Jennie (BlackPink) talks about 6 painful and cruel years under YG

Jennie had to face harsh judgments as a trainee.

As a guest on artist Jung Jae Hyung's vlog "Jennie's Untold Story," Jennie (BlackPink) had the opportunity to open up about the hidden aspects behind the glamour of being a top K-pop idol.

According to Nate, Jennie confided in Jung Jae Hyung about everything from her early days as an idol to her journey to becoming a " global star" today.

"I joined YG Entertainment at the age of 14, after returning from New Zealand and undergoing six years of evaluation. Of course, it's impossible for someone that age not to be evaluated in school. But wasn't the evaluation process by the management company incredibly cruel?"

The evaluations were incredibly harsh. It wasn't just a matter of saying, 'Today I got 70 points.' Every time I received such an evaluation, a friend of mine would leave, which was incredibly difficult to accept at that age.

When you're young, you learn to receive and give a lot of love, but I had to learn to compete. I felt my perspective on people became selfish. Because, if that friend didn't leave, I would be the one to leave.

"But at that time, I really wanted to debut. It was so sad to see my close friends leave, I had to hold back my tears to do it," Jennie recalled her stressful trainee days.

In the past, Jennie revealed that YG Entertainment's internal producers and CEO conduct monthly checks and evaluations of the trainees. Each month, they have to prepare one solo song, one group song, and one dance performance for the staff to assess their abilities.

The pressure is further intensified when trainees are responsible for everything from choosing outfits and deciding on group members to dividing performance parts and selecting songs.

YG trainees also have to create MR (auditory-recorded versions of instruments with vocals) and choreograph their own dances.

Don't allow yourself to fade into the background.

Despite going through a painful training journey, Jennie said she always believed that one day she would debut.

"It's not because I'm talented, but from a very young age, I decided this was my only path. I gave up school to become a trainee. I didn't allow myself to be insignificant while I was there. So, I tried everything I could to debut."

"Previously, I planned to go to the US to study at university after finishing my studies in New Zealand. But I came to Korea without being able to fulfill either of those plans. I had no other choice but to try to debut," the singer explained.

After all the effort, in 2018, Jennie officially debuted as a member of the girl group BlackPink with the music video "DDU-DU DDU-DU".

"When the song suddenly became a global sensation, my schedule became incredibly busy. That's when I felt the fame on my skin," the singer recalled.

However, once she became an artist known worldwide, the difficulties she faced were no longer insignificant.

Jennie confessed, "I work constantly in many countries, and the constant time zone differences make it difficult for my body to adapt. However, I've learned so much."

I feel fortunate to have been able to do so many things during the BlackPink era, even when I was extremely busy. There's so much to learn. Luckily, I'm doing well, but I don't think it will be easy."

debut solo album becomes a sensation.

Jennie (Blackpink) is receiving a lot of attention with the release of her debut studio album "Ruby" on March 7th. This is the singer's first album since leaving YG Entertainment to pursue a solo career.

The album is receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from both audiences and critics. British music magazine NME gave it a 4/5 star rating, with many positive reviews.

NME believes this is a bold, confident debut that redefines Jennie's identity. As a member of BlackPink, Jennie has long been known as a rapper, but "Ruby" has allowed her to showcase her identity as a singer, with rich R&B tracks.

NME commented that the artists Jennie chose to collaborate with on this album were purposeful and effective: "They complement her rather than overshadow her, ensuring that even when she shares the mic, she remains the captivating center of every song."

The album "Ruby" sold over 386,000 copies in less than a day after its release, making it the best-selling K-pop female artist album on its first day on Hanteo in 2025.

On streaming platforms, "Ruby" also created a sensation. Ten out of 15 songs from the album "Ruby" entered the global Spotify chart on March 7th, achieving a total of 22,910,087 filtered streams.

With this achievement, "Ruby" becomes the Kpop solo artist album with the biggest debut on the global Spotify chart in 2025, and ranks third in Kpop history after Jungkook's "Golden" album (39.6 million streams) released in 2023, and Rosé's "Rosie" album (28 million streams) released in 2024.

Among them, the title track "Like Jennie" debuted at number 12 with 4 million streams. This is the third highest first-day stream count for a K-pop artist this year, after Lisa's "Born Again" featuring Doja Cat and Raye (6.26 million streams) and Lisa's "Fxck up the world" featuring Future (4.49 million streams).

The album includes 15 songs such as: "Mantra", "Love Hangover" featuring Dominic Fike, "ExtraL" featuring Doechii, "Intro: JANE with FKJ", "Like Jennie", "Start a War", "Handlebars" featuring Dua Lipa, "With the IE (way up)", "Zen", "Damn Right" featuring Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis, "FTS", "Filter", "Seoul City", "Starlight" and "Twin".

To promote her new album, Jennie announced a series of concerts titled "The Ruby Experience" in three cities: Los Angeles (March 6-7), New York (March 10), and Seoul (March 15).