Jennie of Blackpink fronted the January issue of Billboard magazine on her own.
The cover photo accompanies an in-depth interview with the artist, who is poised to release a new solo album.
“It’s a fight between me, myself and I,” she admitted in the interview, adding that as a “self-described workaholic” and a “perfectionist,” she is “not easy to convince … It’s not easy working with me.”
Jennie is preparing to release her first album in 11 months, as she said in a video posted last month. She gave fans a sample with the single “Mantra,” which dropped last October and stayed on Billboard’s Hot 100 for two weeks. The music video for the single reached 100 million views on YouTube the following month.
Blackpink’s Jisoo to drop new solo work next month: report
Jisoo of Blackpink is gearing up to release new work as a solo singer next month, according to a local media report Friday.
Her agency Blissoo neither confirmed nor denied the report, saying only that it could not confirm anything.
It would be approximately two years since she put out her first solo single “ME,” which was the first release from a K-pop female solo singer to sell over a million copies in the first week. Its lead track “Flower” topped the iTunes Top Songs Chart in 57 regions and earned her first place on television music chart shows in Korea nine times.
With the two tracks from the single “ME,” she generated 1 billion streams on Spotify as of July last year, another first for a K-pop female soloist.
Separately, she appeared in public Tuesday for a media conference to introduce her drama “Newtopia.” The zombie apocalypse show will start airing next month.
Stray Kids stay strong on Billboard charts
Stray Kids is spending a third straight week atop Billboard’s Top Album Sales and Top Current Album Sales Charts with the mixtape “Hop,” said label JYP Entertainment on Friday, citing the chart for the week of Jan. 5-11.
This ties the record for a K-pop artist set by BTS. The band also tied the record held by BTS when “Hop” became the group's sixth album to make a hotshot debut on Billboard 200. The 12-track album topped the iTunes Top Albums Chart in 28 regions and sold over 1.42 million copies on the day of its release. It ranked No. 13 on Billboard’s main albums chart dated Jan. 11.
In the meantime, the eight members will head to Hong Kong for a two-day concert later this month as part of their "dominATE" world tour, and next month will greet fans at their fifth fan meeting in Incheon.
NewJeans hits high on Oricon’s annual ranking
NewJeans notched the No. 2 spot in the rookie ranking from Oricon’s Annual Ranking 2024, according to agency Ador Friday.
It is the highest spot for an international artist in Japan, which the quintet achieved by raking in 2.09 billion Japanese yen (US$13.2 million).
The group officially debuted in Japan with the single “Supernatural,” which hit Oricon’s Daily Single Ranking at No. 1 on the day of release in June last year. The single cinched gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan and sold over 1.3 million copies.
Meanwhile, NewJeans logged the highest album sales last year among female K-pop artists, according to a local tally Friday. It sold over 3.09 million albums last year, led by two million-sellers: the two-track single “How Sweet” from May 2024 and “Supernatural.”
