On March 4, BLACKPINK's Jennie sat down with Zane Lowe for an in-depth interview on Apple Music 1.

Jennie opened up about her upcoming solo album 'Ruby' and delved into the production process ahead of the album's release. In particular, Jennie talked about how this latest project affected her and confessed that she was able to find herself.

Zane Lowe started by asking, "This album covers so much of who you are for the first time. It says so much about who you are, from the fight to the fragility, from the beginning right to the very end. You must have got in there and just been like, 'How do I make sense of all of this?'"

Jennie responded and said, "I was, first of all, very shocked, and I didn't realize how much I've been distant from myself throughout the years, so I really got to... The greatest part of this solo project for me was that I had time with myself, I never had time for myself, which was great. So I really got to dig deep inside of who I am and what I am and all the self-reflecting times, and that's how the album was made, by really just understanding me better."

The K-pop idol further elaborated on how difficult it was to tap into her emotions while producing the album. She said, "Oh, so much, and the most difficult, like it was nothing was easy. So many new emotions that I got to learn and throw out that it needed so much energy and I didn't realize that. To me, it was mostly like 'what kind of words do I want to put in, what kind of sound do I want.' I didn't realize walking into the studio was more about knowing what I want, what I really want."

Jennie even revealed she spent six months working on the track "Zen." She shared, "With 'Zen,' there is so much to talk about, but when 'Zen' came along, that's when I knew, 'Oh, my album is Ruby and it's happening,' and that was maybe like six months into spending time at the studio every day." She added, "Every month just got more harder. As time went by, I felt more anxious. I felt...I felt more anxious. I felt like something was coming chasing after me when this was something that I started. So I started, I lost myself in my head, and then I met this amazing writer called Bibi. She played a very big role for my album. She really opened up to me and I learned to open myself up to her, and we just had a great time. And that's when 'Zen' came along and after many conversations that I had with her about our true motivation, our inspirations, just life, we clicked pretty quickly. And then with the message, the words in 'Zen' was done in such a delicate way. "

Regarding the album's name, 'Ruby,' Jennie explained that it was inspired by her childhood when she was living in New Zealand. She shared, "This is when I wasn't living in New Zealand, and back then, I guess in the back of my mind when I was like 11, I knew that I want to create this identity for myself like JENNIE wasn't doing justice for me, and I was like, 'I want a longer name.' So that's how it was created. What I didn't realize over time was I almost manifested this throughout my years, like I knew who I wanted to be at a very young age and then it was just a matter of what's going to make you realize." 

She continued, "So that's also one of the reasons why I landed and I picked the name Ruby for this album, but there's just so much inspiration behind that, too. It's not really only about me representing myself, but to me, it felt like a new chapter opening, and I really spent my time referencing many different things about the album."

There was an array of topics Jennie talked about in the interview with Zane Lowe, including her relationship with BLACKPINK members and collaborating with different artists for her solo debut album. 

You can watch the full interview down below or listen to the podcast on Apple Music with a subscription!

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