It’s a big day for new pop releases, with BLACKPINK’s Jennie dropping her first full album at the same time as Lady Gaga unleashes her long-awaited Mayhem. Ruby has been preceded by four tracks, starting with last year’s Mantra. So far, Jennie has harnessed a diverse sound. That grab bag approach continues with the just-released video for new single like JENNIE. Though this is not the official intro to the album, it might as well serve as a mission statement.
At just over two minutes, it’s hard to call like JENNIE a fully-developed song, but its statement of intent is certainly intact. Jennie lets loose over an electronic maelstrom with touches of Brazilian funk. The instrumental is far more engaging than the song, unyielding in its desire to smash you in the face at every turn. The rap verses compliment this arrangement, free-spirited and malleable enough to match the ever-evolving track. This blend of rhythms and confrontational vocals reminds me of M.I.A.’s brief moment in the pop spotlight. That’s a left-field comparison I’m delighted to make in the increasingly risk-averse context of K-pop.
On the other hand, like JENNIE‘s central hook is too cringey to work. I get that it’s supposed to be silly and repetitive, but the phrasing is already a bit predictable so without clever lyrics to offset this structure the whole chorus falls off the rails. As a hurricane-force opener for an eclectic album, the song works well enough. I just think it needs more development to match its potential.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
The typical braggadocios song but with a robust production. The hooks could be better, and I fear its repetition will affect the longevity, but apart from it, it’s okay. (Unrelated but the MV’s ending scene of Jennie burning into a capybara lowkey send me)
Rating’s the same.
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The instrumental is fire and the MV just quirky enough. I am not going to add this to any playlists on its own, but it does make me intrigued for the album, as it sounds like an intro. I do love an album with a narrative, so if that what she is serving, I am in for at least a listen! So I would say it did its job, it made me intrigued for the full album.
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what do you think of this? Does it sound similar to like jennie?
https://youtu.be/b9e2gq4oEf4?si=QvQ_XWAvj1Bwq8bN
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idk but it sounds sickkk thank you for sharing
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the fact that it’s stacked with old Bollywood samples
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woah… excuse my language but this is so fucking fierce
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This review is so exactly what I thought as soon as I heard it. What a shame. The production is a 10 in my books, the verses really go harrrrd.
Then comes that hook, the first half got me excited but it’s like they gave up suddenly to go into this idiotic jennie jennie jennie.
I have SUCH MIXED FEELINGS about this. I just wish I could just listen to either the instrumental or the verses without going into that cringey chorus 😂
Maybe it will grow on me, 100% it will do numbers on TikTok I guess
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imo the songs works perfectly as an opener, the production is even a 10 for me. agreed with the longevity. are there gonna be any buried treasures? (gonna listen to the album know, will comment later my opinions)
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ik i commented just two minutes ago, but i had to came back bc i’ve just listened to filter, and OMG, IT’S SO INSANE. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!
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Whoever is her producer has done a great job of polishing all of these to a high polish. All the little touches of change ups.
As for the songs themselves, just not for me. The content, the style, the obvious choreo. It is all so firmly in the current gestalt of bragging TikTok posing short clips. I am just too old for this.
(geezer rant … … back in my day, the leading artists all put out not so subtle protest songs. What are the artists of today releasing? This song, me me me, look at me. 99 Luftballons, song about the cold war. Born the USA, song about the Vietnam War. Sunday Bloody Sunday about the Troubles.)
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Your comment is so kismet because I’m starting a vocal class tomorrow and our teacher emailed that we all have to pick two protest songs to sing (I did not know the class would be protest themed). I’ll take any other suggestions you have, for tenor vocal especially. I’ve been spending hours just trying to find two I’d like to sing.
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The old musical “Kismet” has some nice songs in it.
U2 “A Sort of Homecoming”. Lots of other U2 alternatives, but this one has range and nuance, not just Bono going full out.
I’ll come back tonight with more ideas.
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If we stick with the 80’s Cold War, everyone had a song. But for the ones that you can sing singerly, Sting “Russians” is the popular one in revival these years, for obvious reasons. Peter Gabriel “Biko” about apartheid, his “Red Rain” about nuclear fallout. These could almost be acapella.
