The first solo full-length from Blackpink's Jennie floats in on a cloud. "Jane," the pillowy opener, begins with the singer cooing over a tinkly music-box accompaniment; guided by Jennie's looped voice and the French producer FKJ, it slowly gains its sea legs, with a click-clacking beat rising and synths coming into sharper focus. But before the listener can get too comfortable, the sonic bed is flipped over by a mischievous giggle and the declaration "Come on, it's gon' be fuckin' hard."
This sets up the push-pull of Ruby, the latest in this year's series of solo projects from Blackpink's four members. (Rosie's Rosé arrived in December; Jisoo released the mini-album Amortage on Valentine's Day; Lisa's Alter Ego arrived last week.) On the quick-moving Ruby — which packs 15 tracks into just over 40 minutes — Jennie leans heavily into the ideas that dominated R&B-leaning pop in the '00s and '10s, sometimes updating them in intriguing fashion. "Handlebars," a collaboration with dance-floor intellectual Dua Lipa, turns the agony of being crushed out into a rueful anthem that seems made for singing along with by the "Tuesday drunks" Jennie compares to her tripping into infatuation. "Damn Right," which brings the chameleonicic Childish Gambino and the romantically astute Kali Uchis along for the ride, has the dreamy atmosphere of Uchis' best songs, with Gambino shape-shifting from soul belter to chiding romantic foil in winning fashion. "Mantra" layers its roller-rink-ready beat with Jennie's playful vocals, which add a knowing wink to her assertions that "pretty girls don't do drama" — emphasis, there, on the draaa-ma, of course.
If there's any artist whose specter hangs over Ruby, it's Rihanna. Not only does Jennie have an impressive ability to command the center of candy-coated pop-R&B, there are some moments, like the glittery yet sullen come-on "Seoul City," the boastful collaboration with fast-talking Floridian Doechii "ExtraL," and the stomping "Zen," that feel like if not direct at least second-generation descendants of the hazy introspection shown by the Barbadian mogul on 2016's Anti. There's even a torchy ballad, "F.T.S.," where amid a maelstrom of synths and cavernous drums, Jennie casts off expectations, declaring, "fuck that shit, flip the script." She's talking about love, but she could also be talking about Ruby, which never lets its listeners stay in one place for too long.
