Jennie Confirms New Ep After Secretly Previewing Its Possible Songs All Summer

Jennie’s three-month festival run may have been more than a series of major solo performances.

It appears to have been the beginning of her next album campaign.

ODDATELIER confirmed on August 19 that the BLACKPINK member is preparing to release a new EP before the end of August, marking her next multi-track solo project following her first full-length album, Ruby. An exact release date, EP title and official tracklist have not yet been announced.

The news suddenly gives new context to something Jennie has been doing throughout the summer: performing unreleased music in front of enormous festival audiences before putting it on streaming services.

Instead of announcing an EP, releasing a tracklist and then performing the songs, Jennie effectively reversed the normal pop rollout. Fans heard the music first. Now they are discovering where it may belong.

Jennie turned festival crowds into her first listening parties

Throughout her summer festival appearances, Jennie gradually introduced material that was not part of Ruby.

One of the earliest songs to emerge was “Less than a Lover,” which she performed live before officially releasing it as a single on July 24. ODDATELIER subsequently added the song to its official catalog, while Jennie released a cinematic music video through her own YouTube channel.

But she did not stop there. By Lollapalooza Chicago, Jennie’s set included several unreleased songs that fans identified as “Sweet Tooth,” “Fallen Angel,” “Lock It Down” and “Heaven.” Setlist records confirm “Fallen Angel” received its first documented concert performance at Lollapalooza on August 1. That made the festival set unusually forward-looking. Rather than filling the full hour only with recognizable songs from Ruby, Jennie devoted a significant section of one of her biggest solo performances to music audiences could not yet stream.

Jennie Less Than A Lover poster / Jennie Instagram

Fans have been waiting for ‘Lock It Down’ and ‘Heaven’

Reaction to Jennie’s unreleased songs has been building for months.

Fan-shot performances circulated after Governors Ball and subsequent festivals, giving listeners early versions of tracks before Jennie had even confirmed that another project was coming.

On Reddit, one discussion about the streaming debut of “Less than a Lover” quickly turned toward the unreleased material. A fan argued that “Lock It Down” or “Heaven” could potentially have produced an even bigger initial response, showing how much interest the live previews had already created.

Other listeners had the opposite problem: they liked hearing new material, but wanted the studio versions first.

Following Jennie’s Lollapalooza performance, one highly upvoted discussion noted that she had performed so much unreleased material that some attendees found it difficult to engage with songs they did not yet know. One fan who attended the set said they wanted to hear the studio versions before fully appreciating the tracks.

The EP could reveal what Jennie learned from ‘Ruby’

Jennie’s next release also arrives at an important moment in her development as a solo artist.

Ruby established what her career could look like outside BLACKPINK. The 15-track studio album brought together artists including Dua Lipa, Doechii, Childish Gambino, Kali Uchis, Dominic Fike and FKJ while moving through multiple styles rather than committing to one predictable K-pop sound. Jennie released the project through ODDATELIER and Columbia Records.

The new EP has the potential to answer a different question: What does Jennie sound like once she no longer needs to introduce herself? The songs previewed this summer suggest she is continuing to experiment rather than simply trying to manufacture another “like JENNIE” or “Mantra.” “Less than a Lover,” for example, moved toward a softer and more restrained form of pop. Its official video has already passed 20 million views on Jennie’s YouTube channel, where she has more than 18 million subscribers. Those figures will continue to change.

The remaining festival tracks may show other sides of that direction once their final studio versions arrive.

‘Fallen Angel’ may become one of the project’s most anticipated tracks

Of the unreleased material, “Fallen Angel” has attracted particular attention since Lollapalooza.

Jennie introduced the track during her August 1 set, where its dramatic presentation was reinforced by a custom Ann Demeulemeester outfit combining dark leather with white feathers a visual that itself evoked the image of a fallen angel. Fans quickly began circulating performance clips and attempting to reconstruct lyrics from the live version. Social-media tracking captured listeners discussing how familiar the unreleased songs were already becoming before their official release. That creates a rare situation for the eventual EP. Some of its potential tracks could arrive with recognizable fan chants, favorite moments and existing rankings before listeners have ever heard their final masters.

It is almost the opposite of a traditional comeback. Normally the recording creates anticipation for the concert. Jennie used the concerts to create anticipation for the recording.

Jennie Less Than A Lover / Jennie Instagram

The announcement comes immediately after an emotional festival finale

The timing also connects directly with the end of Jennie’s summer festival chapter.

Only days ago, she completed the run at Summer Sonic after a difficult final performance that included microphone and wardrobe problems. She later reflected on the entire three-month experience, writing about the unexpected highs and lows she encountered and what she had learned from moments that did not go perfectly.

That message sounded like the closing of one chapter.

The EP announcement now shows that the next one was already waiting.

Rather than disappearing for an extended break after the festival schedule, Jennie is moving directly from performing new music live into releasing more of it officially. The late-August target means the turnaround between the end of the festival run and the new project could be extremely short.

‘Less than a Lover’ may have been the first piece of a larger story

When “Less than a Lover” arrived in July, some fans were already speculating that the song was not intended to stand alone.

The single generated enthusiastic discussion around Jennie’s increased creative involvement, including her role in shaping the visual storytelling around the release. Fans on the BLACKPINK community reacted particularly strongly when teasers emphasized Jennie’s involvement in the project. Now an EP is confirmed which means “Less than a Lover” can potentially be understood not only as a summer single, but as an entry point into a larger body of work.

Whether it will officially appear on the EP has not yet been confirmed through a complete tracklist, although Korean reports say the upcoming project will include music Jennie introduced during her festival run. The same caution applies to “Fallen Angel,” “Lock It Down,” “Sweet Tooth” and “Heaven.” They have all been performed live, but ODDATELIER has not yet published a final EP tracklist confirming which songs made the finished project.

For now, those titles remain the strongest clues.

Jennie may have found a rollout that suits her solo career

There is also something revealing about the way this project is being introduced.

Jennie spent the Ruby era proving that she could release a substantial solo body of work outside the BLACKPINK system. With this EP, she appears increasingly comfortable allowing audiences to experience unfinished chapters of her musical world before every promotional detail is carefully revealed. That carries risk. Festival audiences generally want songs they recognize. Performing multiple unreleased tracks can reduce immediate singalong moments, and the reaction to Lollapalooza showed that not everyone enjoys discovering half a set in real time. But it also creates something difficult to manufacture through ordinary teasers: genuine curiosity about the studio versions.

Fans have already argued about which new track they prefer. They have already chosen songs they want released. Now Jennie can announce the record after part of its audience has effectively been waiting for it all summer.

Jennie walking in a hallway / Jennie Instagram

The biggest questions are still unanswered

As of August 19, several major details remain unknown.

ODDATELIER has not publicly confirmed the EP title, exact release date, number of tracks or final tracklist. The agency has only confirmed that Jennie is working toward a release at the end of August.

That leaves fans with several obvious questions: Will all four unreleased Lollapalooza songs make the project? Will “Less than a Lover” be included? Will there be another title track that Jennie has deliberately kept off the festival stage? And after spending months testing these songs in front of real crowds, will their final studio versions sound exactly like the performances fans already know?

Those answers should arrive soon.

What is already clear is that Jennie’s next era did not begin with the August 19 announcement. It began months earlier, somewhere in the middle of a festival set, when she started singing songs no one could search for on Spotify yet. The fans were listening before they even knew they were hearing the next EP.