Before 'PRESS PLAY': a LISA starter guide, a map in the songs from the Thailand of 'LALISA' to the Bangkok of 'SaWaDiKa'

BLACKPINK's LISA releases the EP 'PRESS PLAY' on Friday, October 23. On NBC's 'The Tonight Show' in September, LISA described the EP as a journey from roots to the present day, with plenty of Thai elements in the songs. Taking that cue, we traced the countries, cities and currencies named in the lyrics of LISA's solo songs. Here are six songs on a map that starts in Thailand, passes through Korea, goes on to Paris and Tokyo, and comes back to Bangkok. Lyrics come from the official video descriptions and Bugs, credits from Bugs, and scene times were checked directly against the official videos.

At a glance

Year	Song	The map in the song	Start here
2021	'LALISA'	"태국에서 한국 거쳐 여기까지" (from Thailand, through Korea, to here)	2:27 a pointed gold crown
2021	'MONEY'	Won, yen, dollars	2:45 'MONEY IS A TERRIBLE MASTER…' neon
2024	'ROCKSTAR'	'BKK', short for Bangkok	0:06 a night street with a lit 'TEXAS' sign
2024	'Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me)'	Twilight in Paris	1:21 an empty theater stage
2025	'Dream'	That night in Tokyo	3:10 a kitchen where Korean and Japanese go back and forth
2026	'SaWaDiKa'	Bangkok, baht, tuk-tuk	2:24 the 'Thanon Rong Mueang' sign

2021 · 'LALISA'

The title track of the first single album, released on September 10, 2021. As the Bugs album notes say, the title comes from LISA's real name, Lalisa, and the lyrics are by TEDDY and Bekuh BOOM. The map starts with a rap line that passes at around 2:32 in the music video: '태국에서 한국 거쳐 여기까지' ("from Thailand, through Korea, all the way here"). Just before it, at 2:27, LISA, in a pointed gold crown, bends the fingers backward. Thai public broadcaster Thai PBS reported that this crown is the 'Rad Klao Yod' (รัดเกล้ายอด), worn with flowers by female roles in traditional Thai dance. The stone set behind is modeled on the Phanom Rung ruins in Buriram, LISA's hometown. Apple Music

2021 · 'MONEY'

A minimal hip-hop track led by brass and piano, from the same single album. Instead of a music video, a performance video came out on September 24. This song's map sits at the very end of the lyrics: 'Watch how my wons and yens and dollars be droppin on you'. That's the money of Korea, Japan and the US. In the final scene of the performance video, at 2:45, red neon reading 'MONEY IS A TERRIBLE MASTER BUT AN EXCELLENT SERVANT' glows on a steel-frame sign behind a road at dusk. Apple Music

2024 · 'ROCKSTAR'

A single released by LLOUD and RCA Records at the end of June 2024, later included on the first full album, 'Alter Ego', the following year. LISA's name, absent from the credits of 'LALISA' and 'MONEY', now appears among the lyricists and composers, alongside five others including Ryan Tedder. The lyrics include 'Been MIA BKK so pretty'. BKK is Bangkok's airport code and a common shorthand for the city. Right after comes 'Every city that I go's my city', and the chorus has a line that answers 'hai hai' in Japanese. The Bangkok Post reported that the music video was shot in Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown. At 0:06, signs reading 'TEXAS' and 'ROONGSARP TRAVEL' glow on a night street beside signs in Chinese characters and Thai script, and the credits list the Thai local production company TAPROD. Apple Music

2024 · 'Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me)'

A single released in October 2024. The 'Kiss Me' in the title's parentheses is a song Sixpence None the Richer released as a single in 1998. Matt Slocum, who wrote it, is in the credits, and Billboard described the track as borrowing the original's melody and lyrics. The original's 'Kiss me beneath the milky twilight' becomes 'Kiss me under the Paris twilight' here, so the twilight now has an address. A green-eyed French boy who greets with 'Bonjour' turns up, too. In the performance video, sung live with a band, a figure seen from behind raises both arms under a spotlight on an empty theater stage at 1:21. Apple Music

2025 · 'Dream'

A track from the first full album, 'Alter Ego', released on February 28, 2025. LISA took part in writing the lyrics and music. It's a song about a relationship that's over, asking whether the other person will always hate me for 'that night in Tokyo'. That August, a five-minute short-film music video with Japanese actor Kentaro Sakaguchi came out. The news of its 'Best Pop' win at the MTV VMAs this September is in NONOL's September 28 Briefing. In the kitchen scene that runs from 3:10, the two talk in different languages. LISA asks in Korean what each would want to be if born again and answers 'a tree', and Kentaro Sakaguchi replies in Japanese with the lake in front of that tree. The subtitles work in reverse: the Korean lines get Japanese subtitles, and the Japanese lines get Korean ones, each alongside English. At 3:28, the Japanese subtitle '私は木になりたい。' is LISA's Korean line '나는 나무가 되고 싶어' ("I want to be a tree"). Apple Music

2026 · 'SaWaDiKa'

Track 1 of 'PRESS PLAY', released at 9 a.m. (KST) on September 4. The title is the Thai greeting sawasdee ka (สวัสดีค่ะ, 'hello'), and LISA took part in writing the lyrics and music. This time Bangkok appears in the lyrics by name. After 'Bang bang Bangkok bang', the next line shouts 'geng mak', Thai for 'so good', and Thai baht go into the bank. The baht now stands beside the won, yen and dollars of 'MONEY'. Director Bang Jae-yeob shot the music video in Bangkok. The end credits list TAPROD, the same Thai local production company as on 'ROCKSTAR', and the names of five Muay Thai fighters. At 0:39 LISA stands among fighters in white headbands, and at 1:27 dances beyond the seats of a tuk-tuk. At 2:24, the sign seen past a train platform reads 'Thanon Rong Mueang' (Rong Mueang Road), the road beside Hua Lamphong station, one of the filming locations Thai PBS named. The song is also in NONOL's September new-song list. Apple Music

October 23 'PRESS PLAY'

The official store introduces 'PRESS PLAY' as a six-song EP following the first full album, and calls it LISA's most personal album, honoring Thai roots as a reminder of where it all began. Track 1, 'SaWaDiKa', came out first on September 4. On 'The Tonight Show' in September, LISA kept the other titles secret as a surprise for fans, and said the next single is track 4. The title explains itself: each song has its own character, so played in order they feel like a film, and all you have to do is press play. Pre-add on Apple Music

The documentary 'ALWAYS LALISA' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and limited screenings in theaters and IMAX began on October 12. In November, 'VIVA LA LISA', a residency (a run of shows on several dates at one venue), takes place at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Two shows were added on September 29, making six in all: the 12th, 13th and 14th, and the 27th, 28th and 29th.