Do we like Jisoo?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean record on harm and a decent one on character, held back because there's little on the record about where she stands on LGBTQ+ people or the planet beyond her giving.
Jisoo is the eldest member of Blackpink, who debuted in 2016 and went solo in early 2023. She later set up her own agency, Blissoo, to run her solo career, the same path her bandmates took once their old contracts ended. Lately she has been splitting her time between music and acting, and she was lined up to collect the Madame Figaro Rising Star Award at Canneseries in April.
The mess this year came from her family. In April, reports said a relative of a K-pop group member had been arrested, and online rumour tied it to Jisoo. Her agency's lawyer said the matter was unrelated to her and the company, that she had lived independently of her family for a long time, and that it would take legal action over false claims. She pulled out of a planned airport press appearance, and Korean press ran pieces on guilt by association.
A second stoush came in May, when Belgian designer Benjamin Voortmans alleged that outfits sent for her album cover shoot hadn't come back after about six months. He said he'd sent invoices and got no reply, but also said he meant no attack on her. The agency hadn't issued a statement at that point, and the report said both sides were talking about sorting it out. Call it a messy admin dispute, not a character verdict.
On the harm check, there's honestly not much to find. Searches turned up no anti-LGBTQ+ remarks, no conspiracy-theory slide, no vaccine or election noise, and no political campaigning of any kind. She's a famously careful, brand-safe star, so what we don't know is where she stands on the big issues. And I found nothing about the company she keeps beyond ordinary K-drama co-stars and her bandmates.
The good stuff is real money, not just trophies. In 2024 she was reported to have pledged her solo YouTube earnings to a Save the Children mangrove-planting project in Vietnam. In March 2025 she gave 150 million won through the Korean Red Cross for wildfire relief, saying she hoped it would help firefighters. That's a donation that helps people and the planet.
Her own words are warm and low-key. Asked about the Deadline tour, she said she loved the moment when fans waved their phone lights together. She isn't a firebrand and doesn't use her platform for causes loudly. But she doesn't punch down either, and the 2026 headlines are about people trying to pin things on her, not things she said or did to anyone.