We have finally reached the end of BLACKPINK solo (re)debuts 🥳. It certainly has been a wild ride, and now we wait and see who can last long term with their momentum as soloist. As I mentioned, over the last couple of weeks, in my newsletter and on the blog, I’ve slowly become more and more excited about Jennie’s solo. Now that I’ve listened to Ruby, I can confirm out of all the member solos, Jennie’s is my favorite. Let’s dive into why.
There are 15 songs on Ruby. I have 9 songs saved, the most out of all the member releases. I guess technically Jisoo’s is my favorite album as a whole because I have 3/4 songs saved and that’s 75% of the album. Compared to Jennie’s which is 60% of the album. But Jisoo’s album is an EP. And if I picked my four fave Jennie songs compared to what Jisoo has on hers, Jennie would still win out.
The ones I don’t have saved isn’t because they aren’t listenable, I think they might be songs I come back to later on, but I’m just not hooked on them right now. There are times when I go back to an entire album years later and rediscover songs from an album I wasn’t really checking for, and now I really enjoy them. This happened most recently in my last article, I talked about how I found a few Super Junior D&E songs from The Beat Goes On that I’ve saved even though this album has been out a decade.
So I guess we’ll talk about songs from Ruby in order of album appearance. Starting with the album intro, “Intro: JANE with FKJ”. This is the first feature we hear on the album, and I like it. I don’t typically save album intros, they don’t do much for me. This one is mostly instrumentals. Very little vocals going on here. Skippable for future listens.
I’ve said that the Pinks solos are essentially extensions of what they’ve previously shown us under their YGE solos. I loved “Solo” and I immediately wanted more music from Jennie like that. I wasn’t expecting to have to wait 7 years, but it was worth the wait. I’m obsessed with “like JENNIE” it reminded me of this TikTok I saw with this girl talking about things she bought because of Jennie’s influence. Miss Kim MUST have seen the video because this girl is Jennie DOWN.
The production of “like JENNIE” is flawless. Here’s the link to the credits I’m referencing for this article. There are also the links to where you can stream the album as well. I forgot Diplo was on this album, and his presence is very obvious on this song.
Same with ZICO. I love that Jennie kept the Kpop roots here. There are a few moments on Ruby where she’s speaking…singing in Korean, but the album is mostly in English. Out of the 15 songs, Jennie has credits on 12 of them, impressive, love to see it.
The music video for “like JENNIE” is great. More performance heavy, minimal scenery and story going on. I loved seeing all the dancers and how cinematic it all felt. The styling was interesting. I didn’t hate it, the red look towards the end was my favorite next to the red astronaut look we got at the beginning. The little J gummie floating around?? That thing was adorable, lol. If I were on her team, I’d have Swedish fish gummies or like cherry gummies in that shape as PR gifts to give to influencers, fans, etc.
“like JENNIE” was an explosive way to kick the album off. Not that I didn’t like the intro song, or the collab itself, it just feels like “like JENNIE” is the real album start. I almost would have preferred it to be a middle point, intermission like. Like my favorite example, the interlude “Regular to Irregular” for NCT 127’s NCT#127 Regular-Irregular-The 1st Album.
SM and these damn album titles, omggg. Anyway, long story short, it transitions the two halves of the album so smooth, so incredibly well. I would like to see something like that on Jennie’s next album. It probably would have helped Lisa distinguish her alter egos better on her album to have more clear signals to where we were at journey wise on her album. But that is neither here nor there. The next song on Ruby is “start a war”.
It’s great, three songs in, two if we’re talking songs with lyrics, verses, etc, and we’re seeing a different side of Jennie already. It’s a slower pace song, not the slowest we’ll hear on here. I hate to bring up 2NE1 again, it’s so easy to do with BLACKPINK, but this solo is giving CL in the best way. I just love seeing Jennie’s star power and her having an opportunity to do her own thing on an album.
“start a war” is melo, and chill but still impactful. It also reminds me musically of “Consideration” by Rihanna and SZA from ANTI. It’s like sad baddie hours, but done in such a cool way. Very “Queen never cry“. “Handlebars feat Dua Lipa” is fine. I’m in no hurry to listen to it again, but I don’t hate it. I could Stockholm Syndrome myself into loving it. I’d probably enjoy it more live. I do love its placement trackwise after “start a war”.
“with the IE (way up)” is also fine. I enjoy it more than “Handlebars”. The “Jenny from the block” sample is genius because we’re referencing another Jenny/ie. Iconic. Whoever suggested that needs a raise. Also, I noticed DEM JOINTZ is on here. I recently came across a TikTok of his when he was working on Jennie’s album.
I will never NOT be interested in the behind-the-scenes, creative process of music being made. It’s so fascinating seeing how one got from point a to point b. I started following him immediately after this video popped up on my feed.
And speaking of DEM JOINTZ, “ExtraL” my beloved. Every time I hear this song, I fall more in love with both Jennie and Doechii. It’s so great to bump in the car with the sunroof open. It will be in my top fave songs of the year.
I’m still not fully sold on “Mantra” but I’m growing to like it more on each listen. I still adore “Love Hangover feat. Dominic Fike”.
I totally get and appreciate “ZEN” more now. That’s why I feel like in a few months or years (at the longest) I’ll eventually be turnin up to everything on this album.
