As the women of Blackpink continue to roll out their solo efforts at around the same time (with Lisa’s solo album, Alter Ego, also being released at the end of February), JENNIE has set herself apart from her fellow bandmates in terms of both sound and level of braggadocio on Ruby. And while the latter quality might not be immediately apparent on the dreamy first track, “Intro: JANE with FKJ,” which features a heavy emphasis on FKJ’s instrumentals, it becomes clear quite quickly who “run like this” (to quote “Intro: JANE with FKJ”) by the second track.
On the fourth single from the album, “like JENNIE” (which, to the seasoned ear, sounds very similar to Gwen Stefani’s 2006 track, “Yummy”), the chanteuse goes all out on flexing about her overall prowess and untouchability. It’s a classic “you’re just jealous ‘cause you can’t be me” motif and JENNIE executes it well. Because, in less deft hands, it might come off as far more annoying to hear the repetitive chorus, “Who wanna rock with JENNIE?/Keep your hair done, nails done like JENNIE/Who else got ‘em obsessed like JENNIE?/Like, like, like (JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE)/I think I really like (JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE)/Haters, they don’t really like (JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE)/‘Cause they could never ever be (JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE)/But have you ever met JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE?/JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE/It’s JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE, JENNIE.” And with that indelible introduction out of the way, JENNIE leads us into the next song, “start a war.”
Giving another tonal shift by showing listeners a “softer side”—at least sonically—on “start a war,” the track has a decidedly SZA-esque feel. And yet, it samples from Charli XCX’s underrated 2019 track, “White Mercedes.” Emphasizing JENNIE’s “ride or die” nature as a girlfriend, she starts by admitting, “I’m not saying we ain’t got problems/Know that we could both be on one.” And yet, by adding, “But if somebody try to start some/I’m gon’ try for you, I fight for you, go off for you I start a war,” JENNIE establishes that she’ll always have her sig other’s (or even a friend’s) back—no matter what they might be going through in their own relationship. So it is that she assures, “Ever since the day you locked in/I was gonna be your down bitch/If I need to start a war I’m gon’ try for you, I fight for you, go off for you/I start a war.”
Picking up the tempo slightly on “Handlebars” featuring Dua Lipa, JENNIE sets the stage for a song that will appear three tracks later, “Love Hangover.” But before that painful sensation arises, there is the “fuck it” moment that leads one to fly over the handlebars, as it were. An analogy that is given extra poetic panache when sung jointly by JENNIE and Dua Lipa, who both shruggingly declare, “I don’t ever think twice, and, baby, that’s why /I trip and fall in love/Just like a Tuesday drunk/I always go all in, all in, all in/Over the handlebars/Hitting the ground so hard/If I’m alone, fallin’, fallin’, fallin’.” Unsurprisingly, however, it is Lipa’s vocals that stand out the most, particularly on her solo verse, “Another round, another drink/I try to stop, but I can’t think/About anything else but you/And I’m a little too buzzed on your love to play it cute/A single kiss, I lost my mind for seven days and seven nights/Can’t eat, sleep, baby, it’s true/Tryna bite my lip, I’m probably gonna slip/And say some crazy shit to you.”
But probably no crazier than the shit that JENNIE says on “with the IE (way up).” Considering that there hasn’t been a major “Jenny” in music (least of all one who likes to play up her name so much) since J. Lo, perhaps it’s only right that the new JENNIE on the block samples from, what else, “Jenny From the Block.” Or at least that’s what it will sound like to millennial and Gen Z listeners. But, in truth, “Jenny From the Block” was already one giant sample to begin with, featuring elements of 20th Century Steel Band’s “Heaven and Hell Is on Earth,” Boogie Down Productions’ “South Bronx” and “Hi-Jack” by Enoch Light. All of which is to say that Mr. Reed’s iterations speech in Heretic keeps coming into play thanks to an era that thrives on “repurposing” everything to the point where it’s so watered down that it’s become unrecognizable from the original. Even so, there’s no denying the catchiness of JENNIE’s swagger-tinged chorus, “Way up, all the way up/Shimmy, shimmy, yeah, I’ma let it go/Shots fire on my way up/Bulletproof glass when I’m riding through/Way up, all the way up/Gimme, gimme that/I won’t let it go.”
