NewJeans is leaving HYBE and its subsidiary, ADOR.
In an emergency press conference held in Seoul on November 28, all members of the K-pop girl group—Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein—announced their decision to terminate their exclusive contract with ADOR, effective midnight on November 29.
Photo: NewJeans
This came after NewJeans sent a certification of contents to ADOR on November 13 to rectify alleged violations of their exclusive contract in 14 days.
“We expressed our opinions on several occasions, such as through the live broadcast and through this certification of contents, but we are so tired of their insincere attitude, and we felt once again that they have no sincerity toward us and that have no desire at all to listen to our requests,” Minji said, as translated by Soompi.
“We have faced mistreatment not just toward us but also toward our staff, countless preventions and contradictions, deliberate miscommunication, and manipulation regarding multiple areas,” Hanni added, reiterating that it is not the “type of work ethic” they respect nor want to be a part of.
Danielle reassured their fans that they would pursue their scheduled activities “without any complications” and expressed their desire to release new music in 2025 “as soon as possible.”
She also acknowledged that while they won’t be able to use the name NewJeans after leaving ADOR, they will continue to “fight for NewJeans.”
“We are well aware that 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,” she stressed.
Following NewJeans’ emergency press conference, ADOR issued a statement in response, noting that the termination of the group’s exclusive contract “was planned and conducted even before receiving a response to the certification of contents and without sufficient review.”
“ADOR, as a party of the exclusive contracts, has not violated the contracts, and claiming that trust has been unilaterally broken does not constitute grounds for termination,” the statement read.
ADOR said the exclusive contracts between them and NewJeans remain valid.
“Therefore, we expect them to continue their scheduled activities ahead together with ADOR as they have until now,” they added. “We have requested several meetings with the artists, but they were not carried out.”
Since April, HYBE, NewJeans, and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin have been embroiled in a months-long dispute. On November 20, Min resigned as ADOR’s internal director. As of writing, NewJeans has yet to comment on ADOR’s response.
NewJeans debuted in 2022. Among their hits are OMG, Ditto, Hype Boy, Attention, and ETA.
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