Max's The Idolboasts a stacked cast: pop stars Abel Tesfaye (AKA The Weeknd) and Troye Sivan, Schitt's Creek'sDan Levy, model Hari Nef, and more. But the real star, it seems, had one of the smallest speaking roles in the series' first episode. Her name is Jennie Kim, but you may know her better as the mononymous Jennie of Korean girl group Blackpink.
SEE ALSO:HBO's new 'The Idol' preview teases a whole lot more sex, drugs, and violenceCredited as Jennie Ruby Jane, the 27-year-old global superstar plays Dyanne, the dancer bestie of main character Jocelyn (Lily Rose-Depp), and she's been the major draw for the series so far, especially online. A video of her dance scene from the opening episode has racked up more than 2 million views, twice the viewership of the episode itself (913,000, according to Variety).
But while the internet seems to be loving Jennie, its feelings for The Idolaren't so warm. The show has been mired in controversy that boiled over after a Rolling Stoneexposé detailed its messy creation, and its first episode has been widely panned.
Can Jennie's popularity save the show from itself? Here's why her draw is so powerful.
Jennie is arguably the most famous person in the entire cast andcrew of The Idol. She is the 48th most-followed person on Instagram, with more than 79 million followers. Her band, Blackpink, is known the world over and grossed $78 million on tour in 2022, the highest ever for a female group.
The band's fans, known as Blinks, are incredibly loyal, and given that The Idol marks Jennie's acting debut (she also gave an impressive performance in a perfume commercial last year), Blinks have shown up to support her. The New York Timesspoke to one superfan who said they'd unsubscribe to Max if Jennie was cut from the show. And it's no secret that both Max and The Idolneed all the subscribers they can get.
One of Blackpink's marketing hallmarks is leaving fans wanting more. The group has been together for seven years but have just two albums and roughly 40 songs to their name.
SEE ALSO:Blackpink's 'Carpool Karaoke' is fun as hellThe members are high-fashion favorites, often papped out and about at global brand events and fashion weeks, and Jennie most recently designed a capsule collection for Calvin Klein. The group rarely livestreams, tweets, or communicates via fan apps like other Korean idols, choosing instead to post on their individual Instagram accounts. This restrained content strategy means that Blinks are voracious consumers of any new Blackpink content, and The Idol benefits from their eagerness to show their support.
The role also represents a new kind of opportunity for Jennie outside of music, and fans want to see her shine.
Art imitates life, but The Idolis a whole other level. Jennie, a real-life pop star, playing the dancer of Jocelyn, a fake pop star? The premise of the showis so damn meta that fans and non-fans alike have to be curious about how Jennie will be used in future episodes.
SEE ALSO:'The Idol' review: 'Euphoria' creator's controversial new show shocks and awesIn the pilot, her character stands in for Jocelyn to show the pop star how to emote on stage. Fans says she killed it, and Jennie even noted in a post-episode breakdown that learning the choreography was easy because "thankfully, I do this all the time, so it came naturally to me." Who's to say Jennie won't eventually replace Jocelyn and steal the whole show?
In The Idol'sfirst episode, Jennie's character Dyanne is acting as a stand-in for Jocelyn, who leverages sex appeal as part of her personal brand. With the help of a stage full of dancers, Jennie executes Jocelyn's sultry, borderline scandalous choreography, and puts on an impressive performance unlike what we've seen from the IRL idol. However, some more conservative Korean fans of Blackpink weren't so thrilled with how sexy things got, sharing their dismay on local message boards.
Controversial or not, for Jennie, and the show, there's no such thing as bad publicity. As Jocelyn's team says when a sexually explicit photo of her is leaked to Reddit: "She's coming out of it more famous than when she came in." And so will Jennie.
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