It’s been a pretty wild year wild for BLACKPINK‘s Jennie. In addition to the girl group making history in April when they became the first K-pop band to headline the festival, she also turned heads with her pivotal role as Dyanne in the HBO music drama The Idol, serving as one of the few bright spots in the otherwise divisive, controversial show from The Weeknd (who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye) and co-creator Sam Levinson.
In her first-ever podcast interview, Jennie sat down with Dua Lipa on the latest episode of the “Levitating” singer’s At Your Service pod to discuss those topics, as well as the culture shock she experienced when she moved from South Korea to New Zealand when she was 10 years-old. “I really jumped in without knowing what to expect,” she said, noting that the only thing she knew how to say in English at the time was “Hi, I’m Jennie.”
Jennie said that she’d always wanted to explore acting and the chance to join the cast of the HBO limited-series about a troubled pop star’s attempted comeback after a breakdown definitely appealed to her. “When I do something I decide to really go for it, I know I need to do it right, and first of all, I wanted the new acting part of my life to be authentic, rather than just me trying to grab any opportunities that came to me,” she said of the opportunity to play the backup-dancer-turned-rival to star Lily-Rose Depp’s Joceyln on The Idol.
Because it was her first-ever acting job, Jennie said she had to have patience with the process, which meant she spent time in Los Angeles last year and had a meeting with the series co-creator Levinson in person during which he walked her through the role. “It felt really authentic and real, it moved me and it gave me the courage to believe that this was the right thing to do,” she said.
While discussing the intense trainee system in the K-pop world and the myriad styles of dancing and singing the group’s members went through before making their debut — she’s a self-described terrible krumper — Jennie also revealed that she hasn’t always been psyched to be the quartet’s designated MC thanks to her English-language fluency.
“I’ve never really said this anywhere, but I’ve wanted to…,” she said of her unexpected path to being the group’s rapper. “I’ve gotten into the whole idea of rapping because of the language that I was working with. Back when I was a trainee, I thought, ‘this is what I’m supposed to do’ and I got so into it that by the time we debut in my head I’m thinking, ‘I’m a rapper.’ In my head I’m gonna go out there and rap my ass off.”
But after the band’s debut — where Jennie had rap bits on six different songs — things got a bit muddled in her head about her assigned role. “I kind of got confused because the more I did singing and music I came to realize that there’s a big side of me inside that I love to sing, just play with my vocals,” she said.
“But I actually never had the chance to really explore that as a trainee because I got told that I should be a rapper, you know? So there was a phase where I would hate to rap. I was like, ‘This isn’t me like, this isn’t the Jennie that I envisioned in my head like, I don’t think I’m a rapper.’ So there was definitely a burnout season… a moment where I was denying myself just because the idea that I didn’t pick this path that somebody else has picked for me.”
But after taking some time off and listening to music and looking back at the group’s videos and footage of herself performing, Jennie said she saw herself actually enjoying rapping on stage. “That’s the moment where I accepted the fact that that is a part of me… right now I am lucky enough to have a choice to be a crazy rapper and also sing whenever I want to,” she said.
The chat also touched on the group’s historic Coachella sets in front of 150,000 people in person (and millions more online), which Jennie said was the most “exciting and nerve-wracking thing that happened in our lives,” especially since it came in the middle of BLACKPINK’s U.S. tour.
“But to me personally, the hardest part was because we’ve performed the Sahara Tent four years ago, I had an idea of what Coachella was now,” she said. “Because four years ago, I was like, ‘I guess it’s a festival where, you know, people just rock out and if you like your music, they would just you know dance along with you.’”
But when they were bumped up to headliners, Jennie said she had to sit down with bandmates Lisa, Jisoo and Rosé for a reality check about the unreal moment. “[I was like], ‘Guys, this is happening,’” she recalled about going from watching Ariana Grande headline the fest in 2019 to being the main stage attractions.
“I think it was my first time crying just as soon as I was off stage,” she said of the overwhelming feeling that caused her to burst into tears after leaving the stage. “It was so emotional, like, I was so proud, the hard work that we put on and just the overwhelming feeling that we got from the crowd… it was just a lot of emotions.”
Listen to the full interview below.
