very sad children. That’s fine,” said Rose.
The album achieved major success, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 chart—the highest-ever position for a solo female K-pop artist. The iconography did not stop there. Rose went on to reunite with her Blackpink members for the sold-out Deadline world tour, during which they released their hardstyle banger JUMP. After the group’s long hiatus, the single arrived as a loud, unexpected surprise to fans.
“I was just really, really excited to see what was going to happen and how we would have evolved,” Rose told Lowe. “I feel like Jump is just so fresh and I’m obsessed with [it].”
Having taken time to work on their solo careers away from the Blackpink brand, the four returned for their comeback era. Far from the girls they were when they debuted in 2016, Rose shared her excitement regarding the reunion.
“I love this current era of Blackpink. And I think it has a lot to do with how we kind of went out and got inspired and came back together. It’s just like a whole new, funky, new little thing and I love it,” she said.
When asked about her plans for 2026 after the world tour comes to an end, Rose admitted that she could not put a finger on it quite yet. The star planned to do what felt right to her—whether that involved touring for her album rosie, or continuing to build on her discography.
Whatever follows, fans can certainly expect more Rose to come; she confessed that she already “[had] a whole little mini-album on [her] phone.” We are already sat and waiting for the next Rose renaissance.
Watch the full interview here:
