"Rockstar" is a song by Thai rapper and singer Lisa. It was released through Lloud and RCA Records on June 27, 2024, as the lead single from her debut studio album, Alter Ego (2025). A hip-hop track with hyperpop beats, it was written by Lisa, Brittany Amaradio, James Essien, Lucy Healey, Ryan Tedder and Sam Homaee while production was handled by the latter two. It marked Lisa's first solo single in three years and her first release since departing from YG Entertainment and Interscope Records as a solo artist in 2023.
Music critics gave "Rockstar" generally positive reviews, praising its production and Lisa’s performance, though some criticized its lyrics. The song was a commercial success and peaked at number four on the Billboard Global 200 and number one on the Global Excl. U.S., marking Lisa's third top-ten hit on both charts and her first number-one hit on the latter. In Thailand, it debuted at number one on Spotify and set a record for the most daily streams of any song in the country. It also topped the charts in Hong Kong and reached the top ten in Indonesia, MENA, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. In the United States, the song became Lisa's third and highest-charting entry on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 70 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
An accompanying music video was directed by Henry Schofield and released on Lloud's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release. The cyberpunk-themed video pays homage to Thai culture and features various locations in Bangkok including Yaowarat Road, which contributed to a surge in tourist activity in the region. Lisa promoted the single with performances at the MTV Video Music Awards, the Global Citizen Festival, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Amazing Thailand Countdown 2025, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and Blackpink's Deadline World Tour. "Rockstar" received four nominations at the former award ceremony and won Best K-Pop, making her the first solo artist to win the award twice.
Background and release Lisa departed from her label YG Entertainment for solo activities in December 2023 and subsequently established her own artist management company called Lloud in February 2024. Two months later, she signed with RCA Records, who agreed to work in partnership with Lloud, to release solo music. On June 6, 2024, Lisa first teased new solo music by posting a minimalistic graphic on Instagram Stories reading "Coming soon: LISA" with pre-save links for Spotify and Apple Music. Her official website also displayed the teaser, as did her Lloud management page. She also opened a new TikTok account and posted a video of herself dancing paired with a "gritty synth beat" titled "Coming Soon". Lisa posted a second TikTok video a week later of herself posing for photos on the beach in a white baby tee and black miniskirt while an instrumental track titled "Teaser" played over it. On June 18, Lloud officially announced the song's title, "Rockstar", and its release date of June 27 at 8 p.m. ET. The song marked Lisa's first release under Lloud and RCA Records since her departure from YG Entertainment and served as the lead single from her upcoming debut studio album.
Composition and lyrics "Rockstar" was produced by Ryan Tedder and Sam Homaee and written by Lisa, Brittany Amaradio, James Essien, Lucy Healey, Ryan Tedder, and Sam Homaee. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Lisa expressed that as her first song in several years, she "wanted to find a great sound, create visuals or choreography that was iconic" and sought a "catchy beat, something that would be easy for people to remember, that would identify it as a Lisa song." It has been described to be a hip-hop track characterized by "hyperpop-lite beats" and "cyberpunk psychedelia". It has also been noted to be "reminiscent of early 2000's J-hip-hop with a fusion of modern-day R&B/hip-hop during the bridge". The song features a sample of "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" by Tame Impala.
Lyrically, the song sees Lisa boastfully reaffirming her power as a rockstar, which she defined to Rolling Stone as "a globally known person who has a unique style, someone who is confident and ready to show it to the world." For the song's chorus she raps "Gold teeth sittin' on the dash, she a rockstar / Make your favorite singer wanna rap, baby, la, la / 'Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?' I said, 'Hai hai' / That’s my life life, baby I’m a rockstar," which acknowledges her newfound rockstar aesthetic as well as her 2021 debut single album Lalisa with the reference to her full name. The line about being asked to speak Japanese also shows off her polyglot skills to mimic those unable to speak multiple languages. Critics interpreted the line as a pointed critique of the "typical anglophilic perspective" that views all of Asia as a "racial monolith" and refuses to acknowledge any part beyond East Asia. Lisa includes several direct homages to her native country Thailand, including a namedrop of BKK, the abbreviation for Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. She later sings the line "They call me catch and kill", seemingly a reference to her group Blackpink's song "Kill This Love" (2019). She also pays tribute to high fashion, rapping "Tight dress, LV sent it / Oh shit, Lisa reppin'" as a shout out to the fashion house Louis Vuitton. In March, she appeared at the brand’s fall/winter 2024 show at Paris and was later revealed in July to be their latest house ambassador.
