4 Things That Point To A Possible BLACKPINK x Ariana Grande Collab

There's no time to waste.

August is right around the corner, and BLACKPINK is set to drop their new single then. They've released zero information about the new song coming up, stirring their millions of fans into a frenzy, except for one major detail: the single is going to be a collaboration, but who they're going to be singing with has been left a mystery!

A teaser poster for the single was posted on the girl group's Instagram account last week, stirring rumor after rumor about who the surprise collaborator might be. But after checking out some deep Internet investigations carried out by the most dedicated Blinks (a.k.a. the name that BLACKPINK fans have christened themselves/the BLACKPINK fandom), we think we've reached a pretty solid conclusion to our own pop culture detective work.

It seems that none other than Ariana Grande might be the next western artist to cross over to the BLACKPINK universe! 

Here's why we think so: 

It could all boil down to a certain Tommy Brown.

Tommy Brown might not ring any bells to some, but he should after today! That's because your favorite Ariana hits including "7 Rings" and "thank u, next" wouldn't have been possible without the help of this uber talented and versatile music producer. Now, how does he connect to BLACKPINK? Well, he traveled to South Korea just last year, and it wasn't a leisure trip. He hopped on over to Asia to specifically work on new music with BLACKPINK! That's a huge piece in this puzzle that's been found, if you ask us. 

Ariana is the collab queen. 

There's also the fact that Ariana has collaborated with a ton of artists in her career, showing that she's pretty open to all sorts of musical projects that squeeze the creative juices from her mind. Sure, she's known far and wide as a pop star with a splash of R&B influence in her work, but her impressive 48 collaborations—yes, 48!—prove that she's not limited by genre or her musical comfort zone.

Who's to say that she's not open to working with Korean superstars BLACKPINK, when her collab portfolio includes work with Big Sean, Iggy Azalea, Idina Menzel, Calvin Harris, Katy Perry, Lana del Rey, Pharrel Williams, Mac Miller, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Nicki Minaj? You get the picture. 

Speaking of Lady Gaga...

This particular, and recent, collaboration could have also opened up the doors for a Grande-BLACKPINK project! Lady Gaga could've very well been a middleman at one point; her most recent album, Chromatica, released earlier this year features collabs with Ariana in single "Rain on Me," and another with BLACKPINK in "Sour Candy," also a single. If Ariana hadn't thought about working with BLACKPINK until Lady Gaga did, these projects could've been the key!

And last but not least, Ariana, Lisa, Rosé, Jisoo, and Jennie are actually friends

They met in Coachella a few years back when BLACKPINK made a massive introduction in the annual music festival and they all reportedly hit it off! They've apparently kept in touch despite obvious differences in geographical locations and time zones, but when circumstances allowed it, they've even met up a few times to catch up in person after that fateful meeting.

And what do gal pals—very famous ones, at that—in the music industry do? They could consider collaborating, of course, much to the delight of their combined fan bases. 

Most signs point to an Ariana collab coming our way next month given the dots we've connected! But we know that no matter who BLACKPINK's mystery featured artist is, Ariana or not, Blinks will be as supportive of their K-idols as ever. After all, they've waited long enough for a comeback from BLACKPINK.

The release of the group's new studio album had been delayed time and time again, but it looks like October this year will finally be it for BLACKPINK. Their first studio album, BLACKPINK In Your Area, came out in December 2018 and catapulted the four-member girl group to international fame.  

Aside from the album, Blinks also have solo singles from the BLACKPINK members to look forward to. 

BLACKPINK has so far released one single from their new album called "How You Like That." The song has raked in 354 million views and counting since its music video release on YouTube last month. As of this writing, BLACKPINK has 46.2 million subscribers, beating Ariana's 42.3 million. 

Photos from @blackpinkofficial @arianagrande

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