On August 1st (local time), Jennie (Blackpink) appeared as the main performer (headliner) at the Lollapalooza Chicago music festival, held at Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois (USA).
Founded in 1991, Lollapalooza is one of the largest music festivals in North America, gathering about 170 artists on 8 stages and attracting more than 400,000 spectators.
Jennie stood shoulder to shoulder with famous names such as Charli XCX, Lorde and Olivia Dean, and also became the first Korean solo singer to take on the role of headliner for Lollapalooza.
However, a major local newspaper published a commentary with many harsh comments about Jennie's performance.
According to the newspaper, Jennie has proven why she was chosen as the headliner when performing famous songs such as "Mantra", "ExtraL" and "Like Jennie". Thanks to elaborate staging combined with strong choreography, Jennie's characteristic appeal is clearly shown in the second half of the program.
However, the newspaper commented that, unlike when working with Blackpink, Jennie is still not strong enough to own a large-scale stage alone.
The opening part of the performance received much criticism. The newspaper said that a large number of dancers and a large-scale stage unintentionally overwhelmed Jennie, while the sound imbalance made her vocal performance lack highlights.
In particular, Jennie's collaboration with Kevin Parker in the song "Dracula" received many criticisms. Jennie's live (live) voice was commented on not blending with the pre-recorded music, making the performance "like a flashy invested karaoke performance".
The list of performed songs with many unreleased songs is also considered a limitation. Jennie has performed a series of songs that are still unfamiliar to the audience such as "Heaven", "Lock it down" and "Sweet tooth".
According to the article, although fans standing near the stage were extremely excited, the level of concentration of the general audience decreased significantly, even some people left the performance area.
The newspaper also analyzed that Jennie performing at the same time slot as Olivia Dean - a female singer who won the Best New Artist award at the Grammys, plus the program duration being quite short for a headliner, and the proportion of unreleased songs being too high, have become disadvantages for her stage.
On livestreaming platforms, many viewers also believe that it is easy to recognize the difference between live vocals and background music. Some opinions point out that Jennie has many sections that are not sung, and when she sings, it sometimes does not match the background music.
Negative comments mainly revolved around issues such as: too loud background music, unstable live singing, insufficient physical strength and stage energy, and the fact that a part of the audience left during the performance.
However, Jennie's performance also received many positive feedbacks from those present at the scene. On Blackpink fan communities, many viewers assessed Jennie's stage setting and transmission ability as very good, and also said that her voice when listened to live was much clearer than the livestream version.
Despite being involved in controversy, with this performance, Jennie marked a historical milestone when she became the first female Kpop solo artist to take on the role of headliner at Lollapalooza.
However, along with that memorable milestone, she also faced mixed opinions about her ability to lead a large-scale music stage alone.