But what turns out to be even more of an earworm is her collaboration with rap and hip-hop’s new “queen bee” (in the same way that Cardi B held that title from about 2017 to 2021), Doechii. Titled “ExtraL,” the anthemic track comes across like an update to Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Women Pt. 1” and Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls).” As for the former, JENNIE channels it when she sings, “All of my girls lookin’ good and they got their own money/Pop yo’ shit/This for my girls with no sponsor, they got their own fundin’/Not yo’ shit.” It’s very reminiscent of the motif in “Independent Women Pt. 1,” particularly when the Bey-led trio of Destiny’s Child sings, “All the women, who independent/Throw your hands up at me/All the honeys, who making money/Throw your hands up at me/All the mommas, who profit dollars/Throw your hands up at me.” Then, of course, when JENNIE chants, “Do my, do my ladies run this, ladies run this?” there’s no denying the influence of “Run the World (Girls).” Between that and the “Jenny From the Block” reference on “with the IE (way up),” it’s apparent that, like many current musicians in the pop sphere, JENNIE is a fan/scholar of 00s hits (or at least the people producing her music and co-writing her songs are).
On “Mantra,” she continues to channel that era with an up-tempo rhythm highlighting the “pretty girl mantra.” One that espouses, among other things, “Pretty girls don’t do trauma/No new drama/We already got a full day.” But not so full as to be immune to a “Love Hangover”—for even pretty girls aren’t immune to finding themselves in a toxic relationship cycle that can’t be broken. Indeed, they’re usually the ones most likely to fall prey to such a scenario. Thus, JENNIE is able to sing with conviction, “We say it’s over/But I keep fuckin’ wit you/And every time I do, I wake up with this love hangover.” This type of resigned energy is in direct contrast to “ZEN,” which served as the first visual from the album back in January.
Of all the songs on Ruby, “ZEN” is arguably the most sonically and tonally unique (perhaps because it’s the only track produced by Pluss), with minimal lyrics that convey a self-assured confidence. Most notably, when JENNIE asserts, “Nobody gon’ move my soul [again, a Beyoncé nod feels like it’s happening here—i.e., “You won’t break my soul”), gon’ move my aura, my matter/Nobody gon’ move my light, gon’ touch my glow, my matter/Nobody gon’, all this power make them scatter/No, nobody gon’ touch my soul, gon’ match my glow, like, I dare you (hey).” More cynical types might even suggest she’s “daring” her fellow Blackpink members to challenge her, but that doesn’t seem necessary when taking into account that she’s already ahead of the curve in many regards (though Lisa might have her beat on the acting front, since she chose to be a part of The White Lotus and not, well, The Idol).
“ZEN” transitions easily into the slowed-down, R&B sound of “Damn Right.” Continuing to showcase her chameleon-like (or parrot-like, depending on one’s perspective) vocals, it’s on this song that JENNIE channels some Kali Uchis stylings—thanks to having Uchis actually featured on the track, along with Childish Gambino. This in addition to conjuring memories of Kelis singing, “Damn right, it’s better than yours” on “Milkshake.” And yes, JENNIE (with the help of Uchis) is essentially saying that her entire “personage” is better than yours. Which is why she brings all the boys to the yard. Hence, Childish Gambino’s enamored perspective, delivered in a lengthy verse that includes such memorable ruminations as, “He never even tried to put her legs in the air/He never even tried to put a baby in that.”
As for JENNIE, she appears to confirm Beyoncé’s underlying influence on some of these songs via the lyrics, “And you saw me whip my hair in the wind playing Beyoncé/Putting that good work in like a fiancé.” And, honestly, it’s long overdue for someone to have the “audacity” to rhyme “Beyoncé” with “fiancé.” Because, damn right, “Mrs. Carter” frequently flickers onto the album.
