Over the past few months, the members of BLACKPINK have blitzed the market with a variety of solo work, making greater inroads to international markets than ever before. However, it’s been a whopping thirty four months since their last group title track. In K-pop’s fast-moving ecosystem, that’s enough time for a literal change in generations. But as they embark on a new tour, their relatively sparse discography needs at least one new track to wow audiences. Enter: Jump (뛰어).
Composed by a cadre of familiar names, Jump takes the BLACKPINK formula and injects extra bounce. Its official genre is listed as hardstyle, though this is augmented by quite a few other influences. The trumpeting instrumental is immediately ear-catching and reminds me of something you might hear as a World Cup anthem. Paired with a western motif, the production has great cinematic appeal, though it never goes quite as hard as you might expect. Still, I appreciate its madcap energy and forward-moving drive. We even get a thumping instrumental outro that pulls us further into hardstyle (though not as far as A.C.E went with their 2017 debut!).
I know I shouldn’t expect amazing melodic crescendos when enjoying a BLACKPINK banger, but Jump suffers from what so many of their hits do. Melodically, it’s limp and uninteresting. Given the sprightly production, I could easily imagine a killer chorus thrown over the top. Instead, the girls simply trace the lines of the rhythm, half rapping, half talking. The verses are actually more melodic, though even here much of the composition is constrained by the kind of one-note catchphrases that rarely elicit much excitement from me. So while I think Jump is average-to-bad as an actual song, the fact that it’s so brisk and celebratory gives it a slight edge over many BLACKPINK singles.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
