Ruby

This is a really solid pop album, and it stands out in the K-pop landscape because of how Jennie's "badass bad girl" identity shines through on all of the tracks. The record takes you on a journey, showing off her sophistication and versatility (no-doubt required by K-pop record labels) across a bunch of different genres. A significant strength of this album is its really solid collaborations, which feature big names like Kali Uchis, Childish Gambino, Dua Lipa, and Doechii, without any of them overshadowing Jennie herself. That's a rare and a very commendable feat.

The production was entirely solid on every single track, and each track, including the ones I didn't love, had a distinct identity to it that fit overall into a very cohesive image that Jennie expresses with Ruby. It's a much higher quality than most K-pop, but wasn't without its flaws. I didn't love the last two songs, which makes it hard to properly judge an album. "With the IE" was giving more of a hip-hop musical (like Hamilton) than a hip-hop track, and the lyricism on "F.T.S." was remarkably weak. Those aren't indicative of the album as a whole, but they definitely show where Jennie drops the ball. Despite these missteps, Ruby is a great success, a solid solo debut, by far the best solo work to come out of BLACKPINK, and really fun to listen to.

7.2/10