Blinks vs. ARMY ignites after Lisa’s third VMA triumph

Lisa of Blackpink has captured the Best K-Pop award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards for Born Again featuring Doja Cat and Raye, marking her third win in the category and tying with BTS for most wins. Sparks flared across K-Pop Twitter when fans questioned whether the English-language track—with no Korean lyrics and Western collaborators—truly deserved the K-Pop label. Critics of the award contrasted the situation with previous BTS wins such as Dynamite, pointing out that Lisa’s track breaks tradition while BTS remains entirely Korean.

The debate quickly spiralled into fan clashes, but BTS’s devoted ARMY responded with their familiar remedy: chart action. The six-year-old Japanese single Lights re-entered the US iTunes top 5, reaching as high as number 4 in what fans half-jokingly described as achieving it “just because” ][4], [Reddit][5]). On Reddit’s BTS subreddit, fans celebrated the unexpected resurgence: one wrote, “Lights getting its flowers! I love this track sm, I think it’s so underrated,” while another observed, “It’s at #4 now … Is this an organised ARMY effort? And why Lights?”.

Blinks vs. ARMY ignites after Lisa’s third VMA triumph, as K-Pop fandom finds itself tangled once more in debates over genre boundaries and identity.

Amid the uproar, Lisa did not attend the ceremony but accepted the accolade via a pre-recorded speech during the preshow, thanking fans warmly. Her award was one among many on a night dominated by female artists, with Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Rosé also among the major winners.