BLACKPINK’s Jennie opens up about the pressures she faced as a rapper

BLACKPINK's Jennie admitted she had a phase where she hated rapping.

In her first-ever podcast appearance, Jennie opened up to singer Dua Lipa for the latter's podcast, “Dua Lipa: At Your Service.” She opened up about everything in the podcast, from her struggles as a trainee to her recent acting debut in the HBO series The Idol.

Jennie, who holds the main rapper position in the group, also revealed a surprising fact: she was forced into rapping during her trainee days.

“I kind of got confused because the more I did singing and music I came to realize that there’s a big side of me inside that I love to sing, just play with my vocals,” she said. “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?"

She felt that her identity as an artist became limited to only being a rapper and that there were times when she felt burnt out.

"So there was a phase where I would hate to rap. I was like, ‘This isn’t me like, this isn’t the Jennie that I envisioned in my head like, I don’t think I’m a rapper.’ So there was definitely a burnout season… a moment where I was denying myself just because the idea that I didn’t pick this path that somebody else has picked for me,” she told Dua.

As she looked back on her previous live performances, she saw how much she enjoyed performing, and how rapping is a part of her.

Now, she says she is lucky enough to have a choice between being a rapper or a singer, where she can fully express herself whenever she wants to. 

BLACKPINK and Dua Lipa collaborated on the song Kiss and Make Up from the solo artist’s self-titled studio debut album back in 2017.