Jennie: The Life Story Behind Blackpink's Star
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Ask anyone in Seoul, Paris, or Los Angeles who Jennie is and you will get the same answer: the girl from Blackpink who can do everything. Kim Jennie was born on 16 January 1996 in Seoul, and she spent five of her childhood years in Auckland, New Zealand, where she went to school, learned English, and learned how to stand on her own feet far from home. When she came back to Korea at fourteen, she was already different from other trainees, fluent in English, confident in front of strangers, and sure that the stage was where she belonged.
Her story is about a girl who left home at nine, who came back at fourteen, who trained for six years, and who became the first member of Blackpink to go solo, the first to act on HBO, and the first to build her own company. She is called Human Chanel, and she earned that name, through style, through talent, and through a personality that is both fierce and soft. This is the life story of Jennie, from Seoul to Auckland to the top of the music world.
Today, she is known around the world for her solo song Solo, for her album Ruby, for her role in The Idol, and for a fashion sense that has made her one of the most influential young women on the planet. She is still in her twenties, and she has already achieved more than most artists achieve in a lifetime, but her story is far from finished, and the best may still be to come.
A Seoul Girl Who Moved to New Zealand
Jennie was born Kim Jennie on 16 January 1996 in Seoul, South Korea, and she grew up as an only child, in a loving family. She was a bright, curious girl, and she loved music, dance, and performance, though she did not grow up in a family of entertainers. Her family was ordinary, and her childhood was happy, with school, friends, and the simple pleasures of growing up in Seoul in the late 1990s, a city that was changing fast, becoming modern, becoming global, and becoming the home of K-pop.
When she was nine years old, her life changed completely. Her family sent her to live and study in Auckland, New Zealand, where she attended ACG Parnell College, a school known for its academic excellence. She was a child, living far from her family, in a country where she did not know anyone, where she spoke a different language, and where she had to learn to be independent, to take care of herself, and to make friends in a new culture. It was not easy, but it was formative, and it shaped her in ways that still show today, in her confidence, her English, and her global outlook.
She lived in New Zealand for five years, from the age of nine to fourteen, and during that time she learned English fluently, she learned about Western culture, she made friends from around the world, and she grew up, faster than most children, because she had to. She was also a good student, and she was known for being bright, for being hard-working, and for being the kind of girl who made friends easily, even in a foreign country, even when she was far from home.
Her time in New Zealand also gave her a love of music, of dance, and of performance, and she began to dream of becoming a singer, though she did not yet know how. She watched music videos, she listened to Western pop, and she imagined a life on stage, a life that seemed far away, but that felt right, and that dream stayed with her, even after she returned to Korea, at fourteen, to chase it for real.
The Trainee Years: Six Years of Hard Work
Jennie joined YG Entertainment in 2010, at fourteen, after returning from New Zealand, and she stayed a trainee for six years, longer than any of her future bandmates. Six years is an eternity for a teenager. While her classmates were choosing universities and first jobs, she was in a practice room, singing the same lines until her voice was raw, rapping until the words came without thinking, and dancing until the moves lived in her muscles. She has said that those years taught her patience more than anything else, because nobody could tell her when her turn would come, only that she had to be ready when it did.
What kept her going was that YG kept putting her in front of the public, little by little. In 2012 she appeared in G-Dragon’s music video for That XX, playing a young woman in a love story, and viewers who had never heard her name asked who she was. In 2013 she featured on Lee Hi’s song Special, singing a verse that showed off a voice with a smoky edge, a voice that did not sound like anyone else in K-pop. These small chances were like fuel. Each one told her that the company believed in her, even if the debut date kept moving.
Her English gave her an edge that most trainees did not have. She could understand the American pop she loved, she could write notes to herself in English, and she could talk to foreign producers without a translator. But it also set her apart in the practice room, where the other trainees spoke Korean at home and she had spent five years thinking in English. She had to relearn the small things, Korean slang, Korean jokes, the way friends tease each other, and she did it by listening, by asking questions, and by refusing to be embarrassed about what she did not know.
By 2016 the waiting ended. YG announced a new girl group, and Jennie, now twenty, was first on the list. She had trained for six years, she had appeared in videos and songs, and she had become the trainee the younger girls looked up to. When the group finally had a name, Blackpink, and a debut date, she was ready in a way that only six years of practice can make you ready. The girl who had waited the longest was about to become the first to go solo, the first to act on HBO, and the first to run her own company.
