Is This The End For NewJeans?
“Let’s stick together until the end.”
“This has been NewJeans! Thank you!””
Source: K-en News
NewJeans at the inaugural Korea Grand Music Awards.
Those may go down as some of the beloved quintet’s last words as NewJeans, said on Saturday, 16 Nov, as they accepted the title of Grand Artist at the inaugural Korea Grand Music Awards (KGMA).
Rather than celebrating with joy, fans and idols alike teared up as the members gave an emotional acceptance speech which left many worried for the future of the K-pop girl group.
But how did we get here, and is this truly NewJeans’ end?
Source: HYBE LABELS
Breaking out with their debut single, Attention, in July 2022, followed by Hype Boy and Cookie two weeks later, NewJeans, which consisted of Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein, defied expectations from the get-go.
Rather than following the industry norm of slowly unveiling the group’s members, concept and upcoming debut, Attention was released out of nowhere and rapidly took over the world.
Additionally, NewJeans’ Y2K concept, which they continued to popularise in late 2022 and in 2023, with global hits like Ditto, OMG, Super Shy and ETA, was a breath of fresh air to K-pop fans, in an era many felt was oversaturated by the Girl Crush concept.
With non-stop hits, awards and brand deals, it truly felt like NewJeans was unstoppable.
Fast forward to 2024, local NewJeans fans, or ‘Bunnies’, were surprised when the group announced they would be performing in Singapore in February, for a private Nike event. This caused hordes of local Bunnies to invade Orchard Road in hopes of catching a glimpse of the group; a testament to the group's popularity and appeal.
In March, their label ADOR excited Bunnies by detailing upcoming plans for NewJeans, announcing their 2024 releases How Sweet, Bubble Gum, Supernatural and Right Now, along with a Japanese fanmeet slated for June, before teasing a 2025 world tour.
Source: allkpop
But everything changed from April 2024.
Source: South China Morning Post
Former ADOR CEO and NewJeans Executive Producer Min Hee-jin.
Then-ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin was caught in a major labour dispute with parent company HYBE Corporation, in a still-ongoing controversy that roped in, and arguably defamed, HYBE’s other K-pop acts like BTS, LE SSERAFIM and ILLT, with NewJeans at the centre of it all.
Whilst extremely complicated, the feud started when Min was accused of trying to separate ADOR from HYBE, causing HYBE to launch an internal audit into ADOR, resulting in countless chain reactions and two press conferences which exposed lots of shocking information and ugly accusations, primarily regarding Min, HYBE and NewJeans.
Among those were claims of NewJeans plagiarising and being plagiarised, HYBE mistreating NewJeans but also giving them preferential treatment, and Min thrashing NewJeans behind their backs but also doing nothing but raising and protecting them.
Though the previously announced releases and Japan fanmeets went on as planned and were successful, many fans felt that the controversy limited the potential of NewJeans’ 2024 comebacks.
Source: allkpop
NewJeans sends a public message to HYBE in an emergency livestream held in the evening of Sep 11.
On Sep 11, the NewJeans members started an unauthorised burner YouTube account, where they broadcasted a now-deleted livestream which explained their side of the story. Siding with Min, they publicly demanded HYBE to reinstate her as ADOR CEO, after she stepped down and joined ADOR’s board of directors instead.
That brings us to where we are now.
On Nov 13, the NewJeans members threatened to terminate their contracts with ADOR, if the agency does not address their demands and reinstate Min as CEO within 14 days.
On Nov 20, four days after NewJeans’ speech at the KGMA, Min resigned from ADOR and HYBE.
While NewJeans is still currently slated to guest star for J-pop artist YOASOBI in Seoul and perform at the SBS Gayo Daejeon festival in December, this could easily change in the near future.
Having enjoyed their music, watching NewJeans go through this eventful saga hasn’t been fun, but regardless of what happens, I would say this isn’t the end of NewJeans.
Source: Lifestyle Asia
In three years, they’ve already cemented their legacy in the K-pop sphere, and it will live on, even if they cannot go on as “NewJeans”. Having seen other groups suffer worse fates but still retaining their careers, I know that this probably isn't the end of the NewJeans members’ K-pop careers. They could go their own separate ways, or maybe even regroup under a different name.
As Danielle put it during the KGMA: “Even if we are not NewJeans, NewJeans will never die!”
