LISA Press Play Review: The Rap Turn Is Real, the EP Plays It Safe

By Cole Ashby, October 26, 2026

LISA Press Play review: the short answer

LISA's Press Play sells itself as a movie, and only one scene lands clean. It's six songs in a little over 16 minutes on Spotify, out October 23, 2026, with no features and "Tarantino" out front. The concept comes from that song's own lyric. "Tarantino" is the standout by near consensus. "Cobra" takes the hardest hit from critics. My verdict: the rap turn is real, but the EP plays it safe.

LISA: Tarantino (video)

From Alter Ego to a six-song EP

Yonhap describes Press Play as her first solo EP, following her debut full-length Alter Ego from February 2025, and her first release in one year and eight months. It comes out through her own company, Lloud, with RCA, according to All Day Music Club.

The run-up was strong. LISA won best pop at the 2026 MTV VMAs for "Dream," which Billboard calls a first for a K-pop soloist and Yonhap calls a first for an Asian solo artist. Billboard also notes Alter Ego peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and that "SaWaDiKa" entered the Hot 100 at No. 69.

She told The Tonight Show the EP follows "my journey from my roots to where I am right now today," as Complex reported, and added, "It's like a movie. So you just press play." The title line itself, "It's a movie baby, come and press play," sits in the "Tarantino" lyrics, Billboard points out.

Why a hip-hop site cares

Her label pitched "SaWaDiKa" as a return to her "rap prowess and core hip-hop sound," per Complex. Billboard Korea's track ranking says "Rap and sing-rap dominate much of the record." Apple Music's editors call "V12" a "hard-hitting hip-hop track" and frame "Tarantino" as a song that "casts BLACKPINK's main dancer and lead rapper as an action movie protagonist." It's the reverse of the move Doechii made into pop: a pop star leaning toward rap, not a rapper crossing into pop radio.

The credits back the pitch up. Per Billboard, "V12" is produced by Dem Jointz, "who worked on Dr. Dre's Compton." "Cobra," produced by Johnny Goldstein, interpolates Missy Elliott and Timbaland's 2003 "Bomb Intro/Pass That Dutch." Thom Bridges and Ojivolta made "SaWaDiKa," and Bridges teamed with Beau Nox on "Tarantino." LISA has a writing credit on every song, and Kuk Harrell handled vocal production.

LISA: V12

The songs that hold up

"Tarantino" is the one critics meet on. Roman Kamshin at Showbiz by PS says it "comes to the rescue" and calls it "the best track on the EP." Emma Platt at Ratings Game Music goes further: "'Tarantino' is the best song by far."

Billboard Korea breaks from that. It ranks "SaWaDiKa" first, calling it "The undisputed No. 1." It also writes that "for sheer ear-grabbing power, 'V12' edges it out" over "Tarantino." Kamshin heard "V12" the other way, writing that the "bass-heavy 'V12' offers virtually no progression."

The low point gets the harshest line. Kamshin writes that "Cobra" "is so grating that even its brief runtime is enough to give you a migraine." It's the shortest song here at 2:19 on Spotify, so it doesn't stick around long enough to sink the EP.

LISA: Cobra

Where the movie stalls

"Cut U Off" is the best idea on paper. Apple's editors write that it "begins with Bernard Herrmann's 'Twisted Nerve.'" They add that the whistle "was used in the Tarantino film," meaning Kill Bill, and that it "might also remind K-pop fans of BLACKPINK's 'WHISTLE.'" Billboard Korea likes the open but says the song "doesn't quite sustain the tension it opens with."

LISA: Cut U Off

That gets at the bigger issue. Kamshin's summary is that it's "six songs that, for the most part, feel like variations on the same idea." Platt, who gave every track 4/5, still wrote, "I don't really understand why this EP exists," and added, "They don't come together as a distinct body of work." When a critic grades every song the same and still can't find the record, the sequencing has a problem.

"Sweat" closes it. Platt ranked it her second favorite, and Apple's editors call it the "sensual album-ender." In my read of the credits and the critics, that's a fair spot for it, but it isn't enough to turn six scenes into a film.

LISA: Sweat

Does it earn the runtime?

At about 16 minutes, it earns it easily. The question is whether it earns the format. A movie pitch asks for an arc. Charli XCX made an actual film soundtrack this year, while Press Play borrows the language of film, and the critics hear six songs built on one idea. The rap direction is there in the credits and in how Apple and Billboard describe the record. What's missing is a reason to hear these six in this order.

She plays the Viva La Lisa residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on November 12, 13, 14, 27, 28 and 29, which is where these songs get tested next.

Verdict: A confident, short rap-leaning set with one great scene and five that circle it.

Start with: 'Tarantino'.