Blackpink: The Debut
When Blackpink stepped onto the stage on 8 August 2016 with Square One, the song that stopped people in their tracks was Whistle, and the voice that carried its strangest, most haunting line was Jennie’s. Her rap in Boombayah was sharp and playful, and in Whistle she sang the bridge with a softness that showed she could do both: rap like a storm and sing like a whisper. At twenty she was the oldest in the group, the one with the longest training, and it showed in every second of the performance.
What made her stand out in those first weeks was not one skill but the switch between them. In one song she was the rapper, spitting fast Korean verses with a confidence that made the audience lean forward. In the next she was the vocalist, holding a note that made the room go quiet. Very few idols can do both at that level, and Jennie could, because she had spent six years learning both. Fans noticed quickly. Within weeks of the debut, her face was on magazine covers, her name was trending, and people were calling her the group’s ace.
The debut also revealed her stagecraft. She knew when to look at the camera, when to smile, when to let the music do the work. In the Boombayah video she wore her hair long and loose, danced with a looseness that looked effortless, and made the camera follow her. Choreographers who watched those early performances said she had a natural sense of rhythm, a feeling for where the beat would land, and that is not something you can teach. You can train it, you can sharpen it, but the instinct has to be there, and in Jennie it was.
By the end of 2016, Blackpink had won the rookie awards, and Jennie had become the member the media asked for first. She handled the attention with a calm that surprised older journalists, answering questions in Korean and English, laughing at herself, and never looking overwhelmed. It was the first sign of a quality that would define her whole career: no matter how big the stage, she behaved as if she had been there before, because in her head, after six years of waiting, she had.
Solo: The First to Go Solo
In November 2018, two years after Blackpink’s debut, Jennie did something no member of the group had done before: she released a solo single. Solo was a song about walking away from a bad relationship and being fine on your own, and it fit her perfectly, because she had always been the member who seemed most comfortable alone on stage. The song’s hook was simple and sticky, the video was glossy and expensive, and within days it was number one in Korea. The message was clear, Blackpink was a group, but Jennie was also an artist, and she had her own story to tell.
The success of Solo changed the maths of K-pop. Until then, members of a girl group were expected to wait their turn, to take solo chances only when the group allowed it. Jennie went first, and her success gave the other members permission to follow. When Lisa, Rosé, and Jisoo later released their own solo music, they were walking through a door Jennie had opened. She has never made a big speech about it, but the order of events is the proof: she was first, and she was first because YG trusted her to carry a solo song, and she did.
Her first solo album, Ruby, arrived in March 2025, and it was a different animal from Solo. Fifteen tracks, collaborations with Dua Lipa on Handlebars, Doechii on ExtraL, and Childish Gambino, and a sound that moved between pop, R and B, and hip-hop without ever settling. Ruby was the sound of a woman who had run her own label for a year and no longer needed to ask anyone’s permission. Critics praised its confidence, fans loved its range, and the album proved that Jennie had grown from the twenty-two-year-old who sang Solo into a thirty-year-old artist with a clear idea of who she was.
A month later she took Ruby to the Coachella stage, performing a solo set in the desert in April 2025, in front of a crowd that sang every word. It was a full circle: in 2019 she had performed at Coachella with Blackpink, and in 2025 she was there alone, with her own band, her own set, her own name on the poster. She danced, she rapped, she sang, and she looked like a woman who had finally built the career she had imagined as a fourteen-year-old trainee. The girl who waited six years had learned how to wait, and now she did not have to wait for anyone.
Human Chanel and the Fashion Icon
Jennie is called Human Chanel, and the name fits her perfectly, because she is one of the most important fashion icons in the world, and one of Chanel’s most beloved ambassadors. She was named a global ambassador for Chanel, and she has attended fashion shows in Paris, appeared on magazine covers, and been praised by designers for her style, her elegance, and her ability to make any outfit look effortless. She is not just wearing Chanel. She embodies it, with a grace, a confidence, and a modernity that is uniquely her own.
Her fashion sense is known around the world, and her outfits, her hairstyles, and her makeup are copied by fans everywhere. She has a way of making even the simplest outfit look chic, and even the most daring outfit look elegant, and that is a rare gift, one that comes from confidence, from taste, and from a deep understanding of style. She is not following trends. She is setting them, and the fashion world follows her, not the other way around.
