Photo Credit: Odd Atelier (Jennie Kim)
Blackpink member Jennie Kim has signed a solo deal with Columbia Records in partnership with her record label Oddatelier. As part of the new solo deal, she’ll drop a new single in October.
Jennie emerged in 2016 as a member of Blackpink and is the highest-charting female Korean act on the Billboard charts. She’s also the only artist from South Korea to have headlined Coachella. Kim was born in Korea, but moved to Auckland, New Zealand when she was 10. She lived in New Zealand for five years before returning to Korea to join YG’s talent academy.
Blackpink was formed in 2016 and has gone on to become the first music group and Korean female act to have five music videos receive more than one billion views each on YouTube. They are also the most-followed girl group on Spotify with 16.3 million monthly listeners.
Kim also had a part in The Weeknd’s ill-fated HBO drama ‘The Idol,’ which explores a female pop idol’s (Lily-Rose Depp) complex relationship with a sleazy night club owner (Abel Tesfaye). Kim performs under the stage name Jennie Ruby Jane and plays a backup singer and dancer who gets the opportunity to break out on her own.
Jennie Kim opted not to renew her contract for solo activities with YG Entertainment, instead moving ahead with her own company Odd Atelier. In June 2024, the pop idol starred in a new Beats by Drew campaign promoting the brand’s Solo Buds. The star appears with backing of a yet-to-be-released original as she dances and swishes her ponytail—which could be a taste of her upcoming solo sound.
Her last truly solo venture was a single called “You & Me” that she debuted and performed during the BORN PINK Tour. She also contributed the song “One Of the Girls” to ‘The Idol’ soundtrack—that song has been certified platinum.
