Biography
JENNIE: From BLACKPINK Foundations to an Independent Solo Path
Seoul, New Zealand and a Trainee Years Begin
Jennie Kim was born in South Korea and spent part of her childhood studying in New Zealand, where she began using the extended name Jennie Ruby Jane, a detail she later cited when explaining the title of her debut solo album Ruby. She returned to Korea as a teenager and joined YG Entertainment, one of the country's major entertainment companies, as a trainee, spending several years in vocal, dance and language training before any public debut.
Those years positioned her for a system built around group identities. When YG assembled a new girl group in the mid-2010s, she was placed in its lineup, and the company introduced her to audiences through features and promotional appearances ahead of the group's official launch.
BLACKPINK and the Group Foundation
BLACKPINK debuted in August 2016 with Jennie alongside Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa. The group's singles, including 'Boombayah', 'Whistle', 'DDU-DU DDU-DU' and later 'How You Like That' and 'Pink Venom', turned the quartet into one of the most commercially consistent acts to come out of the K-pop system, with albums The Album (2020) and Born Pink (2022) reaching the upper reaches of charts in the United States and Europe.
Touring defined much of that period. BLACKPINK played Coachella in 2019, the festival's first K-pop girl group, and returned as headliners in 2023; the Born Pink world tour that followed became, according to trade reporting, the highest-grossing tour by a girl group to that point. The group's members also received honorary MBEs in 2023 for their climate advocacy around the COP26 summit, as Korea JoongAng Daily recalled in its Wembley coverage. Through all of it, Jennie remained under YG Entertainment's management, with no separate corporate identity for her individual work.
'SOLO' and First Steps Apart
Her first move outside the group came in November 2018, when 'SOLO' made her the first BLACKPINK member to release music on her own. The single's performance confirmed an individual audience existed, but she did not follow it with an album, releasing instead the standalone track 'You & Me' in October 2023.
Acting supplied another outlet. She appeared in HBO's 2023 series The Idol, created by Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, and recorded 'One of the Girls' with The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp for the show's soundtrack; the collaboration went on to reach the Billboard Hot 100. The series itself drew sharply divided reviews, but the song's performance demonstrated that her audience followed her across formats.
Odd Atelier and the Columbia Partnership
The structural change came at the end of 2023. When BLACKPINK's original contracts expired, all four members split their solo work from YG Entertainment while extending agreements for group activities, and Jennie launched her own company and label, Odd Atelier. The arrangement separated, in explicit contractual terms, the two halves of her working life.
On September 8, 2024, Odd Atelier announced her signing to Columbia Records as a solo artist, a partnership designed to give her label-backed distribution outside Asia without surrendering ownership of her solo operation. Yonhap's report of the deal noted the label's roster of global stars and that the promised October single would be her first solo release since 'You & Me'. Weeks later, on October 11, 2024, she released 'Mantra', her first solo single under the new structure, which reached No. 2 on Billboard's Global Excl. U.S. chart and No. 3 on the Global 200 and set the stage for a full album.
Ruby and Solo Festival Stages
Ruby arrived on March 7, 2025, a fifteen-track album led by 'like JENNIE' and featuring collaborations with Childish Gambino, Doechii, Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, FKJ and Kali Uchis, with a 'Jennie Only Audio' edition stripping out the guest vocals. Speaking through her agency, she framed the record as telling her story in her own voice, with themes drawn from Shakespeare's As You Like It, per Yonhap. It debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart, and in its first week three of its songs - 'Handlebars', 'like JENNIE' and 'ExtraL' - charted on the Hot 100 simultaneously, which the Korea Herald reported as a first for a female K-pop soloist.
Live performance carried the era. She played Coachella's Outdoor Theatre on April 13 and 20, 2025, her first solo sets there after appearing with BLACKPINK in 2019 and 2023, in what the Korea Herald described as the first time a solo K-pop artist performed on that stage. Reviews highlighted the show's live band arrangements and the album's range from rap-forward tracks to slower cuts such as 'twin'.
Reunion Tour, Festivals and Fallen Angel
Group duties resumed in July 2025, when BLACKPINK opened its Deadline world tour with stadium dates at home in Goyang before crossing North America and Europe. On August 15-16, 2025 the tour reached Wembley Stadium, making BLACKPINK the first K-pop girl group to headline the venue, playing to sold-out crowds across two nights. In February 2026 the group released DEADLINE, a five-track mini-album featuring the comeback single 'Jump'.
Solo activity stayed in parallel. Across summer 2026 she headlined Governors Ball in New York, Roskilde, Open'er and Mad Cool in Europe, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Summer Sonic in Japan, previewing unreleased material along the way. The digital single 'Less Than a Lover' arrived on July 24, 2026 through Odd Atelier and Columbia, topping Mnet's M Countdown for two consecutive weeks, and on August 21 she announced Fallen Angel, a three-track EP carrying 'FALLEN ANGEL', 'HEAVEN' and 'Less Than a Lover', set for release on August 28 with a title-track video.
Selected moments
Career highlights
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BLACKPINK debut
Debuted as a founding member of BLACKPINK under YG Entertainment, beginning a run of chart-topping singles, albums and record-scale touring.
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'SOLO'
Became the first BLACKPINK member to release solo music with 'SOLO', confirming a standalone international audience.
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Odd Atelier founded
Established her own company and label, Odd Atelier, as BLACKPINK's members split solo careers from YG Entertainment while keeping group activities there.
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Columbia Records partnership
Signed to Columbia Records as a solo artist in partnership with Odd Atelier and released the single 'Mantra', a top-three Billboard global-chart hit.
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Ruby released
Released her debut solo album Ruby on March 7, 2025, debuting at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart with three simultaneous Hot 100 entries.
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Coachella solo sets
Performed solo at Coachella's Outdoor Theatre on both weekends, reported by the Korea Herald as a first for a solo K-pop artist on that stage.
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Wembley with BLACKPINK
Headlined Wembley Stadium with BLACKPINK on August 15-16, 2025, the first K-pop girl group to top the venue's bill, as part of the Deadline world tour.
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Festival headline run
Headlined Governors Ball, Roskilde, Open'er, Mad Cool, Lollapalooza Chicago and Summer Sonic across summer 2026 between group releases.
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'Less Than a Lover' and Fallen Angel
Released the single 'Less Than a Lover' in July and announced the three-track digital EP Fallen Angel, due August 28, 2026 via Odd Atelier.