She has also become an ambassador for other major brands, and her influence on fashion, on beauty, and on culture is enormous, spanning Asia, Europe, and America. She is one of the most followed people on Instagram, with tens of millions of followers, and her posts, her photos, and her style are watched by people around the world, who look to her for inspiration, for ideas, and for a sense of what is beautiful, what is modern, and what is cool.
Her fashion career is also a sign of her global appeal. She is not just a K-pop star. She is a global icon, and her style speaks to people in every country, in every culture, because it is about confidence, about elegance, and about being yourself, and those are universal values, that transcend language, that transcend borders, and that make her loved, not just in Korea, but everywhere.
The Idol and the Actress
In 2023, Jennie took on a new challenge, acting, appearing in the HBO series The Idol, playing Dyanne, a backup dancer and friend of the main character. It was her acting debut, and it was a bold choice, because the show was controversial, dark, and adult, and it was very different from anything she had done before. She took the role because she wanted to try something new, to challenge herself, and to prove that she could act, not just sing and dance, and she did it, with a performance that was praised for its naturalness, its confidence, and its charm.
The Idol was not a huge success with critics, but Jennie’s performance was one of the most talked-about parts of the show, and it introduced her to a new audience, people who had never watched K-pop, who had never heard of Blackpink, and who saw her, for the first time, as an actress. It was a new chapter in her career, and it showed that she is not afraid to take risks, even when they are controversial, even when they might fail.
She has also spoken about wanting to do more acting, to try new roles, and to grow as a performer, and her fans are excited to see what she will do next. She is not just a singer. She is a performer, in every sense of the word, and she is willing to learn, to grow, and to take on new challenges, even when they are scary, because that is how you grow, and that is how you become a better artist.
Her acting debut also showed her range. She is not just a rapper, or a vocalist, or a fashion icon. She is a complete artist, and she is still growing, still learning, and still finding new ways to express herself, through music, through fashion, and now through acting, and that versatility is part of why she is so loved, and why her career will last, long after the fame fades.
ODD ATELIER and the Businesswoman
In December 2023, Jennie announced that she had started her own company, ODD ATELIER, and the name told you everything about how she sees herself. Odd, because she has always been a little different, a trainee who grew up in New Zealand, a rapper who sings, a fashion icon who loves hip-hop. Atelier, because she thinks of her work as craft, as something made by hand, not manufactured. The company, known as OA, was her declaration that from now on, her solo career would be hers, built by her, in her own way, at her own pace.
Starting a label is a gamble, and Jennie knew it. YG Entertainment had trained her, housed her, and made her famous, and leaving its umbrella meant giving up a safety net. But she had watched other artists stay inside big companies and slowly lose the right to choose their own songs, their own photos, their own schedules. She did not want that. OA gave her the power to pick her collaborators, to approve her artwork, and to decide when a song was finished, and for an artist who had waited six years for a debut, that power was worth more than any safety net.
The first big test of OA came in 2024, when she signed a partnership with Columbia Records for her solo releases, a deal that put her music in front of a global audience while keeping creative control in her own hands. Ruby was the first album released under that partnership, and its rollout, the singles, the videos, the Coachella set, was planned by her team, not handed down by a distant office. Every detail, from the tracklist to the photoshoot, carried her fingerprint, and fans could feel the difference: this was not a product made for her, it was a record made by her.
OA also changed how the industry talks about idols. Before Jennie, a K-pop star who left her agency to go independent was seen as a risk. After her, it became a model. Younger artists now talk openly about wanting their own labels, their own teams, their own ateliers, and they point to Jennie as the proof that it can work. She did not set out to be a business case study. She set out to own her music. But by owning it, she showed a whole generation of artists that they could own theirs too.
The Woman Behind the Star
At home, Jennie is not the star on the magazine cover. She is a dog owner, a daughter, and a friend who cooks for the people she loves. Her two dogs, Kuma and Kai, are famous among fans, Kuma, a Pomeranian with a face that has launched a thousand memes, and Kai, a cocker spaniel, and she talks about them the way any dog owner does, with pride and with exasperation in equal measure. When she posts a photo of them, it gets millions of likes, not because it is glamorous, but because it is ordinary, and ordinary is the one thing fame rarely allows.
