BLACKPINK “JUMP” Review

I’m honestly, like, swamped in a bunch of stuff right now and lowkey really busy (I’m going on an airplane tomorrow and I STILL haven’t started packing…am I cooked, guys?), but when the queens of K-pop suddenly drop new music after a three year hiatus, I gotta drop everything and review it. I got no choice.

I thought I knew BLACKPINK very well at this point. Girl-crush concept. “I’m so cool” lyrics. Black-and-pink aesthetic. Million-dollar M/Vs. Nine years out from their debut, I thought they weren’t going to change. But I guess…they are?

Concept/Message: 3

I’m so surprised that I’m saying this about a BLACKPINK song. But “JUMP” isn’t entirely…a girl-crush concept song??

It’s definitely still based in girl-crush. Just look at the lyrics. And in the M/V, the girls are still suggested to be “world dominators.”

But there’s a hue of club-inspired, rowdy fun tinged into “JUMP” as well. The sound of this song–the drop chorus, the trumpet motif, the really loud bass–feel more oriented to a club or party setting. The M/V just feels like utter insanity (more on this later). The girls don’t seem to be taking themselves as seriously as they have in previous songs.

Throughout the years, I’ve always hoped BLACKPINK would try something with a different concept…especially now that the 4 members have established themselves as such wildly different artists from each other. I applaud BLACKPINK’s willingness to try something new, this late into their career.

But still–I’m not entirely sure “JUMP” is the right direction for a new path. “JUMP” feels more like a trial run than a well-planned step in a meticulously chosen direction. It feels, at best, experimental, and at worst, unsophisticated and weird…

Visuals: 2

????????????????

When I said “JUMP” felt unsophisticated and weird, this M/V is where most of that critique falls.

I felt like my confusion was rising exponentially while watching this video. Why do we need the girls dancing in people’s…mouths?? Why is this street of people just headbanging–are we all high or something??? Why are they running through the streets, pumping their arms and staring the viewer down really creepily??? Why are they sliding down this tilted street??? And why are they floating around the sky in these massive down jackets????? They don’t look cool, but like runaway balloons…

It’s not that I have a problem with weird things. It’s that I feel like this video was just so…disjointed and fragmented. It hit the point of weird that’s not fun or humorous to watch anymore but just straight-up cringey and impossible to follow.

Also, I massively dislike the color palette in this video. The streets they chose were just so…disappointingly gray. They look dusty, dirty, and boring. I wish they chose more vibrant streets–I feel like that could’ve fit their concept of club fun so much more.

But I gotta give them some credit for the amount of editing. Damn–they really had to split that girl’s head in half with Lisa. And they really made them all perform in that blonde girl’s ear. But I’m not sure I completely understand the goal behind these difficult edits.

Lyrics: 2

“yOu kNoW i gOt tHaT sHiT tHaT yOu liKe~”

Ugh. First of all, cringe. Second of all, you do not got that “shit” that I like. “JUMP” is full of lyrics that I can find 8 million different versions of in other girl-crush song lyrics– “bouncin’ to the bass”, “I’m with all of my sisters”, “I ain’t gotta explain”, “spice up your life”, “You know we on a mission”, “all gas, no brakes”…

So, sorry Lisa, but no, I am not “entertained.” Honestly, I think this is the problem with BLACKPINK–their unwillingness to use their power and influence to say anything other than “I’m so cool”.

Music: 3

So I honestly like the club-inspired parts. I like the trumpet sound. I like the “jump” part. I like the modulation towards the very end.

But I cannot with the second part of the chorus, the part after the “jump” chant where they go, “So come up with me, I’ll take you high…”. I just think it sounds so musically…nervous. I feel like they could’ve done so much more with this part. More bass. More energetic chants. More trumpeting. It could’ve been the rousing climax to an awesome party song. Instead, it’s this awkward mumbling of “spice up your life” and “I got that shit that you like.” It’s just flat, and…boring.