LISA’s new single “SaWaDiKa” has crossed 100 million views on YouTube roughly two days after its release, according to Thai media reports, giving the BLACKPINK member an unusually strong opening as she begins a tightly scheduled run of solo projects through the end of the year.
The video was released on September 4 and recorded 70.8 million views during its first 24 hours, according to Khaosod English and The Nation in Thailand. Khaosod reported that the video passed 100 million views by Sunday morning, approximately two days after its debut. The figures have been reported primarily by Thai outlets and should therefore be understood as attributed milestones rather than independently verified figures from this publication.
The speed of that opening has turned LISA’s “SaWaDiKa” into something larger than a routine single release. YouTube views do not automatically translate into chart positions, sales or long-term commercial performance, but they provide an immediate measure of audience attention. In this case, the numbers show that LISA entered the rollout for her next project with a large international audience already engaged before the rest of the campaign has arrived.
Bangkok shapes the identity of ‘SaWaDiKa’
The music video places Thailand at the centre of the release. “SaWaDiKa” takes its name from sawasdee ka, the familiar Thai greeting, and the video was filmed around Bangkok. It incorporates Thai language, Muay Thai, tuk-tuks, local fashion, Thai-patterned fabrics and recognisable locations across the capital, according to Thai reporting.
Among the locations used are streets and neighbourhoods around central Bangkok, while the production also incorporates contemporary art spaces and areas near Hua Lamphong. Rather than filming in the city while keeping its setting visually anonymous, the production makes Bangkok immediately identifiable.
The approach is closely connected to LISA’s own background. Born Lalisa Manobal in Thailand, she moved to South Korea as a teenager and later became one of four members of BLACKPINK, whose success helped broaden K-pop’s audience well beyond East Asia.
Her individual work has increasingly allowed her Thai identity to appear more directly. The title “SaWaDiKa” requires no attempt to disguise its origins for an English-speaking market, while the video presents cultural references that remain recognisably Thai within an international pop production.
For a performer whose audience now stretches across Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and other major music markets, that gives the release a specific identity at a time when global pop campaigns can often be designed to appear geographically neutral.
The video is also drawing attention to Thailand
The early response has extended beyond music coverage.
The Nation reported that the Tourism Authority of Thailand and fan groups have already used the release in promotional activity, including tuk-tuks carrying “SaWaDiKa” imagery through Bangkok. The video’s locations and cultural references have consequently become part of the wider conversation around the single.
This is not the first time LISA’s solo work has drawn international attention to Bangkok. Her earlier music has also incorporated imagery connected to Thailand, allowing her individual career to develop a visual language separate from BLACKPINK’s group productions.
“SaWaDiKa” pushes that connection further by placing Thai language directly in the song’s title and filling the video with references that require little explanation for a domestic audience but may be new to viewers elsewhere.
The strategy reflects a broader development in Asian pop. Artists with increasingly international careers are not necessarily removing local references to reach global listeners. In many cases, cultural specificity has become part of what makes a release identifiable in an overcrowded music market.
The 100 million figure arrives before ‘PRESS PLAY’
The timing of the video’s rapid growth is particularly useful for LISA because “SaWaDiKa” is only the first part of a larger release schedule.
Her forthcoming EP PRESS PLAY is due on October 23, according to her official website. The project is currently being promoted through the new single, giving the campaign several weeks to build before the full release arrives.
That creates a longer promotional window than simply releasing a song and moving immediately to the next project.
In K-pop, the term “comeback” is commonly used to describe the beginning of a new promotional period, rather than a return after a long absence. LISA’s current schedule resembles that model but is operating across several branches of the entertainment business at once.
Music is only one part of it.
‘Always Lalisa’ adds a film release to the campaign
Before PRESS PLAY arrives, LISA will also appear on cinema screens. Sony Music Vision announced that Always Lalisa, a feature documentary directed by Sue Kim, will open in IMAX and cinemas worldwide for a limited engagement beginning October 12. It is then scheduled to move to YouTube Premium later in the year.
According to Sony, the documentary follows a period in LISA’s career in which she spent time working independently from BLACKPINK and developing her individual projects. Its October release places it less than two weeks before PRESS PLAY.
From an entertainment-business perspective, that scheduling gives the music project additional exposure without depending entirely on conventional album promotion. The documentary introduces LISA’s solo career to cinema audiences, while the EP follows shortly afterwards.
The strategy also reflects how the careers of major pop artists increasingly extend across several forms of media. Music releases, documentaries, branded appearances and live performances can now be scheduled to reinforce one another rather than operating as separate projects.
A Las Vegas residency follows in November
The campaign then moves from recorded music and film to live performance. LISA will begin her VIVA LA LISA residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in November, with shows scheduled for November 13, 14, 27 and 28. Caesars Entertainment has described her as the first K-pop artist to perform a Las Vegas residency.
The residency provides another indication of the scale at which her solo career is now being developed.
Las Vegas residencies were historically associated with established Western performers whose audiences were large enough to travel to a fixed venue.
In recent years, the format has broadened, but securing a limited residency at a venue such as The Colosseum still places an artist within a different part of the live-entertainment business from a standard concert tour.
For LISA, the November dates arrive only weeks after PRESS PLAY, giving the new material an immediate live platform.
A solo career increasingly separate from BLACKPINK
LISA remains closely identified with BLACKPINK, one of the most commercially successful groups to emerge from K-pop.
At the same time, her individual career has become increasingly independent in structure.
She established LLOUD for her solo activities and has continued to build a profile across recording, fashion, acting, and live entertainment. Her earlier solo releases established an audience outside BLACKPINK’s group catalogue, while her acting work expanded her visibility beyond music.
“SaWaDiKa” arrives at a point where the question is no longer whether LISA can attract attention as an individual artist. The more useful measure will be whether that attention can be sustained across an EP, a documentary and a residency within the same two-month period.
The reported YouTube figures provide a strong opening signal, but they remain one indicator among several. Streaming performance over time, album demand, live attendance and the reception of PRESS PLAY will provide a fuller picture of the campaign.
For now, the speed with which “SaWaDiKa” reached 100 million reported views has given LISA’s autumn schedule considerable visibility before its largest releases have arrived.
Bangkok has supplied the visual and cultural setting for the opening single. October will bring the documentary and new music, followed by Las Vegas in November.
The next stage will show whether the intense attention around “SaWaDiKa” carries through the rest of LISA’s most extensive solo release schedule to date.
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