JENNIE has announced a new single, “Less Than a Lover,” which is set to release on July 24, 2026 as her first project since the global success of Ruby.

A new release was signalled several days ago, via an Instagram story posted by the artist of a blurred, cryptid Polaroid photo featuring JENNIE and an unknown man. On July 21, the story was explained; a new teaser poster revealed a second image of the pair and a song name, “Less Than a Lover.”

As the name suggests, the project is romantic in theme. A tagline sets the scene as “The summer I chose to pause the love story,” adding JENNIE into the influx of seasonal releases, but contradicts the sunlit image of the pair with a “pause” on what appears at first glance to be that “love story.”

The poster also details that the music, songwriting, and direction around the single have all been undertaken by JENNIE herself. While JENNIE participated in the writing and production of her first solo album, Ruby, she did so alongside others, meaning that this single will be a new venture by the artist as its sole creator. Both projects were released under Odd Atelier, JENNIE’s own label, allowing her a greater level of creative control, and may lead to us seeing more of the image JENNIE personally wishes to present.

At this stage, the single appears to be very different in tone to the hip-hop, R&B genres of Ruby. The 15-track album achieved global success and critical acclaim upon its release in March 2025, hitting top 10 charting positions in 19 countries with those in the U.S. and UK breaking records for the highest charting female K-pop artist. “Like JENNIE,” one of the album’s lead hits, recently surpassed 900 million streams on Spotify as the fastest female K-pop soloist to do so.

Undoubtedly, given the success of Ruby, a new single from JENNIE will receive attention. The question is whether the new theme and genre suggested by the teaser poster will reach the same heights.

JENNIE has taken part in multiple international festivals over the past few months in preparation for this announcement of new music, including headlining sets at the Governor’s Ball in NYC, Roskilde Festival in Denmark and Open’er Festival in Poland. She is also scheduled to headline Lollapalooza Chicago alongside Olivia Dean on August 1, 2026, where performances of “Less Than a Lover” may take place.