JENNIE – Fallen Angel (EP Review)

JENNIE takes an unexpected, exciting turn with “Fallen Angel.”

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TOP 3

3. Less than a Lover

“Less than a Lover” was the highly successful lead single from Fallen Angel, and it’s pretty easy to see why. The song is a beautiful showcase of JENNIE‘s underrated vocals, with a catchy melody and laid-back yet danceable production that makes it an easy summer listen.

Lyrically, the song is about wanting a summer fling rather than a full-blown romance. She’s interested in someone and clearly wants them around, but she isn’t looking to turn it into something too serious. The song is playful but also vulnerable as JENNIE sings about needing to relearn how to trust. It’s a perfect formula for a song of the summer, even though it was released in late July.

2. HEAVEN

In “HEAVEN,” JENNIE moves in an almost dream-pop direction that genuinely surprised me, with even hints of soft rock. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I love Ruby and “Less than a Lover,” but neither would’ve led me to expect this from JENNIE. Her vocals are great here.

I love when pop artists move into dream pop, even if it’s only on individual tracks, so this was an absolute delight. The production on “HEAVEN” was, well, heavenly. The song is about JENNIE being in a toxic relationship, but the chaos of it feels like heaven to her. The distorted guitars give the dreamy production an edge, which echoes the lyrics.

This was a super fun track to hear from JENNIE. More, please.

1. FALLEN ANGEL

Fallen Angel’s all-caps title track opens the EP with a sound that immediately caught me off guard. The guitar intro is strange in the best way, featuring notes I never would’ve expected to hear at the beginning of a pop project. It quickly shifts into a more traditional pop instrumental, but then an electric guitar enters, and the bridge brings in these wonderfully odd synths. “FALLEN ANGEL” moves through so many different musical ideas, and hearing JENNIE explore all of them was genuinely exciting. Her vocals sound fantastic here, too

The best way to describe listening to this song is “exciting.” There was honestly nothing I didn’t like about it. I want to hear more pop music that takes these kinds of risks, going in unexpected directions that actually pay off while still feeling cohesive. This is easily my favorite solo song from a BLACKPINK member, which says a lot considering I’ve been a BLACKPINK fan for a long time and love all of their respective solo careers.

SONG BY SONG RATING

FALLEN ANGEL (5/5)

HEAVEN (4.5/5)

Less than a Lover (4/5)

RGM RATING

(A)

Yes. I love this. JENNIE is shaping up to have my favorite BLACKPINK solo career, which is saying something, because as a longtime BLINK, ROSÉ has been my favorite member since I became a fan.

JENNIE’s voice has improved significantly, and it’s occasionally drowned out by the production here, but compositionally, I love these songs. I do think that the EP should have had more songs, because three is really not many, and this made me want more, but I am now eagerly anticipating anything that comes next from JENNIE (not that I wasn’t after Ruby, which I also love). To quote her hit song “like JENNIE” from Ruby, I wanna rock with JENNIE.