On November 7, 2026, BLACKPINK's ROSÉ took the stage as the official musical guest at the LACMA Art+Film Gala in Los Angeles, the annual fundraiser co-chaired by Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio and presented by Gucci, which honored filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and artist Vija Celmins.

According to Indiatimes, she performed a short live-band set that included her global hit 'APT.' (with Bruno Mars), the track 'Number One Girl,' and a cover of The Killers' 'Read My Mind.'

Raw clips of the 'APT.' performance circulated within hours and quickly became the focal point of intense online scrutiny over her vocal delivery.

The video driving the backlash is the raw 'APT.' performance footage that spread across social media the same night.

Indiatimes notes the clip was shared by multiple outlets and turned a formal gala appearance — a quieter, high-profile room with less crowd energy to lean on than a stadium show — into the latest flashpoint in ongoing debates about ROSÉ's live singing.

The outlet explains that a moment that might read as an energetic live performance for dedicated fans can sound thinner when captured on video and shared without the full context of the evening.

Indiatimes reports the immediate reactions leaned heavily critical. One user wrote there was "no lip-sync, no autotune, no backtrack" and called the delivery "horrible vocals," while another sarcastically invoked her long-standing "golden vocalist of korea" label.

A third claimed her vocals were "so painfully bad," and some tied the anger to fatigue with the song itself, with one commenter saying "the dead crowd says it all" and arguing Bruno Mars had "carried" 'APT.'

A smaller number of fans defended the rawness of the performance, but the critical tone dominated.

Indiatimes traces this criticism to a pattern: mixed reactions to ROSÉ's December 2024 BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, a January 2025 Gala des Pièces Jaunes performance in Paris where her voice was called unstable, and a June 2025 PSY Summer Swag Show appearance some viewers found strained.

The same week, DZRH reports P-pop group Play PH turned similar viral backlash over its 'Crush Kita' performance on PTV's 'Rise and Shine Pilipinas' into motivation, explaining three members were sick and calling the criticism fuel to improve.

For a devoted vocalist reader, the contrast is the story: one star keeps touring regardless of the discourse, while a debut group chose to sing the same song again on 'Unang Hirit' the very next chance it got.