Her family is small and close. She is an only child, and her mother has been a steady presence through her whole career, from the decision to send a nine-year-old to New Zealand to the founding of ODD ATELIER. Jennie has said that her mother taught her to be independent, and the proof is everywhere: the girl who lived alone in Auckland at nine grew into the woman who runs her own label at twenty-seven. She keeps her family life private, and she has asked fans to respect that boundary, a request most of them honour, because they understand that the stage is for sharing and home is for keeping.
Her friendships are just as important. The other members of Blackpink, Lisa, Rosé, and Jisoo, are the only people in the world who understand exactly what her life has been like, from the trainee dorms to the stadiums, and they talk about each other like sisters, with the teasing and the loyalty that only sisters have. She has also built friendships outside K-pop, with designers, photographers, and other artists, and those friendships show in her work, in the collaborations that feel like friendships first and business second.
She is also a homebody in a way that surprises people who only know her from fashion week. She likes to cook, to watch movies, to stay in with her dogs, and to do the quiet things that make a life feel normal. It is a deliberate choice. Fame gives you the world, but it takes your privacy, and Jennie has learned to protect the small, ordinary parts of her life, because they are the parts that keep her grounded, and that remind her that she is a person first and a star second.
Awards and the Global Icon
The numbers behind Jennie’s career tell their own story. Solo, her first solo single, topped the charts in Korea and became the first song by a Korean female soloist to top the US iTunes chart, a record that stood as a sign of how far her reach went beyond Asia. On Spotify, Solo passed a billion streams, putting her in a small club of K-pop soloists whose songs have been played that many times. These are not just numbers. They are proof that a song about independence, sung by a woman who had waited six years for a debut, could travel the world on its own.
Ruby added a second layer to the record book. The album charted in the top ten in the United States, the United Kingdom, and a dozen other countries, and its singles, like JENNIE, ExtraL, and Handlebars, were streamed hundreds of millions of times in their first months. For an artist who releases under her own label, those numbers mean something different than they do for a star backed by a giant company. They mean she did it herself, with her own team, on her own terms, and that is a kind of success that awards alone cannot measure.
With Blackpink, her trophy case is even fuller. The group has won awards at the MTV Video Music Awards, the MTV Europe Music Awards, and the People’s Choice Awards, and they have been the first K-pop girl group to headline Coachella, to top the Billboard 200, and to fill stadiums on every continent. Jennie was on every one of those stages, and her name is on every one of those records, as a rapper, a vocalist, and a performer who helped build the group from four trainees into a global institution.
But the award she seems proudest of is the one no ceremony can give: the respect of other artists. Designers ask her to sit front row, rappers ask her to feature on their songs, and younger idols name her as the star they want to be like. That kind of respect is earned slowly, over years, by showing up, by working hard, and by being yourself. Jennie has earned it, and she did it before the age of thirty, which is why her story is still being written, and why the best chapters may be the ones that have not happened yet.
My Take:
Two worlds, one star.
Jennie grew up between two worlds, Korea and New Zealand, and I think that is her greatest strength, because it gave her something that most people never get: the ability to see the world from two perspectives, to speak two languages, to understand two cultures, and to belong everywhere, without belonging completely anywhere. That is a strange feeling, and it can be lonely, but it can also be powerful, because it makes you adaptable, it makes you open, and it makes you curious about the world.
I think that is why she is so successful globally. She is not just Korean. She is global, and she understands the world in a way that someone who has only lived in one place cannot. She speaks English fluently, she understands Western culture, she knows how to talk to people from different countries, and that is a rare and valuable skill, especially for a K-pop star who performs around the world. Her childhood in New Zealand was not a detour. It was a gift, and it made her who she is today.
Six years of waiting.
She trained for six years, longer than any other member of Blackpink, and I think about that a lot, because six years is a long time to wait, to work, to hope, and to wonder if it will ever happen. She was fourteen when she started, and twenty when she debuted, and in between, she practised every day, she learned, she grew, and she waited, without knowing if it would ever pay off. That is a kind of patience that is almost impossible, especially for a teenager, and it is a sign of her character.
