Jennie – Like Jennie

Iain has chosen Like Jennie by Jennie, so let’s talk about Jennie…

[Video]
[6.89]Iain Mew: This initially passed me by a bit as good but more of the same; here in the UK it was a #36 hit, following on from “Mantra” (#37) and “Extral” (#37). As I listened more when it picked up globally, it became more obvious why it was this song it was happening with. It gets in the classic line “don’t bore us/take us to the chorus” but that’s an understatement for what Jennie is doing here, drilling down to the smaller fragment of a two-syllable, one name hook and flexing and dancing with it across a packed-full two minutes. The bits where she keeps repeating “Jennie” as the beat mutates, backing vocals rising to meet her, are sublime.
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Iris Xie: Jennniiiiieee. If you weren’t so hot and well-defined, I don’t think this song would exist. Making pseudo-baile-funk music for people who don’t know what baile funk is (K-pop fans) is an extremely funny thing to do, considering that I’m pretty sure the producer isn’t really quite sure what baile funk is, or who Jennie is, either. But it’s pretty good at displaying Jennie’s brand and that she’s hot shit, and again, embodies the whole vibe that is communicated from Kelis’s “Bossy.” The real pop girl who has won this year is Kelis (see Katseye) because people are just trying to tap back into her effortless attitude.
[5]

Claire Davidson: When I first encountered “Like Jennie” on a K-pop radio DJ mix, I laughingly dismissed it out of hand, rolling my eyes at what I felt were its click-baiting references to AI and the “hot tea” that Jennie allegedly leaves for the tabloids to decipher. In a world where AI-generated music has successfully infiltrated the Billboard charts, though, the song’s distinctive brashness has become a lot more endearing to me—and, indeed, it would stand to reason that a song all about the singularity of its lead artist would come flying out of the gate with some, uh, memorable punchlines. With that newfound perspective, I can admit to actually really enjoying the song’s thunderous percussion and kinetic walls of synth, even if the elasticized vocal fragments that accent the hook grated on my nerves in record time. If anything, my biggest issue with “Like Jennie” is that it doesn’t lean hard enough into its combative, bizarro energy: the chorus stops short of defining what makes Jennie unique after perfunctory mentions of her hair, nails, and ability to leave audience members obsessed—all prerequisite traits of becoming a true pop star, and as such not really illustrative of who Jennie is outside of Blackpink. This is a song whose hook should leave listeners ready to recite a laundry list of its artist’s claims to fame. Instead, “Like Jennie” quickly bounces to its next sonic fragment of an idea, leaving Jennie’s hyperactive ad-libs to dissipate in a hypnotic whirl of backing vocals.
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Scott Mildenhall: It’s so easy to imagine this being commissioned to advertise some AI phone nonsense — spark up those sass signifiers — that it’s easy to miss its immediately stated opposition to the slop revolution. To its credit, it makes a very human attempt to allege personality: saying your name a lot and making unusual noises. Happily, the noises are great.
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Ian Mathers: Well, I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced semantic satiation for a first name before.
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Nortey Dowuona: Amanda Ibanez‘s winning streak: still unbroken.
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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I listened to Ruby while on a run in March and did not revisit it until December; this went hard to an acceptable degree while I was in motion on a bright spring day but now, in the cold on my couch, I can’t help but think it’s a little frantic.
[5]

Al Varela: I’ve been frustrated with Blackpink’s solo output all year, so you’d think I’d be predisposed to dislike Jennie’s vacuous flex track named after herself. But I’m surprisingly on board with this one. Part of it is that Jennie is more convincing as the hot, badass, “don’t touch me” bitch than any of the other members are. Her energy and force matches the punchy and intense production that’s still catchy enough to do those choreographed dance moves to. Doesn’t quite grip me the way “Mantra” did but it’s got the swagger that I really like from that song. Good work!
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Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I admittedly always had difficulty remembering all four members of Blackpink. Not anymore.
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