This is the latest development in the long-running internal saga at HYBE that has shook the K-pop scene this year.
On Thursday, November 28, K-pop girl group NewJeans called an emergency press conference regarding the status of their contract with the music label ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE Corporation.
The five members, namely Danielle, Hanni, Haerin, Minji, and Hyein, faced the media to publicly announce their departure from the label and air their sentiments through a prepared statement.
“We have faced mistreatment, not just to us but also including our staff, countless preventions and contradictions, deliberate miscommunications and manipulation in multiple areas,” Hanni said.
She continued: “A company that no longer has any sincerity in the art of music that is created, but is rather fixated on appearing like a well-looking company despite only having thoughts about making money and without any conscience about the negative effect they create…”
The member also told that they held the emergency press conference “to prevent misinformation.”
“Once we leave ADOR, we aim to proceed freely with the activities that we really desire, especially with the schedules that have already been arranged, we will try our very best to continue them without any complications,” Danielle said.
She also expressed the team’s ambition, telling “We really wish to release new music for Bunnies next year, the soonest possible whenever, and we really hope that we have the opportunity to meet you guys from all around the world.”
“Lastly, from today, we may not be able to use our current name, NewJeans. However, that doesn’t mean that we are giving up on the name at all and we will continue to fight for NewJeans. Regardless of our name, just remember that “NewJeans never dies,” the NewJeans star said.
CERTIFICATE OF CONTENTS
The pronouncement comes two weeks after it was first reported that NewJeans, through their representative, served ADOR a ‘certificate of contents,’ which effectively gave the company 14 days to rectify or address their demands.
In the file posted by Yonhap, members hope that the management “rectifies all… violations,” with them citing the recent HYBE internal report that stated that the company “had been plagued by New-I-LE… but can throw ‘New’ away and start anew.”
HYBE Corporation is the parent conglomerate of ADOR and also owns subsidiary labels Belift Lab and Source Music, which respectively oversee the girl groups ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM — the two other groups included in the ‘New-I-LE’ trio.
On Wednesday, November 27, ADOR issued a statement in response to the certificate of contents.
“On October 7, 2024, BELIFT LAB released a statement regarding their manager’s disregard remarks. ADOR has maintained a cautious stance to avoid unnecessary controversy involving our artists. However, despite our efforts, the related controversy has not subsided, so we are clarifying ADOR’s position.”
It continued: “BELIFT LAB’s claims are entirely different from the testimony of NewJeans member Hanni. Hanni clearly remembers that on May 27, 2024, a member of BELIFT LAB made remarks involving her, such as, “Ignore her,” or “Just ignore and pass by.” It is unreasonable and harsh to expect the victim to recall every detail of the incident, which occurred in a relatively short moment, in order to consider this issue a problem. ADOR and its members fully trust our artist’s words and genuinely regret the harm Hanni has suffered.”
To end, the company said that they hope that “BELIFT LAB does not take Hanni’s suffering lightly and shows mutual respect, and we expect a sincere attitude from BELIFT LAB in this matter to ensure that unnecessary controversies involving ADOR’s artists do not continue.”
NEWJEANS
NewJeans made their debut in 2022 and became an instant sensation for their hit singles like ‘Attention,’ ‘OMG,’ ‘Hype Boy,’ ‘Ditto,’ and ‘Super Shy.’
In May 2024, they made their comeback with ‘How Sweet,’ which is the title track of its namesake single album.
Last September, the NewJeans member also visited the country for the second time as guest performers at the ‘Ultimate Fandom Concert’ in Pasay City, where they joined forces with Filipino musicians like Alamat, Zack Tabudlo, Kyle Echarri, Nik Makino, and Illest Morena.