BLACKPINK's Jennie Makes History as the Only Korean in TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2025

BLACKPINK's Jennie has achieved unparalleled success among K-pop artists in 2025, leveraging 'social solidarity' and 'Eastern aesthetics' as her weapons. As a result, she has become the only Korean to be named in TIME magazine's '100 Most Influential People of the Year' (hereafter 'TIME 100').

On the 15th of this month (local time), Jennie was listed in the 'TIME 100'. She surprised everyone by being the only Korean, not just among domestic artists, to make it to this list. The selection criteria for TIME 100, released by TIME magazine on the 15th, is 'influence'. TIME's editor-in-chief, Sam Jacobs, explained, "There is no single criterion for defining influence. Our selection criteria are 'stories that change the world every year' and 'the people who create those stories'. Both famous and unknown individuals can make the list, stemming from the recognition that influence manifests in various forms." This criterion can be somewhat ambiguous.

Jennie fits the selection criteria presented by TIME by embedding her artistic and social persona within her music while persuading a global audience. Among the songs she released last year, five tracks, including 'Dracula', 'ExtraL', 'Handlebars', 'like JENNIE', and 'Love Hangover', made it to the Billboard Main Chart HOT 100. This is a remarkable achievement compared to her BLACKPINK group members, with Rosé having one song and Lisa two songs on the chart.

Jennie's Billboard chart performance showed consistent growth over the year. 'Love Hangover', released in February last year, peaked at 96th on the Billboard HOT 100 chart, followed by 'like JENNIE', 'ExtraL', and 'Handlebars', which settled in the 70-80 range in March. 'Dracula', released in October of the same year, climbed to 17th.

Jennie's messages of 'female solidarity' and 'support for LGBTQ' expressed through her songs have gained attention as they are seen as desirable in Western societies that pursue equality. Among the five songs that charted on the Billboard HOT 100 last year, three were created in collaboration with female artists or emphasized women's agency. In 'like JENNIE', she proclaimed that all women should love themselves as they are, and in 'ExtraL', she boasted of her unrestrained ambition and musical achievements as a female artist.

In 'ExtraL', a collaboration with Doechii, an artist who came out as a lesbian, she directly mentioned slang used by the LGBTQ community, and in 'Mantra', she sang, "She's a stunner, make you wanna swing both ways."

Additionally, last year, Jennie showcased the beauty of the East that a Korean can present in various ways, becoming a hot topic. In the music video for 'ZEN', a song themed on Buddhist Zen, she wore costumes inspired by the artistic elements of Silla, such as a V-shaped top modeled after the Silla crown and gold ornaments. In the video, Jennie sits in the middle of a blooming lotus, matching the theme of 'ZEN'. This presentation was similarly applied to the media art at the '2025 Coachella Festival'.

At the 'MMA 2025' held last December, Jennie's outfit was also full of Korean elements. On that day, Jennie wore a top modeled after the attire of the Pensive Bodhisattva and the shape of the Seokgatap, and draped a veil with verses from 'Cheongguyeongeon', the first songbook recorded in Hangul. Additionally, she expressed Korean beauty by wearing traditional accessories called norigae. The brand 'Lejeu', which created the outfit, stated, "The biggest inspiration for this stage outfit came from Jennie's long-held affection for Korea and Hangul."

Reporter Min-Kyung Lee, Ten Asia 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr