Hi everyone, it’s time to discuss the solo debut of Jennie, member of the popular BlackPink! As always, let’s start off with some background about the artist herself.
Jennie Kim serves as the main rapper and vocalist of YG’s BlackPink. She debuted with the girl group back in 2016, and since then, their popularity has skyrocketed. The group received ample hype since they were the first girl group under the YG label to debut after 2NE1, which they lived up to throughout their first two or three comebacks. Jennie herself has been referred to as the secret weapon of YG entertainment, and after reading all about her, it’s not hard to understand why. The versatile 22 year old can not only sing, dance, and rap, but she speaks three languages fluently: English, Japanese, and Korean. She’d studied abroad in New Zealand for several years, allowing her to become one of the members fluent in English. Additionally, Jennie is also known as the fashion icon of the group, often being seen in high-end clothing such as Gucci and Chanel (she’s actually one of Korea’s Chanel ambassadors).
I’ve linked her Instagram account below in case you’re interested in checking it out. I’ve taken a gander at it myself and it’s incredibly aesthetic. I’m a bit intimidated by how cool she is, like, Jennie seems sweet but I don’t think I could ever approach her just due to the way she carries herself. It’s kind of amazing.
Now onto the review!
Lyrics
The song’s message speaks of a girl who is stuck in a relationship that’s essentially loveless for her, stripping her identity as she goes through the motions. She takes the initiative to cut things off, because she’s recognizes that it’s pointless being in a relationship where the feelings aren’t mutual and that she’s better off on her own. It’s a pretty straightforward song, really emphasizing the importance of loving oneself when they’re single since there’s a lot we as humans have to offer ourselves.
I appreciated Jennie’s message and there’s not much I can say about it other than I like it for its honesty regarding relationships and how they work. It’s not always sunshine and roses as Jennie points out in my favorite line, “after the encounter, the butterflies, the feelings, there’s break ups, tears, regret, and longing”. She doesn’t overdo the whole “I don’t need you” aspect of the song, which I liked. Rather, she focuses more on the idea that she doesn’t need to be with someone to feel complete or good, because she feels better when she’s on her own. She is all she needs to succeed, but her ex-boyfriend may not necessarily feel the same way (which is unfortunate for him).
Aesthetics
The video was stunning, simply put. It looked like a photoshoot for a fashion magazine and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. I know Jennie’s rocked some pretty pricey clothes for BlackPink comebacks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look as expensive as she does in this music video. Honestly, the part I appreciated most about the visuals was how she switches from being this elegant, almost flower-like presence to a totally unbothered badass. It’s amusing how quickly she can go from looking like a sweet, innocent person to this fierce and highly intimidating force to be reckoned with—but that’s the whole point of the song, so I shouldn’t be so amused, right? Also, I see her wearing her Chanel gear, which also struck me as amusing coz she worked her promotions in there. Whatever works for her, though, I’m not complaining.
One of the good things about waiting longer to post the review is that the performance video came out in that time, so now I can also include that in this section. The performance review focuses mostly on choreography and my one note is that Jennie needs to get better at lip-syncing for the videos. Well, that and I don’t like the whole lighting effect they were experimenting with throughout the video, it was annoying. But the choreo was pretty great; it boggles my mind how daintily she moves. When she dances I feel like she’s going to break, that’s how fragile she appears, but that could just be me. Plus, she seems a bit blank, which is off-putting. Something Jennie needs to work on is her stage presence, because it doesn’t come through in this performance video at all. It’s great that she can do the dances flawlessly, but her facial expressions don’t reflect the same level of enthusiasm. It’s a bit too robotic for me and it looks like she’s just there for her job, not because she’s enjoying herself at all. She might have been having a good time, but I think she needs to work on making sure it translates through her expressions when she’s on camera. Or perhaps she was miserable, heck if I knew. Her personality needs to come through somewhere at some point. Anyway, I’ve linked the video below and highly recommend watching it.
Sound
The sound is great, mainly because it doesn’t do that one thing that most BlackPink songs do: go overboard during the choruses. It starts off light-hearted and definitely builds up during the choruses, but there’s plenty of focus on Jennie’s actual vocals and I love that. The chorus itself has a catchy melody that’s not over the top and not tiring to listen to after a couple runs through the song. It complements the rest of the song well and adds a nice balance to the overall track.
Nothing struck me as overwhelming with this song; it captures the vibes of the lyrics and the choreography only enhanced the music for me. There’s really no complaints, it’s a bop and it’s different from the BlackPink sound, so I think Jennie did a good job in establishing her unique sound in this debut.
Overall, I loved this debut and I’m excited to see what else she comes out with in the future. Jennie’s an astonishingly talented artist bound for many accomplishments in the future. She’s my favorite BlackPink member, so I hope to see her do well, but my only critique that I’ll pay attention to as she progresses is that she’s got to let her personality show in her performances at some point. Having good music is nice, but having a killer performance accompanying it makes it an even better experience. I hope that she can eventually ditch the emotion-less facial expressions and start showing enthusiasm in the music as she performs. Once she achieves that, she’ll be golden.
That’s all for this review! What did you think of the debut? Until next time, take care!
—Zephyr
Musical Musings 