Columbia Records announced Sunday that singer, actress and BLACKPINK member Jennie Kim has signed a solo artist contract with its music and entertainment company Oddatalier and will release her new single in October.
Jennie debuted in 2016 as a member of Blackpink, the highest-charting K-pop group on the Billboard charts and the only artist from the country to headline Coachella. Last year, she soloed with The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp on the song “One of the Girls,” and appeared with them on the controversial HBO series “The Idol.”
Kim was born in Korea, but moved and studied in Auckland, New Zealand when she was 10 years old, for five years before returning to Korea and joining entertainment giant YG's talent academy. Blackpink was formed in 2016 and became the first Korean boy band and girl group to have five music videos garnering 1 billion views each on YouTube and is the most-followed girl group on Spotify.
In Sam Levinson's The Idol, Kim works under the stage name Jenny Ruby Jane and plays a backup singer and dancer for pop star Lily-Rose Depp who gets a chance to prove herself on her own.
She spoke to Dua Lipa about her experience on BBC Sounds’ Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast last year. “Acting was definitely something I wanted to explore, but when I do something, when I really decide to do it, I know I need to do it right,” Kim said. “First and foremost, I wanted the new acting part of my life to be authentic, rather than just trying to take any opportunity that came my way – I was really patient with my first acting job ever. That meant that when I was spending some time in LA last year, I was able to actually meet Sam in person and talk to him. He told me about the role he wanted me to do and everything – it really moved my heart.”
