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When BLACKPINK posted a single question mark under the word "featuring" on July 22, 2020, BLINKs around the world went into full detective mode. The K-pop superstars had just dropped How You Like That, their solo MV had already raced past one billion views with DDU-DU DDU-DU, and now another pre-release single was on the way. The mystery featured artist set Twitter on fire with hashtags like #ARIPINK and #SELPINK, until BLACKPINK finally confirmed the news on August 11: it was Selena Gomez, and the song was called Ice Cream.
Teaser Season: The Mystery That Set Twitter On Fire
BLACKPINK and YG Entertainment built anticipation slowly, posting cryptic teaser images and inviting fans to guess the collaborator. The first big visual reveal came as a colorful poster of a double popsicle, one pink for BLACKPINK and one purple for the still-unnamed pop star, hinting that the next single would be sugary, bright, and very summer. World Ice Cream Day selcas from Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa on July 19 suddenly looked a lot less random.
Once Selena Gomez was confirmed, BLINKs and Selenators discovered the rumored backstory: Gomez had met Jisoo and Rose at New York Fashion Week back in 2018, and BLACKPINK had grown up dancing to Selena's Disney-era pop hits as trainees. The crossover felt earned, and the energy online was immediate.
D-Day Posters and the Retro Pastel Concept
In the week before release, YG dropped a full run of individual teaser posters for Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa, each one styled in 70s-inspired pastel looks with flower power, macrame, and ice-cream-cone art direction. Selena got her own retro poster too, lounging in a red-and-white striped top against a melting pink background. The visual world of Ice Cream was now fully formed: sweet, playful, and a complete tonal pivot from the dark, hip-hop-heavy aesthetic of How You Like That.
The D-1 posters that BLACKPINK revealed on August 27 leaned even harder into the cone concept, with each member posed inside her own colorful frame. The look made it clear that this would not be a typical YG "girl crush" single. It was bubblegum pop, on purpose.
August 28, 2020: Ice Cream D-Day
BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez released Ice Cream on August 28, 2020 at 1 p.m. KST, with simultaneous global release through YG Entertainment and Interscope Records. Produced by TEDDY, 24, Tommy Brown, and Mr. Franks, with co-writing credits from Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande, the song was a sugary mid-tempo pop track about looking cool on the outside while being sweet on the inside, the perfect metaphor for the group's softer new concept.
The music video, filmed across South Korea and the United States during pandemic restrictions, dropped four members of BLACKPINK and Selena into a series of pastel dreamscapes: a giant pink balloon pit, inflatable bounce houses, a vintage ice cream truck, and an ice cream parlor mural in 70s-inspired wardrobe. Within 24 hours the MV racked up 79.08 million views, the third biggest 24-hour music video debut at the time, and crossed 100 million views in just over 40 hours.
Charts, Records, and the Triple Crown on Inkigayo
Ice Cream debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming BLACKPINK's highest-charting single in the United States at the time, and spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Global 200, peaking at No. 8. Back home, the track took its first win on SBS Inkigayo on September 20, 2020, a moment that also made Selena Gomez the first Western pop artist to win first place on the show. BLACKPINK then went on to claim a triple crown by winning Inkigayo three weeks in a row.
The collab also racked up a roster of nominations and awards, including nods for Best Collaboration at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Music Video of 2020 at the People's Choice Awards, and Best K-Pop at the MTV Video Music Awards. Ariana Grande, who co-wrote the song, was vocal in cheering on Selena and BLACKPINK across social media, sealing the song's status as a true pop-girl crossover event.
The Lead-Up to THE ALBUM and BLACKPINK's New Era
Ice Cream was the second pre-release single from THE ALBUM, BLACKPINK's long-awaited first full-length studio LP, after Sour Candy with Lady Gaga in June. On August 27, the same day YG dropped the Ice Cream D-1 posters, the company also confirmed that THE ALBUM would arrive on October 2, 2020, with the title single Lovesick Girls and a darker, more savage concept signaled by the pre-release banger Pretty Savage. The contrast between Ice Cream's pastel sweetness and the Pretty Savage teaser concept set up the duality that would define the rest of the BLACKPINK era.
Years later, Ice Cream is still a defining moment. The MV crossed 1 billion views on YouTube in April 2026, making it BLACKPINK's eighth music video to hit the milestone and Selena Gomez's fourth, and the two finally performed the song together for the first time in person during the BORN PINK Tour. For BLINKs, it remains the song where BLACKPINK proved they could melt into a global pop crossover without losing an ounce of their identity.
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