JENNIE
Jennie Kim trained for years at YG Entertainment before debuting in 2016 as a lead vocalist and main rapper of the K-pop group Blackpink, whose global success made her one of the genre's defining stars of the late 2010s. She launched her solo career with the 2018 single 'SOLO' and, after leaving YG, released her debut solo album 'Ruby' in 2025, a pop, hip-hop and R&B set written and co-produced in Los Angeles around collaborations with a wide roster of Western artists. Her style pairs a cool, unbothered R&B-inflected vocal with sharp rap verses and a poised, fashion-forward star persona.
Jennie has repeatedly named Rihanna as her number-one idol and main musical influence, telling ELLE Korea in 2017 that 'my number one idol will always be Rihanna,' and she has said she auditioned for YG Entertainment by singing Rihanna's 'Take a Bow.' The imprint shows up in Jennie's cool, unbothered vocal delivery and her poise as a solo star making independence sound effortless.
listen forThrow on Rihanna's 'Don't Stop the Music' and then Jennie's 'SOLO' — hear the same clipped, slightly detached vocal cool riding a glossy dance-pop beat, each turning being on your own into a relaxed flex rather than a lament.
According to Wikipedia's account of her career, when Jennie first began to rap she studied the work of artists she admired, including Lauryn Hill — whose model of a woman gliding between sung melody and sharp, conversational rapping shaped Jennie's habit of trading off singing and rap verses within a single track.
listen forPut Hill's 'Doo Wop (That Thing)' before Jennie's 'ExtraL' — listen for the way each moves between a melodic sung hook and a brisk, talky rap flow, a woman rapping with playful bite over a warm, groove-forward backing.
Wikipedia's account of Jennie's early rapping notes that she also studied TLC, whose girl-group blend of attitude-forward R&B, rapped interludes and hooky sung choruses is a clear template for Jennie's rap-sung pop and its swaggering, kiss-off posture.
listen forPlay TLC's 'No Scrubs' and then Jennie's 'Mantra' — hear the same self-assured, kiss-off attitude carried on a bouncy R&B-pop groove where sung hooks and rapped asides keep trading places.