Ruby

After listening to Alter Ego last week, I was a bit hesitant going into this, although I initially did prefer JENNIE's singles over LISA's. I am obviously aware that they are not the same artist, but drawing a parallel between them is almost inevitable given how similar the two albums ended up being in terms of the genre(s) being covered.

Overall, I think this is a decent album and pretty much met my expectations. In terms of the pop performances, I think it is alright, some hooks are a bit bland (twin) or have no substance (Starlight) but in general, they at least don't stand out negatively, although they could definitely be more memorable (more on that later). In terms of rapping, which was my main problem with Alter Ego, I would say it's better than LISA but not by much, and that may also just be because it's less of a focus on here compared to Alter Ego. Apart from not being very lyrically interesting and sometimes a bit annoying (like JENNIE, with the IE), it seems like she is often unable to hold a flow for 4 of more lines, frequently breaking it with singing or some instrumental switch up. One thing I do have to credit her for is actually integrating the features into the song. This is most noticeable with Doechii on ExtraL, who gets introduced at the beginning of her verse, trades "bars" with JENNIE and connects to the beginning of the chorus, which makes for a nice listening experience. I also just saw that she was in the music video as well, which makes me believe that they actually met to record the song, which is a good sign for almost any collab. Apart from ExtraL, the highlights of the tracklist are her singing on Filter, Handlebars, and Mantra. I do think the tracklist loses itself towards the end however, with F.T.S, Seoul City and Starlight being really average and forgettable.

There is one major criticism I have with the album and that is the authenticity of JENNIE's lyrics. Throughout the album, a reoccurring theme in most of the rap verses is that she won't put on a filter, that she is not adhering to norms or follows any scripts. This message about artistic freedom and freedom of expression (which I definitely agree with) feels a bit out of place on a Pop-Rap album from a Blackpink-member (a group whose music is already extremely overproduced and often lacks individuality) especially given the fact that the Hip-Hop portion of it is already watered down and pretty substanceless to appeal to Non-Rap K-Pop fans (she said this herself in an interview btw; she wants to be mindful of how Blackpink fans react and still wants to be loved around the world). It's also not like the Pop portion of this album is anything incredibly new or impressive and it's not that focused to begin with, so I am unsure what exactly the lyrics are relating to. I am not saying that there is necessarily something wrong with playing it safe for the majority of the tracklist (which is definitely what she is doing here), but it does seem and sound a bit goofy when there are multiple tracks about...not playing it safe. All that is to say though, none of it made me cringe as hard as LISA's "Rappin' like my lease up, I told them that I'm focused" line, so i guess that's something.

Overall, I think this a step in the right direction, although not a huge one. There is a clear discrepancy between how the songs sound and what is said in the lyrics, which disrupts the listening flow multiple times. The features are well placed, although they do tend to outperform JENNIE (especially Doechii), and there could have been done more to make tracks stand out positively, opposed to just being alright.