"Love Hangover" is a song by South Korean singer and rapper Jennie featuring American singer Dominic Fike. It was released through Odd Atelier and Columbia Records on January 31,2025,as the second single from her debut studio album,Ruby (2025). The song was produced by Jennie and Ido Zmishlany,and written by the latter with Fike,Megan Bülow,Blaise Railey,Carly Gibert,and Devin Workman. A slow-paced R&B and pop track,it contains vulnerable lyrics about repeatedly falling into the throes of an irresistible yet destructive relationship.
Critics praised "Love Hangover" for its intimate lyrics and Jennie's smooth vocal delivery. It debuted at number 29 on the Billboard Global 200 and became her third entry on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 96. It also peaked within the top ten in Hong Kong,Malaysia,Singapore,Taiwan,and Thailand and at number 35 on South Korea's Circle Digital Chart. An accompanying music video was directed by Bradley &Pablo and released on Jennie's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release. The video stars Jennie with American actor Charles Melton as a couple going on dates that all end in her death,a dark reflection of the song's lyrics. The singer performed "Love Hangover" on the Ruby Experience and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Background and release
After her departure from YG Entertainment for solo activities,Jennie founded her own record label named Odd Atelier in November 2023.[1] She subsequently signed as a solo artist with Columbia Records in partnership with Odd Atelier in September 2024.[2] On October 11,2024,Jennie released "Mantra" through Odd Atelier and Columbia Records as the lead single of her debut studio album Ruby.[3] She began teasing a follow-up by releasing a snippet of a track accompanied by an image of a telephone on her official website. She also posted a photo of a burial site from an underground point of view on Instagram,showing a behind-the-scenes moment from the filming of a then unannounced music video.[4] On January 26,2025,she officially announced the album's second single titled "Love Hangover" by uploading an image of a heart-shaped gravestone that displayed the track's name and release date of January 31.[5] The next day,she revealed the song was a collaboration with American singer Dominic Fike in a teaser photo post of herself lying in a coffin holding blue flowers;she later posted a video of herself in the same location singing along to a snippet of the track.[6] She further shared a snapshot of herself with Fike captioned "call me back" on January 29.[7]
Composition and lyrics
"Love Hangover" is a "smooth,traditional R&B"[8] and "slow-burn,midtempo pop" song that is seemingly inspired by Diana Ross' 1976 song of the same name.[9] It has further been described as a "hazy post-break" track marked with "retro soul flourishes and programmed idiosyncrasies".[10] The lyrics explore the "emotional turmoil of an irresistible yet toxic attraction".[11] In the chorus,Jennie sings:"We say it’s over/ But I keep fucking with you/ And every time I do,I wake up with this love hangover",expressing her struggle fighting an attraction to someone she hates to love. Dominic Fike comes in the second verse to rap:"She gon' leave me,but she wants to keep me on,what's up with that?",continuing the theme of struggling to break free from a connection that won't let go.[9]
Critical reception
Writing for Billboard,Jeff Benjamin ranked "Love Hangover" as the fifth-best song on Ruby that allows Jennie to explore a "softer,more romantic side" of herself. He found the song to be a "refreshing interlude packed with heartfelt vulnerability" that manages to keep the album's energy high with its percussive outro,and praised its "warm,mellow groove and Fike’s multifaceted rap" for complementing Jennie's "gentle coos".[8]NME's Crystal Bell praised the song for blending "soulful intimacy with a laid-back groove" with a "smooth assist" by Dominic Fike.[12] Maria Letícia L. Gomes of Clash similarly commended the "smooth,intimate track" for bringing out Jennie's most "organic vocal delivery yet" that "glides over the track effortlessly". She added that the song "grows on you,revealing more depth with each listen",with a mellow production invoking the feel of a "breezy,late-night-drive" and some of the album's best melodies.[13] Maria Sherman wrote in her review for the Associated Press that the singer's "chameleonic vocal performance is so convincing,the recording almost doesn’t even sound like Jennie."[14]
A scene in the music video of Jennie lying in a coffin after dying numerous times,a dramatic reflection of the song's lyrics.
Each time I go out on a date, I keep dying when I fall in love. The lyrics are somewhat like that, knowing that I’ll get hurt and that it will be tough, but why do I fall in love again and get drunk with that love? It’s about the hangover of love. When I heard it for the first time, I just really related to it. Anyone who has dated and been in love can easily relate to it.
—Jennie on how the song's lyrics inspired the music video, Hyell's Club[16]
An accompanying music video for "Love Hangover" was released alongside the single on January 31. Directed by duo Bradley & Pablo and shot in Mexico City, the video stars American actor Charles Melton as Jennie's boyfriend and sees the two going on a series of dates that all end in disaster.[17] In the opening scene, Jennie gets laid to rest at her funeral in a baby blue casket as her boyfriend grieves. Several flashbacks to their dates show that they each end with Jennie's untimely death, depicting her being eaten by a kaiju that pops out of a movie screen, choking on a martini olive at a restaurant, throwing herself into a bowling accident, and falling from a great height.[18] On Lee Hye-ri's YouTube show Hyell's Club, Jennie explained that the concept of the music video was inspired as a dramatic reflection of the song's lyrics, in which she continues to fall in love despite getting hurt and "dying" each time.[16]
Live performances
Jennie uploaded a live performance video of "Love Hangover" to her YouTube channel on February 11, 2025, in which she performs the song solo with her own verse replacing Fike's.[19] She also included the song on the setlist of her concert tour the Ruby Experience, which commenced in Los Angeles on March 6 at the same time as Ruby's release.[20] Jennie also performed it at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 13 and 20.[21]
↑ Kang, Joo-hee (February 21, 2025). 제니, 오늘(21일) ‘엑스트라L’ 선공개…컴백 예열[Jennie, pre-release of "ExtraL" today (21st)…Preheating our comeback]. Ilgan Sports (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 21, 2025. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
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