Even in the motivational tone of “F.T.S.” (not to be confused with Lisa’s “FUTW”), a song that stands for both “fuck that shit” and “flip the script.” Call it JENNIE’s version of “Halo”—at least in terms of the “vibe.” While JENNIE stated that the inspiration for the track came from a discussion with her collaborators about how dreams can be manifested if you keep believing in them (in JENNIE’s case, that means becoming a solo musical icon), “F.T.S.” comes across as more of a love song than an “homage” to staying true to one’s dreams, starting with the first verse, “Maybe it’s time to take a leap of faith/And come to my senses and take my shirt off in the rain/Strike a fuckin’ match of love and desire and warm my hands up in the flame/I’m in love, you’re on game/Switchin’ up, switchin’ lanes/Won’t fight the urge, I’ll go insane/I’ll say what I want if this shit’s true.” Of course, what even is “true” is a post-truth world?
A question that, incidentally, ties in nicely with the theme of the following track, “Filter.” And, once again, JENNIE references Beyoncé with the opening line, “I woke up like this.” A phrase that, in this context, bears an ironic touch considering that JENNIE (yes, JENNIE, of all people) is advocating for a life lived without filters. Not just the ones on social media, but also the ones that people tend to wear metaphorically. The “masks” of false identity that most can’t help but wear in a bid to be accepted by society. You know, the same society that willingly elects orange monsters into office.
As for the intonation of the track, there are moments when it channels Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” (which famously sampled Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things”), especially during the chorus: “Undress me on the way to perfection, yeah/Underneath, finally found what’s been missin’/When I take it off I know I love me more/With no filter, filter, ooh-ooh/With no filter, filter, ooh-ooh.” JENNIE then likens having “no filter” to being “uncensored,” which isn’t entirely untrue. After all, there’s nothing “cruder” these days than daring/deigning to appear online without a pre-populated set of “masks.” Alas, while JENNIE’s message is “noble” in theory, one doubts that she’ll adhere to the mantra for very long. Not when considering the industry she’s in. Or her love of L.A.
However, while Los Angeles is a big influence on the record, it’s JENNIE’s hometown of Seoul that will always be in her heart. Something she makes clear on “Seoul City,” a song that, of course, can’t resist the urge to incorporate the homonyms of “Seoul” and “soul” by way of the chorus, “In Seoul city/I see your soul/Seoul city/I see your soul.” The tranquil, ambient groove of the backing track complements the sound of the subsequent “Starlight,” another slow-paced, laid-back number—at first, anyway. Toward the middle, the tempo picks up, lending a unique “two songs in one” quality to “Starlight” that none of the other songs on Ruby have.
Before the rhythm ups its pace, however, there is the “slow jam” feel of the intro that finds JENNIE pondering, “You say you see the starlight in me/Shining so bright and pristine/What about the moments in between?/You said you see the starlight in me/What about the black mystery?/What about the moments you don’t see?” Here, there’s a “No Filter” element to what JENNIE is saying, assuring her would-be admirer that there’s so much more to her beneath the carefully curated surface. Or, as she puts it, “It’s way deeper than what you think I’m tired of that novocaine/Put all that shit away/I wanna feel everything/I was just a white, white, white, lie, lie/Truth comes out in time, time, time, every time I know where my soul has been (ah, that word again: “soul”).
Elsewhere, JENNIE alludes to her predilection for cold baths again (as she did on “Mantra” with the line, “Straight from the cold plunge”), singing, “When the stupid thoughts started getting louder/Said, ‘Bitch, chill out’ and took a cold shower.” She even finds an opportunity to tip her hat to Dua Lipa with the lyrics, “Like we gon’ levitate/Gon’ levitate to the 808.” Not to mention the Madonna aspect of JENNIE repeating, “Starlight bright, starlight bright, starlight bright, starlight.”
And, to ensure that her listeners have a “comedown” period from all this high-octane energy, JENNIE concludes Ruby with the emotional, stripped-down track, “twin,” a fittingly vulnerable end to an album that has mostly been filled with stylized arrogance. In some ways, “twin” is the JENNIE iteration of Britney Spears’ “Dear Diary” (but likely to have more timelessness than the latter). A reference that wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility considering her mention of Ashanti in this song (again, JENNIE is a clear devotee of 00s music). A reference that, to some of JENNIE’s listeners, might be as anachronistic as the concept of “writing a letter” and “put[ting] [it] in a twelve-ounce bottle of Heineken in the Atlantic on a whim.” But bless her for trying to educate those that probably don’t even know there was already a “Jenny” (who often rode the 6) before her.
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