I think that is a lesson for anyone who is waiting for their moment, who is working hard, who is wondering if it will ever happen. It will, if you keep going, if you keep working, and if you believe in yourself, even when it feels like nobody is watching. Jennie waited six years, and when her moment came, she was ready, because she had done the work, and that is why she succeeded, not because she was lucky, but because she was prepared.
Solo was a statement.
Solo was not just a song. It was a statement, a declaration of independence, a song about being strong on your own, about not needing anyone else to be happy, and it was the perfect song for Jennie, because she is independent, she is strong, and she is not afraid to stand on her own. She was the first member of Blackpink to go solo, and she did it with confidence, with style, and with a song that became a hit around the world, proving that she could succeed on her own, not just as part of a group.
I think that is why Solo mattered so much. It was not just a hit. It was a proof, a proof that she was an artist in her own right, that she had something to say, and that the world wanted to hear it. It opened the door for the other members to go solo, and it showed the industry that Blackpink was not just a group, but four solo stars, each with their own voice, their own style, and their own story to tell.
Human Chanel is not just fashion.
She is called Human Chanel, and I think that is about more than fashion. It is about confidence, about elegance, about a way of carrying yourself that makes people look, that makes people admire, and that makes people want to be like you. She does not just wear Chanel. She embodies it, with a grace, a poise, and a modernity that is uniquely her own, and that is why the fashion world loves her, because she is not just a model, but a muse, an inspiration, a person who makes clothes come alive.
I think that is also a lesson about style. Style is not about what you wear. It is about who you are, about how you carry yourself, about your confidence, your attitude, and your authenticity. Jennie has style because she is confident, because she knows who she is, and because she is not afraid to be herself, even when the world is watching. That is true style, and it cannot be bought, it can only be earned, through being yourself, every day.
ODD ATELIER and taking control.
OA is not just a company. It is a statement, and the statement is that Jennie trusts herself. She spent six years as a trainee, being told what to sing, what to wear, and when to debut, and then she spent seven years in Blackpink, sharing every decision with three other women and a company. OA is the first time she has made the decisions alone, and that is a frightening thing, because if it fails, there is nobody else to blame. But she did it anyway, because she believed that she knew herself better than anyone else did.
I think that is the bravest part of her story. It is easy to be brave when someone else is paying the bills. It is hard to be brave when you are the one signing the cheques, hiring the team, and choosing the songs. Jennie did that, and Ruby was the proof that it worked, an album that sounded like her, looked like her, and felt like her, because it was made by her. That is what independence looks like, and it is worth celebrating, not just for Jennie, but for every artist who dreams of owning their own work.
The Idol and being brave.
Her role in The Idol was controversial, and I respect her for taking it, because it was a risk, and risks are scary, especially when you are a global star, and when the whole world is watching. She could have played it safe, she could have chosen a sweet, easy role, but she did not. She chose a dark, adult, complicated show, and she did it because she wanted to challenge herself, to grow as an actress, and to prove that she could do more than sing and dance.
I think that is the mark of a real artist. A real artist does not play it safe. A real artist takes risks, even when they might fail, even when people criticise, because that is how you grow, and that is how you learn. Jennie did that with The Idol, and whether the show succeeded or not, she grew from it, and she showed the world that she is brave, that she is willing to try, and that she is not afraid to fail.
The lesson I take from her.
The lesson I take from Jennie is simple: be patient, be brave, and be yourself. She waited six years to debut, she was brave enough to go solo, she was brave enough to found her own company, and she was brave enough to act in a controversial show, and she did it all while being herself, confident, stylish, and true to who she is. That is a powerful combination, and it is one that has made her one of the most successful young women in the world.
So if you are reading this because you love her music, enjoy it. But if you are reading this because you are waiting, because you are working hard, because you are wondering if your moment will ever come, remember her. Remember the girl who waited six years, who grew up in two countries, and who became a global star, not because she was lucky, but because she was patient, brave, and true to herself. Your moment will come, if you keep working, and if you believe in yourself.
What I hope she does next.
I hope Jennie keeps making music, keeps acting, keeps building her company, and keeps surprising us. She has made Solo, Ruby, The Idol, and ODD ATELIER, and she has shown the world that she can do anything, and I would love to see her do even more, to make more music, to act in more shows, to collaborate with artists from different countries, and to keep growing as an artist and as a businesswoman.
