All we needed this summer was new music from JENNIE, and she went above and beyond our expectations with her new EP, Fallen Angel! The project trades the bold confidence of Ruby for a new, atmospheric soundscape that lets Jennie explore themes of love, toxic relationships, and ultimately learning to open your heart again after getting hurt. It’s a beautiful story that so many people can relate to, and even if you can’t, we bet you’ll still fall in love with it.
The title track, ‘FALLEN ANGEL,’ opens with a hypnotizing string of guitar notes that pull you right in. A steady beat gives you a sense of safety and predictability, but you soon learn that the relationship Jennie is describing on the song offers anything but that. She spends the first verse inviting a lover to explore life with her – “Close your eyes and I’ll take you where the wind blows” – before things twist on the chorus and she’s begging them not to leave her.
She pleads, “Hey, can’t you stay? Don’t leave a fallen angel out here on her own.” In religious spaces, a fallen angel is an angel who was kicked out of Heaven, possibly because of giving into sin or following Lucifer, the devil. Jennie’s choice to call herself a fallen angel suggests that maybe her partner in the song is a devilish person who led her away from a peaceful life without them, or the uncertainty in their relationship feels like a fall from Heaven after she fell for them.
And if that’s intriguing to you, then you’ll definitely love the surreal ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ music video! It feels like a lucid dream meeting a psychological horror film: ethereal and beautiful, but there’s something unsettling there as well. Several scenes allude to being trapped in some way, whether it’s beeing suspended in the air or sinking underwater, but Jennie is able to run free in a field like on the EP cover after she breaks out of a Ruby-red room, possibly as a statement on being confined to one aspect of her image when she wants to explore so much more in her music and life. She’s still wearing that ruby red and twirling around with red butterflies, and she even returns to the room with a more playful energy, which we think ties into her desire to “run free” and explore different personas in her work by her own choice rather than blindly following what others might expect from her.
The video continues after the song ends, with a young girl guiding Jennie through a forest area where a choir of fellow young girls are singing ‘FALLEN ANGEL,’ into a burning shed where a frozen version of Jennie sits. Another young girl, seemingly meant to be a young Jennie, delivers a thoughtful monologue: “Thorns may be the sharpest, fiercest thing on this earth. And yet, they bloom into the world’s most beautiful roses. Right now, we’re all those roses.” Finally, the camera turns back to Jennie and she glides her hand over the lens, as if to close the viewer’s eyes.
Jennie shared on her Instagram Live the night of Fallen Angel’s release that the children in the choir sang live while filming. She also said that she’ll explain a lot more about the music video in the future, which we can’t wait for!
The intro of ‘HEAVEN’ trades the acoustic guitar on ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ for an electric guitar as things get more intense and charged. Backing vocals sing, “oh, oh, oh” on an upward spiral, but it feels more like a freefall into the darker depths of a toxic connection. “We fight so hard, crash and burn, and that’s my favorite part,” Jennie admits. She said on her release night Instagram Live that this is the song on Fallen Angel that came about the fastest, and it really shows in how confessional the lyrics are.
In the context of the Fallen Angel EP, breezy lead single ‘Less than a Lover’ now feels like a breath of cool air or a relaxing dip into the pool on a hot day. There’s less pressure and intensity in the relationship being described compared to ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ and ‘HEAVEN,’ and that also reflects in the brighter production style. It’s even the only song title not written in all-caps, reflecting how the not-quite-in-a-relationship pairing in the song feels much calmer than the relationship before it.
But even with these three incredible songs, the Fallen Angel chapter is far from over! The physical EP will include three extra tracks called ‘sweettooth,’ ‘lockitdown,’ and ‘Face,’ so make sure you pre-order your copy on JENNIE’s store so you don’t miss them. If you can’t get your hands on one yet, Jennie teased some of the deluxe tracks during her summer festival run, so revisit some fan clips from shows like Lollapalooza and Governors Ball for a little taste…
Which Fallen Angel song are you falling for the hardest? What do you think of the ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ music video? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! You can also buzz on over to our Reddit community to chat with us.
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