NewJeans Never Die vs. The K-pop Paradigm
What a timeline we’re living in. This year has been full of great music from the world of K-pop, but all of the hits have been simultaneously awash in drama and messiness. Rosé being asked in an interview about NewJeans’ situation while promoting her upcoming album really honed in on the fact that the music has taken a backseat in 2024. And that, to some degree, is at the heart of NewJeans’ decision to attempt to part ways with Hybe subsidiary Ador, under which they were formed and are currently the only artist.
During the press conference on November 28, the members of NewJeans announced their decision to terminate their contracts with Ador. Ador has denounced the announcement, saying the contract still stands. The company has stated that it has been attempting to work with the members, claiming that NewJeans hasn’t been receptive to communicating, and sharing that there were plans in the works for new music and touring in 2025.
“A company that no longer has any sincerity in the art of music that is created, is rather fixated on appearing like a well-working company, despite only having thoughts about making money and don't have any conscience about the negative effect they create through their non-authentic means. This is not the type of work ethic we respect nor want to be a part of, and to continue working under a company with no intention of protecting NewJeans would only do us harm. So that is why we, the five of us, together, have agreed to leave Ador,” stated Hanni during the press conference.
This emphasizes that the overall decision to leave Ador/Hybe is just as much about creative freedom as it is the allegations of mistreatment, attempts to diminish NewJeans’ impact in favor of other Hybe acts, and the dispute between Hybe and NewJeans’ founding producer Min Hee-jin. There is so much going on here that it’s a bit hard to make sense of it all and I think this piece is a bit rudimentary but I will do some more thinking in the future. But, for now, I feel like it’s worth honing in on that a bit because at the end of the day K-pop is a music and people-oriented industry, and if the art and performance matters less than the money it’s making it feels like people have lost the point.
Beyond that, there has been a whole slew of confusion over the state of NewJeans' contract, with a clause appearing to allege that the members are in their rights based on accusations of mistreatment. But they didn’t appear to be announcing that they’re firing off a contract termination lawsuit, essentially putting the ball in Ador’s court to take things to court. This seemingly implies that they’re just going to act business as usual, on their own terms, somehow, and going to continue to fulfill all their current advertising and promotional obligations.
NewJeans clarified this a bit on November 29, with a statement declaring, "Our contracts with ADOR have ended as of Nov. 29, 2024, and the five of us will start our new activities, free from HYBE and ADOR.” And, “All five of us signed the contract termination notification, which arrived at ADOR on Nov. 29. The notice goes into effect as soon as it arrives, which means that the exclusive contract lost its power from that very moment. That gives us no reason to file for an injunction in court, and we are free to pursue our own activities, starting Nov. 29, 2024."
K-pop has never seen anything like this before. Sort of.
I say sort of, because my immediate thoughts pointed me back to 2009, when JYJ’s members sued to terminate their contracts with SM Entertainment due to unbearable conditions, leading to the common use of the term “slave contracts” to refer to the way K-pop companies offered unfair terms to artists.
But, interestingly enough, that’s not really the problem here: NewJeans aren’t attempting to end their contract due to overwork or underpay, but due to disrespect and lack of support. They, in fact, are reported to have quite favorable terms, such as not taking on their training debt or the term that is at the heart of this all, what the BBC describes as “a clause specifying that parties can unilaterally terminate the contract if the other has violated its duty”, such as NewJeans have accused Ador/Hybe of doing. Whether a court agrees that is the case is likely going to lead to a long, drawn out legal debacle.
And that is why I’m reminded of 2009, and all the other contract lawsuits that have happened ever since in K-pop: the legal battles often lead to artists not only having to stop promoting for a time, but a general chilling within the industry to them. JYJ were blocked from promoting on television for years due to influence by SM Entertainment, and it will be quite shocking for Korean entertainment entities to work with NewJeans over Hybe.
Over the years there has been some reforms, but contract issues abound. SM Entertainment artists have often been the one facing the contract disputes, but they're far from the only ones, though have often set the standard approach which is go straight to court and stall idols' careers, at least in Korea. This, however, is Hybe's first instance since becoming a behemoth, so how NewJeans ultimately fare with this is likely going to set a lot of precedence for how the company and its many subsidaries approach artist contracts and disputes in the future.
We're also likely to see some more discourse, and perhaps legal decisions, about the employment status of K-pop idols, after a recent court ruling made it clear that NewJeans' members, and seemingly all K-pop idols, are in fact considered contractors rather than employees of K-pop companies. I had been aware of this for a while, and always thought it was fascinating that their salaries were never featured in financial reports the way other employees are, but I appreciated getting it confirmed by a court, and it was interesting to see the discourse about it from fan perspectives. (As a longterm freelancer/contract worker myself, I may write about the pros and cons of this in the future but... Not today!)
If NewJeans were to be able to continue on as normal, either as they aim to now for the present or eventually eternally if the court decides in their favor, it could also potentially lead to a wave of artists in the industry questioning the state of things. This is against the business practice norms of K-pop as we currently know it, and if realized could see idols getting more of a say in the rules of engagement rather than upper management. How likely that is I really couldn't say, but it seems like NewJeans don't feel like they're only fighting for themselves here, talking about changing their own lives and changing the world.
“It is courage that changes the world,” Minji said. “Only people who have the will to change their lives get to. We are here because of the fans, the [NewJeans fandom] Bunnies that love us, the members and Min Hee-jin. We know that our decision to protect all five of us will not come easy, but nothing gets better if you don’t stand up for yourself.”
Although I've been around K-pop and reporting on it for long enough that I'm pretty pessimistic about it, I can’t help but wonder if 2024 is going to go down as a seismic shift to the top-down relationship between companies and idols, and fandoms. Perhaps it'll even change the idea of what idols are, since it is quite apparent that NewJeans are hoping to set a new paradigm for idols, especially women, taking control and having more of a say when it comes to their own careers.
Related reading
Patrick St. Michel (who I recently spoke to about AKB) had thoughts on NewJeans' announcement and their career in Japan.
Vulture has been updating their "Um, Is NewJeans Okay?" timeline of events regularly.
NewJeans isn’t the only girl group who have faced upheaval this week, with Nov 28-29 featuring a slew of news items that are important to take note of:
- MADEIN, a girl group built out of Limelight plus Kep1er former members, announces member Gaeun’s departure, which is a bit disturbing as it comes after reports that the CEO sexually harassed her, which 143 Entertainment denied in the statement. Fans have been concerned about the situation ever since earlier this month, though MADEIN’s social media accounts have turned off commenting.
- Pledis Entertainment, another Hybe subsidiary, announces that Fromis9 is not renewing its contract, and will be releasing a goodbye song next month. It’s a disbandment in all but name, although in recent years we’ve seen a lot of acts continue after leaving their original company, so we’ll have to see what happens.
- Loosemble, made up of former LOONA members, are also leaving their label after about a year. TBD where they end up.
