Song Review:: Jennie (BLACKPINK): RUBY- Like Jennie

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  • Release date: 2025 March 07

  • Album tracklist: Intro : JANE with FKJ, like JENNIE, start a war, Handlebars (feat. Dua Lipa), with the IE (way up), ExtraL (feat. Doechii), Mantra, Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike), ZEN, Damn Right, F.T.S, Filter, Seoul City, Starlight, twin

  • Album runtime: 42 minutes

 Well, I'm pleased that this album is finally coming out. She's been releasing singles for months, and now we get the culmination of those releases. Congrats to her in this endeavor! I hope the fans enjoy it and that it continues to be a source of joy for them.

Okay. Full disclosure. I'm not a huge fan of this song, which is fine. It's a genre/stylistic thing. I don't have to like all the songs ever released. But I'm not going into this with an abundance of enthusiastic giddiness. Now, that being said, I also don't think it's a bad song. So there's that.

The instrumentals are minimalistic, punchily driven with the beat building the energy through the song. We've got some science fiction sound effects occasionally warbling through the song, which is fun. Also, the instrumentals do a good job of supporting Jennie's voice rather than trying to overpower it. It's a well balanced song, so well done for the producers.

She sounds like she's a good rapper, and I assume that she is despite my limited knowledge of it because given the company she debuted and who founded it as well as the sound of the company, they tend to turn out award winning and record breaking rappers. I do really like the addition of the whispering and the vocalizations in the background. During the repeated "Jennie" part, all I can imagine is a bunch of meerkats popping out of holes in the ground to say it. However, PJ the Cat came over and settled next to me as I started writing this and he started purring. And he likes Changbin and J-Hope, who I know are good rappers, so I trust his judgement. According to PJ, she did well. The song itself is pretty catchy, even if there's more repetition than I'd like to see. But the second line of the song? That one when I looked at the lyrics made me smile with wide, surprised eyes. I really like that line. Oh, and it is rated E for language use.

The parallels the beginning of this music video has with 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I could not be more delighted. I mean, first of all, that movie is a cinematic masterpiece and that particular shot that is one of the most iconic of the film. So, this opening shot for the music video referencing it? Bless. Love it. And that science fiction styling carries through to much of the rest of the music video. There isn't a storyline other than the opening bit, which is fine, and she turns into a capybara at the end, which is delightful. But this functions like a performance video much, much, more than a music video because it's basically just the choreography. And with the dance team and the formations? Yeah. This is going to be big at Coachella.



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