Lisa's Press Play: Six Tracks and a Letter for Tarantino

Press Play is Lisa's first EP, released on October 23 through her own label LLOUD with RCA Records. It has six tracks, in this order: "SaWaDiKa," "V12," "Cobra," "Tarantino," "Cut U Off" and "Sweat." It is her first full project since her 2025 album Alter Ego, and the day before it came out she held a listening party for fans in Seoul.

"Tarantino" is the title track, and Lisa is credited as one of its writers. The music video plays like a short action film. Lisa, in a blonde wig and a studded cap, sets out to deliver a red envelope to the director Quentin Tarantino, and the restaurant kitchens and hotel corridors she moves through keep turning into fight scenes.

If "SaWaDiKa" is the welcome, "Tarantino" is the swagger: the EP opens with a greeting and peaks with an action-movie fantasy.

Why the EP Opens With "SaWaDiKa"

"SaWaDiKa" came out first, in early September, as the EP's lead single. The title is Lisa's playful spelling of the Thai greeting a woman uses to say hello, and before it was announced, red billboards with the word "HELLO" next to the greeting in Thai appeared in several cities. The music video was shot in Bangkok and directed by Bang Jae-yeob, and it passed 100 million YouTube views in about two days.

The song debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for a second week, which makes it Lisa's third solo song to chart for more than one week there. It also entered the Billboard Global 200 at No. 23.

Putting a Thai greeting at the very start of a global pop EP is a statement in itself. Lisa grew up in Thailand, and here she opens her first EP by saying hello in her own language.

Minnie's First All-Thai EP

On the same day, i-dle's Minnie released i love you to the moon and back, a digital EP and her first sung entirely in Thai. It came out on October 23 at noon Korea time, which is also her birthday. Minnie took part in writing the lyrics and music for all three tracks.

• "to the moon :)": the title track, a mid-tempo synth-pop song with light guitar lines, built on the phrase "I love you to the moon and back."
• "insomnia": a minimal, lo-fi pop and R&B track about lying awake and waiting for a message.
• "white clouds": an acoustic ballad about saying goodbye and sending good wishes to someone far away.

Where Lisa's EP is loud and theatrical, Minnie's is soft and close to the microphone. The visuals for "to the moon :)" keep the same feel, with blue skies, a rooftop and close-ups of Minnie smiling into the camera.

Two Thai Stars, One Friendship

Minnie marked her birthday in her hometown of Bangkok. A birthday pop-up called "to the moon" ran from October 23 to 25 at SPHERE GALLERY 1 in the EMSPHERE mall, with moon and cat themed displays, photo zones and merchandise, and it closed with MINNIE SPECIAL LIVE IN BANGKOK on October 25.

Fans had another reason to watch both releases closely. Lisa and Minnie are both from Thailand, both born in 1997, and close friends. Together with TWICE's Jihyo and Mina, they are known as a "97-liner" friend group, and Jihyo has said in an interview that Lisa was the one who introduced her to Minnie, Lisa's closest friend in the industry. At the end of September, a few weeks before release day, Minnie posted rooftop photos of the two of them against the city lights at night.

If you are following K-pop into the end of the year, our guide to the Melon Music Awards lineup covers the first big awards night of the season, and the K-pop December concerts guide lists the year-end shows and how to get tickets.