Like I thought, “Damn Right” is that girl. I love that we got a pure R&B track. I love when I’m being considered in the creative process of these albums, lmao. The use of features on this album are absolutely excellent. Even though I’m not crazy about “Handlebars” as of writing, I love hearing how well Jennie and Dua Lipa sound together on that song. I can’t even pick a fave feature on here. It feels like everyone picked out was used to their full potential.
So “Damn Right” slows things down, and “F.T.S” slows things down even more. If memory serves, this is pretty much in the boring ballads territory of the album. I don’t have “F.T.S” (F*ck that shit, love that 😂 this woman is hilarious), saved, but again, I think I could grow to love it if I spent more time with it. But also, what a big mood. I related so hard to Jennie with this album.
I’ll talk about this more with the last song on the album, but it feels like even though I’ve been a Jennie fan, a BLINK since debut, it feels like I’m getting to know her (and Rosé) more with these albums. Walls are being let down, and I’m so here for it.
I’m just realizing I’m alternating between the lyric videos and the plan audio, 🫣. That wasn’t intentional, but I’m not fixing it either, lol. I really like the “wowm wowm wowmmm” sound going on in the background of “Filter”. Idk if that was another DEM JOINTZ creation, I wouldn’t be surprised. And again, the fact that he’s on my favorite songs on here, if there’s one thing about me, my taste is consistent. Anyway, the “wowm wowm wowmmm” sound, it kinda sounds like a cat. “Filter” is a banger. Downtempo banger.
“Seoul City” follows up the vibe and tempo of “Filter” perfectly. I love it as well. I’m realizing too that I do really like Jennie’s singing voice. I think when I heard that “One Of The Girls” song I remembered, oh yeah, Jennie, like Lisa is very versatile, with alternating between singing and rapping.
When it comes to BLACKPINK, because I’m heavily Rosé biased, I usually just think of vocally it’s the Rosé show out there. And to some extent, yes, but I think it’s because of how BLACKPINK’s music is laid out. YG likes having that hard rap/singing split. And I think on the solos we’ve been able to see what else the girls can do outside the BLACKPINK formula.
But I hated their full-length album, so there might be some “well actually, Ash, on the song with Cardi B Lisa did xyz” and I’d be none the wiser. I’m basing this off the other like 12 or so songs of theirs I like here.
“Starlight” is the second to last song on Ruby, and it’s ballad city. I like it, but not enough to have it saved. Jennie’s vocal performance is great on this one too.
Aw yeaahhhh I love “twin”. I say it’s a happy song, lmao. I’m a huge “Stay” enthusiast. So the moment I heard the strings on this one, I was hyped. I was not let down. I was in the shower listening to the second half of Ruby. It was around midnight and it was a great listen. I started it earlier in the day and I got pulled to other things.
But I did see a TikTok, one of those Kpop update accounts I usually roll my eyes at, talking about Jennie’s live performance of “twin” and she got emotional during it. So I’m in the shower having a great time, dancing along to the album and then when I heard “twin” for the first time I was emotional. I said to myself, “wow this is such a good album”. At this point, I was really taking in the layers and duality going on in Ruby. “twin” is too relatable.
Going back to the whole me being a BLINK and witnessing the growth, “scandals”, everything that came with being a BLINK and listening in the shower and unknowingly being like, “wow I really connect with this”. I don’t think I’ve had a moment like that with any other Pink solo project. There have been lines I’ve enjoyed. Quips here and there. But a song about the loss of a friendship. Friendship breakups are the worst 😭.
Growing apart and not being as close as you used to be. Nothing prepares you for that. And to end the album on such a gut retching way. Queen shit.
I cannot emphasize enough how much I love that Jennie was like, “I’m going to make that album I want and…
I went and bought the physical album red tee box set from her online store. I’m obsessed. Unfortunately for everyone who knows me irl, this along with like whatever 2025 brings for SVT, TXT, & Enha will be all I talk about this year. This has invigorated my love for Jennie and her music. We are going all in on being Jennie gorls in 2025 💁🏾♀️.
I’ve added Ruby to my list of favorite albums of 2025. It’s the 5th album on my list. Similar to Lisa and Rosé’s albums being Pop, I’d say Jennie’s also has the Pop label on it. Along with R&B and a few other genres sprinkled in there as well. I’m starting to feel like I need a Kpop adjacent tag on here or something, lol.
I can already tell I’ll be talking about Jpop (🪄🕰️ spoiler for the next Quick Thoughts article) more this year. I’m looking forward to that and more on ATK so make sure you pop back in every other day or so to see what’s going on. I’m trying to keep with the Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. But sometimes it’s Tuesday, Thursday.
And I posted yesterday, which was a Sunday. So yeah, follow me on Twitter (most active on, but trying to post more on Bluesky), Instagram, Threads, & BlueSky for updates on the blog and general shenanigans. I don’t really have anything planned content wise for the rest of the week. I gotta get caught up on Yeji, Seulgi, and SVT’s HxW releases. Based on how I liked any of those, I’ll release QTs on those this week.
Anyway, what were your favorite songs from Ruby. Have you listened to it yet? Are you a fellow BLINK? I forget what Jennie stans are called, but I know it has to do with capybaras. I like capybaras, I think they’re cute and underrated. Omg, I need to end this article for real.
Take care!
Ash❤️💎 (Apple, we need a ruby emoji as well) oh yeah, and you can look at more concept photos for Ruby here.