And I hope that young women study her, not just for her fame but for her method. Study how she waited. Study how she took control. Study how she believed in herself. Fame fades, but independence lasts, and Jennie has built her career on independence. The girl from Seoul who grew up in New Zealand did not become a star by accident. She became a star by working, waiting, and never forgetting who she was.
New Zealand made her global.
New Zealand made Jennie global, and I think that is an important part of her story, because it gave her something that most K-pop stars never get: a childhood in another country, in another language, in another culture, and that experience made her open, adaptable, and confident in a way that is rare. She learned English, she made friends from around the world, she lived independently from the age of nine, and that independence is still with her today, in the way she runs her company, in the way she makes her own decisions, and in the way she carries herself on the world stage.
I think that is why she is so comfortable in Paris, in Los Angeles, in London, in any city in the world, because she has been global since she was a child, and the world does not scare her. She belongs everywhere, and that is a powerful thing, especially for an artist who performs around the world, who meets fans from every country, and who needs to connect with people from different cultures. Her childhood in New Zealand was not a detour. It was preparation, and it made her who she is today.
And I think there is a lesson in that for anyone who has lived in another country, or who has felt like an outsider, or who has had to adapt to a new place. That experience is not a weakness. It is a strength, and it makes you more open, more curious, and more able to connect with people from different backgrounds. Jennie did that, and she became a global star, not in spite of her time in New Zealand, but because of it.
Being first is lonely.
She was the first member of Blackpink to go solo, the first to act, the first to found her own company, and I think that is lonely, because being first means you have no one to follow, no example to copy, no one to ask for advice. You have to figure it out yourself, you have to take the risk, and you have to live with the consequences, good or bad. Jennie did that, again and again, and she did it with courage, with confidence, and with a belief in herself that is inspiring.
I think that is why her story matters, because it shows that being first is not about being the best, or the most talented, or the most popular. It is about being brave, about being willing to try, about being willing to fail, and about being willing to lead, even when it is scary. She led, and the other members followed, and Blackpink became stronger because of it, because each member learned that they could succeed on their own, as well as together.
And I think there is a lesson in that for anyone who is first, whether in their family, in their school, in their work, or in their community. Being first is hard, but it is also an honour, because it means you are trusted, you are respected, and you are loved enough to lead. Jennie did that, and she did it beautifully, and her courage has opened doors for everyone who comes after her.
Why Ruby is her most honest work.
Ruby is her most honest work, because it is an album she made on her own terms, under her own company, with collaborators she chose, songs she believed in, and a sound that is truly hers, not the sound of a big company, not the sound of a trend, but the sound of Jennie herself, confident, grown-up, experimental, and free. It is an album about who she is now, in her late twenties, a woman who has lived, loved, lost, and learned, and who is ready to tell her own story, in her own way.
I think that is why Ruby resonated with so many people. It was not just a pop album. It was a statement, a declaration of independence, a proof that an artist can succeed on her own, without a big company, without following trends, just by being herself, by making music she loves, and by trusting that the right people will find it. And they did, millions of them, around the world, who listened, who loved it, and who saw themselves in her songs.
And I think that is the future for her. She will keep making music on her own terms, keep building her company, keep acting, keep surprising us, and she will do it all as Jennie, not as a member of a group, not as a product of a company, but as herself, a woman who knows who she is, what she wants, and how to get it. That is a powerful thing, and it is worth celebrating, because independence is the highest form of success.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Jennie born?
Jennie was born as Kim Jennie on 16 January 1996 in Seoul, South Korea. She lived in Auckland, New Zealand, from age nine to fourteen.
What is Jennie’s most famous solo song?
Solo, released in November 2018, was her solo debut and a huge hit, and her album Ruby was released in March 2025.
Did Jennie act in The Idol?
Yes. She made her acting debut in the HBO series The Idol in 2023, playing Dyanne, a backup dancer.
What is Jennie’s company called?
She founded her own label, ODD ATELIER, in late 2023 to manage her solo career and creative projects.
Why is Jennie called Human Chanel?
She is a global ambassador for Chanel and is known for embodying the brand’s style, earning her the nickname Human Chanel.
What are Jennie’s best songs?
Her best songs include Solo, like JENNIE, ExtraL, and Handlebars, as well as her Blackpink hits Ddu-Du Ddu-Du and How You Like That.