Critical reception
Puah Ziwei of NME scored "Rockstar" three out of five stars, noting that while the track's "braggadocious" lyrics were "as played out as can be", Lisa's unique magnetism "elevat[ed] it beyond any of her solo work thus far". Praising the hook "Lisa, can you teach me Japanese? I said, 'Hai, hai'", Puah acknowledged the line as "charmingly tongue-in-cheek" in the way it criticizes "those who think Asia is a racial monolith". Writing for Billboard, Eunbo Shim ranked it the fifth-best song of the album and commended it as a "masterclass in confidence, proof that no K-pop act commands attention" like Lisa, who uses a rap flow "so effortless, it silences doubters". Screen Rant pointed to "Rockstar" as a prime example of Lisa's artistry on the album where she "leans into the production and comes out on top of it". Gabriel Saulog of Billboard Philippines praised the song's "addictive bass and innovative sampling" of Tame Impala's "New Person, Same Old Mistakes", which he felt resulted in a "more impressive and polished take" compared to her previous solo songs "Lalisa" and "Money". Similarly, Derrick Tan of Lifestyle Asia lauded the song as a "dance spectacle backed by an addictive bass" while noting the lyrics were not very poetic. Giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars, IZM Park Soojin criticized the monotony of the song's sound composition but praised "Rockstar" for its charm and synergy when combined with Lisa's performance. Benjamin Lassy of The Daily Campus described "Rockstar" as an "abrasive tour de force in pop egos" lacking in lyrical substance, although he complimented Lisa's "emotive vocal performance" such as in her sarcastic delivery of “Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?" Pitchfork Joshua Minsoo Kim described the song as the closest on the album to "traditional" K-pop, but felt that the "adventurousness only goes as far as a glossy chorus reminiscent of Tame Impala-produced Travis Scott." Writing for Elle India, Ekta Sinha named "Rockstar" the 10th best K-pop song of the year and Lisa’s best solo effort yet, describing it as an "exuberant tune" similar to her single album Lalisa with an added level of charisma.
Accolades +Awards and nominations for "Rockstar" Organization Year Award Result Asian Pop Music Awards 2024 Top 20 Songs of the Year (Overseas) People's Choice Award (Overseas) Best Producer (Overseas) Song of the Year (Overseas) Berlin Commercial Festival 2024 Craft: Editing BreakTudo Awards 2024 International Hit of the Year Clio Awards 2025 Music Marketing – Music Videos iHeartRadio Music Awards 2025 Best Music Video MTV Video Music Awards 2024 Best K-Pop Best Art Direction Best Choreography Best Editing Myx Music Awards 2024 Global Video of the Year UK Music Video Awards 2024 Best Pop Video International
Commercial performance "Rockstar" debuted at number four on the Billboard Global 200 chart dated July 13, 2024, becoming Lisa's third top-ten hit after her 2021 singles "Lalisa" and "Money". The song also debuted at number one on the Billboard Global Excl. US with 94.2 million streams and 44,000 sold outside the U.S. between June 28 and July 4. It marked her first number-one song on the chart and her third top-ten hit after "Lalisa" and "Money". Lisa became the third member of Blackpink with a solo number-one on the chart, after bandmates Rosé's "On the Ground" (2021) and Jennie's "You & Me" (2023). With this, Blackpink became the only group in history to have three members achieve number-one songs as soloists. The number-one debut of "Rockstar" broke a long streak of Western, English-language acts dominating the Global Excl. U.S. chart. Lisa became not only the first Thai artist but also the first artist not from a primarily English-speaking country to top the chart in 2024. With its 94.2 million streams, the song also broke the record for the most weekly streams for a Global Excl. U.S. hit in 2024 by a non-American artist. The song charted on the Global 200 for 11 weeks and the Global Excl. US for 15 weeks, surpassing "Lalisa" as her second longest-charting song after "Money" on both charts.
In Lisa's home country Thailand, "Rockstar" debuted at number one on Spotify with over 2.57 million streams in a single day, setting a new record for the most daily streams for any album released in the country. It ranked as the tenth-most streamed K-pop song of the year globally on Spotify. In the United States, "Rockstar" debuted at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Lisa's highest-charting entry and her third after "Lalisa" and "Money". It later debuted at number 39 on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart dated August 17, 2024, earning her second entry after "Money" and making Lisa the second Blackpink member to enter the chart after Jennie's "One of the Girls" (2023). "Rockstar" peaked at number 37 the following week dated August 24.
Music video
A music video teaser for "Rockstar" was released on June 26, followed by the official music video on June 28, both on Lloud's official YouTube channel. The video was immediately successful, surpassing 10 million views as well as two million likes in just six hours. It accumulated 32.4 million views and 3.4 million likes in the first 24 hours of release, outpacing the 13.1 million views achieved by IU's "Love Wins All" to become the most-viewed video by a K-pop soloist of 2024 in 24 hours. It debuted at number one on YouTube's Global Weekly Chart with 80.5 million views in its debut week and became the biggest opening week on the platform of the year, surpassing the 60.3 million views recorded by Eminem's "Houdini". The video crossed 100 million views in just two weeks after its release.