Reviewed: JENNIE, “Seoul City” official video and studio recording
Song released: March 7, 2025
Official video released: April 26, 2025
Album: Ruby
The verdict
“Seoul City” sounds like somebody lowered the windows at 2 a.m. and let a whole skyline breathe through the car. It is woozy, expensive and slightly lonely. Jennie does not sell Seoul as a checklist of landmarks. She sells the private version of a city, the one made of a lover, a familiar road and the relief of knowing where home is.
This is one of the quietest songs on Ruby, which is exactly why it sticks. “Like Jennie” arrives to kick the door. “ZEN” builds an art installation around her. “Seoul City” sits in the passenger seat and lets the bass hum.
The city moves slowly here
The track opens with a blurred synth texture and a low beat that feels heavy without becoming aggressive. Mike WiLL Made-It, MoneyGoForMyles, Resource and Xeryus share the production credits, and the result sits somewhere between alternative R&B and late-night pop. The drums do not chase Jennie. They give her a lane and stay there.
That restraint makes the little details matter. A bass note bends. A vocal layer drifts behind the lead. The percussion lands with enough space around it to make the next hit feel physical. There is no rush toward a huge chorus because the song’s seduction depends on keeping the same temperature.
The central phrase joins “Seoul” and “soul” so obviously that a weaker song could have turned it into tourist-board copy. Here, the wordplay works because Jennie treats the city as emotional geography. Paradise is not a generic destination. It is the place she returns to, and the person who makes that place feel even closer.
Jennie explained on You Quiz on the Block that when friends asked which city in the world she would call paradise, her answer came back to home in Seoul. That thought gives the song its scale. She has spent years moving among fashion capitals, studios, stages and airports. Her fantasy is still return.
The weakness is the exit. “Seoul City” runs under three minutes and fades from an atmosphere that could have supported another verse, a proper bridge or a final vocal variation. Minimalism can be deliberate and still leave me hungry. This one stops at the exact moment I expect the night to deepen.
Jennie uses the grain in her voice
Jennie’s best decision is refusing to over-sing the track. She stays low, close and conversational. The slight roughness around certain words gives the polished instrumental something human to hold. A cleaner vocal would have made the whole record too smooth.
Her phrasing also carries the flirtation. She drags behind the beat in places, then snaps a phrase into focus. The performance feels self-possessed rather than showy. This is not the rapper-versus-vocalist argument that follows her into every release. It is Jennie recognizing that her tone can do the work before volume ever enters the room.
The stacked vocals widen the chorus without turning it into an anthem. That is right for the song. “Seoul City” is intimate even when the view is enormous.
Dasom Han gives Seoul room to be Seoul
Director Dasom Han and production house NEWYEAR* resist the cheap version of a city video. There is no frantic landmark scavenger hunt and no demand that every building prove where we are. Jennie moves through roads, rooftops and nighttime spaces as if the city belongs to her memory. The camera finds reflections, distance and geometry. Seoul becomes mood before it becomes location.
That approach matches the song’s pace. Jennie is often alone in the frame, but the images do not read as abandonment. Solitude is part of her control. She can occupy the skyline without hiring fifty dancers to underline her importance.
The strongest shots understand scale. A tiny figure against the city can communicate power if the person looks as though she chose the distance. Jennie does. Her stillness pulls attention while traffic and light continue around her.
I also appreciate the lack of literal romance. The song addresses somebody, but the video does not hand us a handsome stranger and force a plot around him. Seoul itself remains the partner. That keeps the visual connected to Jennie’s stated idea of home instead of reducing it to a standard date-night montage.
Mother-of-pearl, metal and a Korean point of view
The black sculptural top by Korean brand LEJE is the image that seals the video. Vogue Korea highlighted its use of traditional mother-of-pearl craft inside a modern silhouette. Korea JoongAng Daily likewise identified LEJE as the designers behind the specially made piece and connected their work to the brand’s broader habit of pushing Korean historical references into sharp contemporary fashion.
That matters because “Korean-inspired” styling often gets reduced to a safe ceremonial costume or one decorative knot. LEJE does something more interesting. The mother-of-pearl catches light like the city does, while the structure looks armored and futuristic. Jennie can face the camera as a global pop star without treating Korean identity as a museum loan.
The styling also prevents the sleepy track from producing a sleepy video. She does not need to sprint through choreography when the clothes can create shape, tension and motion inside a still frame.
The receipts
“Seoul City” appears on Jennie’s first studio album, Ruby, released March 7, 2025 through OA Entertainment and Columbia Records. The official label-delivered audio credits Jennie, Myles Edward Harris, Braylin Philip Bowman, Xeryus Gittens, Michael Len Williams II, Badriia “Bibi” Bourelly and Carly Gibert as songwriters. The producers are MoneyGoForMyles, Resource, Xeryus and Mike WiLL Made-It. Jaycen Joshua and Mike Seaberg mixed the recording, and Will Quinnell mastered it.
The official video arrived on Jennie’s channel on April 26 in Korea. Its description credits Dasom Han as director and NEWYEAR* as the production house.
Watch the official “Seoul City” videoDaily+58.2KTotal views53.3M. For Korean reporting on the clothing, see Vogue Korea’s feature on the LEJE look and Korea JoongAng Daily’s interview with the designers.
Final score
Song: 8.8/10
Video: 9.1/10
Best use: A night drive when you are pretending you do not miss anybody
“Seoul City” makes home sound glamorous without pretending home is simple. Jennie gives the city affection, distance and desire in the same breath. I only wish she had stayed for one more block.