If you know any guitarists to accompany and perhaps a second voice in duet, Scorpions “Wind of Change” is a post-cold war standard. Look up their live version with Morten Harket of a-ha.
Going back further, 60’s-70’s, so many. You can’t go wrong with classic Bob Dylan such as “Blowing in the Wind”. Peter Paul and Mary cover many 60’s protest songs elegantly. Sometimes its harder and takes more skill to sing the simple songs simply than to sing the dramatic songs dramatically. His songs won a Nobel Prize, for a reason.
Fun fact: Simon Fuller of 19 Entertainment of starting the whole Pop Idol / American Idol, got his start producing with a song called “19” by Paul Hardcastle which is a Vietnam war protest song. Not singerly though.
Let’s listen to Sting. His voice has lowered several steps down in the 40 years since the original recording, but his older gravelly voice is perhaps more poignant.
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Yeah it’s always interesting to me how really big songs back then just had clear protest messaging (and people liked it?). We don’t really see that anymore, I think. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen it at all during my lifetime. Protest songs exist but they’re not usually that big now.
I am still in my One Ok Rock phase – so much so that I’m going to see them live before I’ve seen any kpop artist. And although I don’t delude myself that they’re all that edgy or deep (anymore), I do appreciate their single Delusion:all for having some sort of protest message. It just resonates nowadays. Bring back protest music, it’s about time!
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Instrumental sounds like an Azaelia Banks song– 212, maybe? I think you could probably switch the vocals from that onto this and not notice.
I think I am just destined to not like any Blackpink or adjacent song
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I admit I was surprised when the Korean rap came in. I was expecting the song to be entirely in English, but I liked the fact that Jennie hadn’t left her roots behind. Even so, the track didn’t completely convince me. As a Brazilian, I’m very familiar with this genre, but unfortunately it’s not something I like. The beat of this style tends to overlay layers too high, and Brazilian funk, for example, can be uncomfortable for those looking for something that isn’t so light, but still balanced. And the lyrics follow the same pattern as always, with that message of self-affirmation like: “I’m incredible and unbeatable.”
I’ll give 7 (7, 7, 7, 7)
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We’re a long way from Bob Dylan. Imagine if he wrote a song back in the day, “I’m Bob Bob Bob Bob Yeah I’m Bob Bob Bob Bob Everyone wants to be like Bob Bob Bob Bob Haters hate Bob Bob Bob Bob There can only be one Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob In case you forgot my name it’s Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob.”
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LOL I would love to hear that in his voice.
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As a fan of Jennie, who liked Mantra and thinks Zen’s one of the best songs this year, and is an even bigger fan of Blackpink, I’d have to say “Like Jennie” is the absolute worst K-pop song I’ve ever heard from anyone ever. I don’t ever need to hear it again.
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what he said said said said said
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can you please review mayhem in some form? I’m so curious what your favorite songs are. I loved “vanish into you”, “zombie boy”, “lovedrug”, and “how bad do you want me”. Overall I thought it was great
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Zombieboy is SO good!
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Possibly! For now, it’s been nice to enjoy it *without* having to write about it, but if I have time it would be fun to record some of my thoughts.
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I’m kinda surrendered to this shtick at this point. I think it’s fun, but, like a lot of songs, could’ve been much more. If it works well in the album I’ll call it a success
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In my opinion, i dont think this a typical braggadocio song, i think Jennie is almost mocking K-Media’s and the Korean public’s obsession with her…or more accurately, her persona. She’s has been number one in Korean brand rankings many times. I think the obnoxiousness of the chorus reflects the annoying and invasive chatter from fans and the public. They always obsess about her hair and nails, and even when their comments are positive, that puts more pressure on a person to always look perfect. I feel like it could be that Jennie is reluctantly accepting the constant attention and concluding “I might as well think that I’m great with all of this attention.
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This! And this is the title track, so for a lot of people it’s the only song off the album they’re going to hear or care about. They’re not going to check out the more artful or introspective songs on the album. They’re only going to see this. There’s probably some grand analysis here on how it reflects how people will only see Jennie as an “It girl” to imitate or hate and not look into the other sides of her.
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loved the part where she rhymed “jennie” with “jennie”, “jennie”, “jennie”, “jennie”, and “jennie”
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i think that was fun, the chorus reminded me of this one
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