After the release of hit single “Supernatural,” K-pop girl group, NewJeans, began what seems to be a never ending battle of custody for their own wellbeing in the music industry. The 5-member band consisting of singers: Kim Min-ji, Hanni Pham, Danielle Marsh, Kang Hae-rin, and Lee Hye-in produce under the music company HYBE, formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, but are now filing lawsuits against their alleged mismanagement.
In 2021, HYBE released its first independent label known as ADOR, (All Doors One Room) with the help of the aspiring director of this label, Min Hee-jin. Soon after that, NewJeans would surprisingly come out into the spotlight with their first EP “NewJeans” in August of 2022, which was a massive success around the globe and achieved one million sales on the Circle Chart, setting a new record for a girl group debut.
The creator of the group, Min Hee-Jin, is a South Korean music producer and composer who had joined HYBE entertainment as chief brand officer and rose to the position of CEO of ADOR in 2021. Despite her authority and even after being awarded the Seoul City Culture Award for her work with NewJeans, she was dropped from her CEO role regarding conflicts with HYBE’s executives concerning activities with NewJeans’ future endeavors.
After the dismissal of their producer, NewJeans took to YouTube to show their support for Min Hee-Jin by discussing their rocky experience working at HYBE on livestream, with allegations of abuse and mismanagement in hopes of earning Min her role back as producer. This livestream would become one of the biggest controversies of their career, forcing them into legal action. The Vietnamese-Australian member, Hanni, would testify as a witness for the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee for workplace harassment and artist protection in the entertainment industry, accusing HYBE of discrimination against the group. Unfortunately, the case was dismissed by the National Assembly, due to the fact that Kpop group members are not seen as ‘workers’ and therefore don’t have labor rights.
In November of 2024, NewJeans sent a letter to ADOR stating that if their demands weren’t made, they would terminate their exclusive contract after fourteen days, and just days later, the members announced the end of their contracts, breaking off their work with the company. ADOR claimed that the group didn’t have the authority to break off their said contracts and, in January of 2025, signed a prohibition, preventing the members from signing contracts outside of ADOR, although their exclusive contracts conflict would remain undetermined. As an act of rebellion, On February 7th, NewJeans adopted the new name “NJZ” to perform at the Hong Kong music festival, ComplexCon, despite ADOR’s ruling for the group to stop independent activities. The group still decided to perform as their own act by debuting a new song called “Pit Stop” and covering various other songs, thus not using any material belonging to their previous name. At the end of this performance, they announced a hiatus of all activities for this new group, alluding to the disbandment of this one as well. On October 30th, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of ADOR, by upholding the contracts of the members until 2029, giving the group another chance to be an official group again. After some time, ADOR announced that the members Haerin and Hyein would return to work for the company. The other 3 members would give it some thought before announcing if they would return to the agency, which seemed like the most foreseeable outcome. While Hanni decided she would return to the group alongside the 2 members, shockingly in late December, ADOR announced that Danielle’s contract was terminated, meaning she would not be allowed to return to the group. Under the suspicion that she had been involved with independent activities, she, along with her family, is being sued for 43.1 billion won (30 million US dollars).
Recently, on January 16th, Danielle gave a statement on her Instagram for her fans stating that she fought to the very end and wanted to reflect on the challenges she faced, thank her fans for supporting her and debrief on her relationship with the other 4 members.
The evolving situation of this group reflects the disarray and struggles of artists in the Kpop industry fighting for their freedom. The entertainment companies that host these Kpop groups need to start protecting the wellbeing of their artists, so situations like these don’t happen again in the future.
