Song Review: Jennie (BLACKPINK) – Mantra

BLACKPINK’s Jennie has a sparse solo discography to her name, both in quantity and quality. 2018’s Solo and last year’s You & Me felt quite underdeveloped as songs. However, she played an integral part in Zico’s irresistible Spot! earlier this year, paving the way for more solo work. Mantra emerges as her third single, continuing many of the charismatic themes that highlight both her and her group’s discographies.

In this case, “charismatic” is my very nice way of saying “one-note.” Has there ever been a K-pop act as massively successful as BLACKPINK with as shallow a theme running through their music? There’s only so many ways to say “I’m so cool, I’m the best, I’m pretty/hot/rich/fun/etc.” Me, me, me, me, me. Regardless of the musical quality, these rallying cries ring more hollow with each repetition. Cool, pretty people don’t need to talk incessantly about how cool and pretty they are — and when they do it makes them infinitely less cool. (Cool people also release songs longer than 2:16, by the way!)

This arrested development isn’t solely a BLACKPINK problem, but when you release music so infrequently there isn’t enough opportunity to deepen the well. Mantra isn’t much of a song, anyway. It’s… well… a mantra. But even seen through this lens, Jennie’s affirmation misses the opportunity for specificity in favor of the most predictable faux-edgy turns. It would be different if the music felt noteworthy or exciting. After all, many dumb pop songs have succeeded (even thrived) on the strength of their melodies, production or general star power. Jennie has a surplus of charisma, but Mantra‘s irritating, catchphrasey sing-talk does her no favors whatsoever. It succeeds only as an extension of a brand, which was probably the point anyway.

Grade: F