Jennie Kim, a member of the popular K-pop group BLACKPINK, recently revealed that she experienced burnout and unhappiness due to her role as the rapper in the group. During a conversation on Dua Lipa’s ‘At Your Service’ podcast, Dua asked Jennie about her experience with rapping and how it felt to perform the rap parts in BLACKPINK’s hit song “DDU-DU DDU-DU.”
Jennie Kim responded candidly, stating that she had never publicly discussed this before but felt the need to share her feelings. She explained that she was assigned the rapper role after the group’s debut because she spoke English. However, as time went on, she realized that a significant part of her loved singing but hadn’t had the chance to explore that aspect due to being designated as a rapper.
Jennie shared that she went through a phase where she began to hate rapping and felt that it didn’t align with her vision for her musical journey. She expressed her confusion and the burnout she experienced due to not being able to express herself as a singer fully.
“I’ve never really said this anywhere, but I’ve wanted to. After our debut, we did like six songs where I would just rap like seriously rap, and along the way, I kind of got confused because I came to see that there’s a big side of me inside that loves to sing, but I actually never had the chance to really explore that as a trainee because I got told that I should be a rapper, you know?” Jennie told Dua Lipa.
“There was a phase where I would hate to rap. I was like, ‘This isn’t me like, this isn’t the journey that I envisioned in my head like, I don’t think I’m a rapper.’ So, there was definitely a burnout,” she added.
Jennie Talks About Struggles and Challenges During Her Training
In addition to her struggles with her role, Jennie discussed the challenges she faced during her training period. She emphasized the importance of maintaining one’s identity and character within the rigorous training system. Many individuals who could not navigate this balance got lost along the way.
The years of training and the intense lifestyle imposed on them by the industry made it difficult for them to understand who they were doing it for and how it would shape their future.
“I’ve actually never really broken down how I did it. But the people who knew the importance of keeping their own identity and character within the training system are the people that are in the group right now – a lot of people got lost on the way because we were so focused on satisfying the people that we were working with, but we weren’t sure who we were doing it for, and how it can identify us in the future. Because it’s literally years of training, it’s not just a couple of hours. So, you get really drawn into the lifestyle that they put us in,” Jennie said.
Jennie’s candid revelations shed light on the pressures and challenges idols face in the K-pop industry. Her story serves as a reminder of the sacrifices and personal struggles that often go unnoticed behind the glamorous facade of the music industry.
