Blackpink’s Jennie ‘shone’ in solo Coachella act: critic

Jennie from the K-pop group Blackpink set the stage on fire with her first ever solo Coachella act, according to August Brown from the Los Angeles Times.

“So it’s huge credit to her that she absolutely packed the Outdoor Theater for a set that went way beyond clubby pop, and showcased the genre twists and regal ballads that her solo career finally makes room for,” he wrote, nothing that she had to be up against former bandmate, Lisa, who was also performing a solo set.

About her solo album Ruby, he remarked that “it did make a powerful case for Jennie as a hugely rangy vocalist who swings through throwback R&B, clattering modern club music, vintage belters and misty atmospheres with grace.”

Taking a different route for her performance, “Jennie and her very-present live band spent a lot of her set in a Lauryn Hill-adjacent lane, like on ‘With the IE (way up),’ which sampled Jennifer Lopez’s millennial classic about essential Jenny-dom. She brought out Kali Uchis for ‘Damn Right,’ swapping verses across cultures with an equal reverence for the song’s incandescent soul mood.”

“She sounded great belting 'Handlebars' and sassing on 'Mantra,' and while it’s not news that she’s an incredibly precise live performer, she covered a ton of ground as a dancer while singing this demanding live material with panache,” continued Brown.

He concluded that the singer “proved she could do pretty much anything as a solo act.”

RELATED: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein on set chemistry sparks romance rumours