Between friends and lovers, that summer night — JENNIE's 'Less than a Lover'

Summer nights are strange. Once the heat of the day has come off a notch and lukewarm air drifts in through the window instead of the air conditioning, the things that were sharp all afternoon start to blur.

Relationships do that too. Too much of a pull to be friends, no name yet to be lovers — that in-between place. The new single JENNIE released on July 24 stands exactly there.

Start to finish, in JENNIE's own hands

'Less than a Lover' is JENNIE's second English single. What makes it particular is that she wrote both the lyrics and the music alone, and is credited on the music video's direction as well. Her own story, worked over by her own hands all the way through.

It came out through her own label OddAtelier and Columbia Records, which says the same thing another way. When the person writing the song is also the person putting it out, a record ends up wearing a more private face.

A languid sound, a summer in Girona

The sound isn't loud. It's alternative pop, lo-fi guitar and vintage keyboards laid down at an unhurried pace. Instead of a chorus that bursts open and tidies the feeling away, the whole song runs at a low, steady temperature, like a slight fever. That damp, dreamy texture of a summer night.

The music video was shot in Girona, Spain. Old stone streets, narrow alleys, evening in an unfamiliar city. Had it been somewhere familiar, this song would land differently. There's a closeness only possible in a city where nobody knows you — a distance where you don't have to name anything, because nobody asks.

The time before naming

We want to give relationships names. It's easier once you've settled whether it's friendship or love. But some stretches of time disappear the moment you name them.

This song holds on to the stretch just before that. Uneasy because it isn't settled, thrilling because it isn't settled. Summer is exactly like that — you know it's about to end, and that's why it glitters.

The title sits in precisely the same spot. 'Less than a lover' sounds like a shortfall, but it also means nothing has been lost yet. Nothing has been decided.

Tonight, try it like this

Don't turn all the lights off; leave one on. Keep the volume a little low — this is the kind of song that goes blurry when you play it loud. An open window helps.

If where you stand with someone keeps confusing you, put this on. Not to reach a verdict. Just to let the confusion sit there a while. Less than a lover, and yet more than a friend — the name of that summer night. 'Less than a Lover'.