As HYBE launches audit into ADOR, could it jeopardize the future of NewJeans?
With a group on its way to the top of its game, what now?
My group chats have been blowing up lately with the news that DRAMA™ is happening at HYBE headquarters.
According to reports, HYBE—which manages groups like BTS, Seventeen, Enhypen and LE SSERAFIM—has conducted an internal audit into its subsidiary company ADOR’s CEO Min Hee-jin and an unnamed executive of the company.
Min, who has led iconic branding for groups like Girls’ Generation, SHINee, f(x) and Red Velvet, is responsible for launching the girl group NewJeans. In 2022, the band came onto the K-pop scene to great acclaim and anticipation, garnering lots of attention for their fresh Y2K sound and relatable yet cool girl looks.
In their short career, NewJeans—composed of members Minji, Haerin, Danielle, Hanni and Hyein— has become not just a rising influential pop group, but style icons in their own right. Each member has inked high fashion deals with brands like Burberry, Gucci, Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton. The group has also worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Levi’s and Apple. Not to mention, they’ve also won several rookie awards in their native South Korea and topped the Billboard Charts.
One wonders whether the momentum NewJeans is on could soon be jeopardized by the alleged infighting happening within HYBE headquarters.
But before I get to that, I’ll try to explain the latest the best way I can.
What the heck is happening between HYBE and ADOR?
On Monday, it was revealed that the group’s CEO Min is accusing HYBE for copying NewJeans’s concept with the recent debut of another girl group named ILLIT.
ILLIT, who is under the HYBE subsidiary BELIFT LAB, debuted just last month. But even before their song ‘Magnetic’ hit the airwaves, the members were drawing comparisons with NewJeans for their long black hairstyles and similar Y2K fashion sense.
Apparently, that ain’t sitting well with Min. And she’s blaming HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk, who helmed ILLIT’s debut, for the issue.
“The cultural success of ADOR’s NewJeans is ironically being undermined by HYBE,” Min said in a statement, according to Korea JoongAng Daily. “After ILLIT’s teaser image was released, there was an explosive response online, with many commenting that they initially thought [the group] was NewJeans.”
“ILLIT has been copying NewJeans in all areas of activities including hair, makeup, costumes, choreography, photos, videos and event appearances,” Min added.
“ILLIT is being evaluated as a derivative of NewJeans, with terms like ‘Min Hee-jin style,’ ‘Min Hee-jin type’ and ‘NewJeans counterpart.'”
In her statement, Min says ADOR has since filed an “official complaint” about HYBE’s attitude toward NewJeans as well as “ILLIT’s copycat issue.”
“However, HYBE and BELIFT LAB refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing, merely coming up with a string of excuses and delaying concrete responses,” she said.
In return, Bang responded by telling Min her position would be “suspended for dismissal”, noting concerns that her actions “might significantly damage ADOR’s corporate value.”
If interested, read Min’s full statement here.
(ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin)
Is ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin planning a takeover?
According to Newsis, two ADOR execs have also allegedly been caught leaking confidential information in order to attract investors and get HYBE to sell its ownership of ADOR.
ADOR was founded in 2021 as a wholly owned subsidiary of HYBE. That has since gone down to 80 percent, with Min acquiring about 18 per cent of the company in 2023.
Min has since denied Bang’s allegation that she has attempted a “takeover.”
Though reports say HYBE could be planning to initiate legal proceedings against Min.
Now my questions…
Ever since headlines started popping up over social media and news feeds, my friends have texted me variations of: “The girls are fighting!”
Suddenly, everyone has become an expert on mergers and acquisitions and the music business world. But while there’s been much speculation spreading about, this isn’t a black or white issue. At the end of the day, several high profile businesses go through Succession-style disputes. Money rules the world, after all!
And while this is all very juicy and captivating, we’ll just have to stay tuned on how this pans out.
But one major thing I’ve been wondering about is what this all means for NewJeans.
There is no doubt that NewJeans is quickly on the rise and close to reaching the top. Just last month, the band was awarded “Group of the Year” at the 2024 Billboard Women in Music event.
Now the group is slated to make a comeback next month, and is expected to make their official debut in Japan in June.
Though if things go very wrong within ADOR headquarters, could all of that be jeopardized?
Having followed NewJeans since their debut, I believe each member has the it-factor to succeed no matter what happens.
They are skilled songwriters, with four out of five members credited with writing NewJeans’s songs. They’re social media savvy, knowledgeable of trendy memes and skilled at posting vlog content on their TikTok and YouTube pages.
(Hanni, who recently posted a cover of Daniel Caesar & H.E.R.’s ‘Best Part’, is also very skilled at singing and performing different genres of music)
And perhaps most important of all, they also have western appeal through their Australian members Hanni and Danielle. Just judging by their Lollapalooza set last year, the crowd really interacted with the two girls who hammed it up during their performance and spoke English the whole way through.
But despite what’s going for them, NewJeans’s future will be faced with obstacles. The debut of ILLIT will now mean that NewJeans will always be compared with this group, despite their many differences.
Min is not incorrect that ILLIT’s looks and sound have a lot of similarities with NewJeans. But Y2K style is the trend now in music and K-pop. It’s hard to trademark something like that.
On the other end of what’s happening, I also can’t see this positively affecting HYBE either. Since news of Min’s internal audit was revealed, HYBE’s stock prices have plummeted by 7.8 per cent. With this type of instability, will investors even want to give their dollars to HYBE moving forward?
With all that said, there’s no denying Min’s creative genius, no matter what happens in this dispute. But she’s also known to stir up some controversies in the past. When NewJeans first debuted, their song ‘Cookie’ received criticism for inappropriate lyrics. Many felt they were sexualized, something teen girls shouldn’t be singing about.
Then last year, Min drew the ire of fans who felt the teaser trailer of NewJeans’s song ‘ETA’ hinted at a Spanish terrorist group who went by the same name. That ended up fizzling out and not becoming a thing after all.
Whether intentional or not, Min tends to attract attention whatever she does. Who knows? One could argue and speculate that this is her way of drawing attention back to NewJeans weeks before a comeback.
But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.
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