Has the discourse about NewJeans gone off the rails?
The band is at the centre of a dispute between former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and HYBE
In 2023, NewJeans seemed poised to dominate the K-pop industry.
After winning several awards, doing a historic performance at Lollapalooza and debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, the band won praise for being one of the defining acts of K-pop’s 4th generation.
But a year later, a dispute between HYBE and its subsidiary label ADOR (which NewJeans is under) have turned the tides. To say the least, support for NewJeans has now been met with praise to downright vitriol.
To bring you up to speed, ADOR’s former CEO Min Hee-jin has been in a feud with HYBE since April. It began as HYBE launched an audit into ADOR and asked Min to step down in her role as CEO. Min responded by claiming plagiarism and creative infringement, saying the debut of girl group ILLIT (under HYBE subsidiary BELIFT LAB) was too similar to NewJeans’ concept, styling and choreography.
(Former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin during a press conference)
That has since spurred much back and forth, which include a tearful press conference on Min’s part, BELIFT LAB suing her for defamation, and a court ruling that says Min can keep her role as CEO at ADOR. In the midst of this, LE SSERAFIM’s label (Source Music, also under HYBE as a subsidiary) also got involved. The company sued Min for falsely claiming that HYBE focused more on LE SSERAFIM and that she had handpicked NewJeans member Minji from Source Music. And in August, Min stepped down as ADOR CEO and was replaced by HR specialist Kim Ju-young. Reports said Min would continue to stay at ADOR as a producer for NewJeans, though she rejected the offer of the position—calling it “unreasonable.”
By this point, NewJeans have remained relatively silent despite being at the centre of this dispute. But on September 11, the girls broke their silence in a now-deleted livestream. In it, the members—Minji, Hyein, Hanni, Danielle and Haerin—alleged HYBE of fostering a toxic work environment and demanded the label reinstate Min as ADOR CEO by September 25. That request was not met by HYBE. Click here for a full timeline of events.
However, reactions to NewJeans stepping into the dispute have been mixed.
Online, I’ve seen people say that Min has “groomed” NewJeans into dependency. Others have boycotted the group’s music entirely, and also expressed that NewJeans should just stay silent on the matter.
On the other hand, there’s also been lots of support, seemingly from idols themselves. Dawon, a member of the group WJSN, posted a photo of NewJeans in her Instagram stories with the caption “Forever.” And BTS’s Jung Kook also appeared to weigh in, posting five hearts in the NewJeans colours with the caption “Artists are not guilty.” Still, some fans seem to believe that Jung Kook was hacked.
All of this is to say that the discourse has now seemingly become the subject of fan wars and less about the well-being of young girls—from NewJeans, ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM.
Girl groups have often been put at a pedestal over their male counterparts. One only needs to look as far as the criticism LE SSERAFIM received at this year’s Coachella to see just how ugly it can get. And in an industry like K-pop where perfection is expected at all times, women are often the ones who pay the price—whether its their outfits, appearances, vocals or dancing. As with a lot of facets of society, gender divides are very apparent in K-pop. Girl groups tend to have more casual fans and are more friendly to the public (see Tamar Herman’s great piece here). While boy groups have more dedicated fans that will rally around the members.
From what I see, the members of NewJeans are artists who have achieved their musical dreams, only for them to be brought into uncertainty in a short amount of time. If you were put into their shoes, how might you respond? As we have seen with a band like FIFTY FIFTY things can change with a snap of a finger. While the group has since debuted new members following a much-publicized legal dispute, three of FIFTY FIFTY’s former members are now trying to restart their careers while being in debt from their former company. We also know that the introduction of new K-pop groups will likely redirect fans’ attention. From what I see, NewJeans are young women trying to defend their careers.
At the end of the day, pitting young girls and their respective bands against each other is harmful to their well-being and easily shows how replaceable they are in this industry. And from a business point of view, that can also lead to many downsides.
HYBE shares have suffered significant lows since the dispute between Min and HYBE started. Plus this week, it was reported that NewJeans member Hanni has been selected by South Korea’s National Assembly to testify on workplace bullying.
If HYBE and Min can’t get it together, it’s possible that this dispute could signal even more detrimental trickle down effects on K-pop overall.
This situation continues to develop at a rapid pace, and it’s unclear where it will go in the next few months. But let’s remember that real people are involved in all of this. We should have a bit more grace for all the bands embroiled in it.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Accountability is important to me, so please address corrections and concerns by sending me an email at bunnipopnewsletter@gmail.com. Continue the conversation by following bunni pop on Instagram and Threads.
To be honest, I could never get into NewJeans—but this situation sucks all around.
But it just tells me more about how Hybe only really cares about the money. I mean, it makes sense, but sucky still, especially if you find yourself under the wheels of the bus. Just ask GFriend.
I completely agree! This situation has gotten so messy and it's doing nothing but hurting everyone involved. Your point about girl groups receiving more intense scrutiny than boy groups is also so true, and the fifty-fifty situation is horrible, such a core part of being a Kpop fan is the connection between idols and fans, and to just replace three members and keep going under the same name feels like such a perversion of that relationship. MHJ seems like a talented producer but also narcissistic and manipulative - the repeated press conferences seem to be becoming increasingly about her and less about NewJeans. You're so right that the girls are trying to bring her back in order to preserve their careers and achieve the vision she created for them, but it's so sad they feel they can only succeed with her involvement.
Hybe is a company that grew really quickly on the basis of hitman bang's success with one group, and now he seems sure he knows the formula for success (see also the Katseye netflix series) but I'm not sure it's actually working for any of the hybe groups (absolutely agree with the reference to GFriend in another comment!!). As a shareholder in the company and a senior artist, I'm really glad Jungkook spoke out (even if a bit cryptic - I also thought it was interesting he didn't clarify through Hybe, but instead via Big Hit!).