“I won as onceblink”: TWICE’s Mina shares she met BLACKPINK’s Lisa recently, fans fall for the ‘97 liner friends again

The two biggest K-pop girl group fandoms, ONCE and BLINK, are in celebratory mode as TWICE’s Mina shared that she met BLACKPINK’s Lisa recently.

Mina and Sana appeared on Heize’s KBS Cool FM show titled Volume Up on Monday, March 13, to promote the group’s latest album, READY TO BE. During the show, the duo talked about many things with Heize, one of which caused a frenzy in the K-pop fandom.

The host asked Mina about the latest celebrity friend she had met recently. The 25-year-old singer said she met BLACKPINK’s Lisa, and they recently hung out together. As both she and Lisa were born in 1997, the girl group friendship between the ‘97 liners is one of the friendships fans love the most.

---

Fans ecstatic as TWICE’s Mina reveals she hung out with BLACKPINK’s Lisa recently

Due to the nature of the K-pop industry, idol friends usually do not flaunt their friendship in public. The few times they do mention other idols as friends, chaos ensues in the K-pop fandom, just like on March 13, when TWICE’s Mina shared her hangout plans with BLACKPINK’s Lisa.

TWICE’s Mina and Sana appeared on Heize’s Volume Up radio show, and the former spoke about her friendship with BLACKPINK’s Lisa. The former shared that the two had gone out to eat recently and had a comfortable time together—their reunion, at least one that was publicly acknowledged, filled fans with enthusiasm.

One fan mentioned that the duo’s friendship made them “so happy,” while another shared that they finally received their “yearly minalisa crumbs.” ONCE and BLINK, arguably the biggest girl group fandoms, gushed over the update.

They even joked about how the two fandoms are usually seen at each other’s throats despite the artists themselves being good friends.

Take a look at how fans reacted to TWICE’s Mina's update about her friendship with BLACKPINK's Lisa:

Meanwhile, (G)I-DLE's Minnie and Mina's groupmate Jihyo are also included in the '97-liner friendship group with BLACKPINK’s Lisa. A group photo of them wearing various props went viral last year. The quartet was also often seen supporting each other at their concerts.

---

TWICE talk about their latest comeback, READY TO BE, in an interview

In an interview with Star News on March 10, TWICE’s leader Jihyo opened up about the meaning of SET ME FREE, the title track of the upcoming album READY TO BE.

“Our title track SET ME FREE holds the meaning of ‘Let’s break away from everything that binds us and love freely, to our heart’s content.’ I figure that many people will be able to feel another kind of TWICE’s charms. I hope people listen to our song and watch our performance enjoyably.” (translated via Soompi)

While some began doubting the group’s performance as SET ME FREE dropped from MelOn’s Top 100 chart, the nine-member group proved their popularity at Billboard’s Women in Music 2023 awards.

TWICE attended the music event and won the Breakthrough Artist award. The group’s power was reflected when fans screamed the loudest every time the singers were shown on the screens. They recently performed SET ME FREE on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.