MANILA, Philippines — K-pop girl group NewJeans is leaving ADOR and its parent company HYBE, the group’s members announced in a sudden press conference on Thursday, November 28.

Member Minji said NewJeans’ exclusive contracts with ADOR will be terminated by midnight of Friday, November 29.

“We are tired of [HYBE’s] insincere attitude and felt once again that they have no desire to listen to our requests,” she said in Korean, as translated by Soompi.

The move comes after the group sent a certification of contents on November 13 to ADOR to rectify alleged breaches of the exclusive contracts within 14 days, with Thursday being the deadline. This means that the content of NewJeans’ demands, as well as when these were sent, were legally verified and can be used in legal matters, such as in compelling ADOR to rectify contract violations.

It also marks a shift in a months-long dispute between HYBE, NewJeans, and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin. On November 20, Min announced her resignation as ADOR’s internal director. 

Among NewJeans’ demands were the need for HYBE to address statements on the group in the leaked “Weekly Music Industry Report” and an apology from the manager from another HYBE group who told its members to ignore member Hanni, among others.

“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 said in English.

She added that HYBE has become “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 does not have any conscience about the negative effect they create through their non-authentic means.” 

To recall, Hanni testified to the South Korean parliament in its probe on workplace bullying back in October after sharing her incident with the HYBE manager in a now-deleted livestream. 

Meanwhile, member Danielle reassured fans that NewJeans will continue their activities as a group, adding that they “aim to pursue freely the activities that we really desire” after leaving ADOR.

“Especially with the schedules that have already been arranged, we will try our very best to continue them without any complications,” she said.

Danielle also added that NewJeans wishes to release new music and meet their fans, also known as Bunnies or Tokkis, around the world. 

“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.”

ADOR’s response

Following the press conference, ADOR responded that it “regrets that a press conference…was planned and conducted even before receiving a response to the certification of contents and without sufficient review.”

The agency also reiterated that it has not violated the exclusive contracts, adding that “claiming that trust has been unilaterally broken does not constitute grounds for termination.” It added that ADOR management “requested several meetings with the artists, but they were not carried out.”

NewJeans debuted under ADOR through a surprise debut in July 2022 through “Attention” and “Hype Boy.” The group consists of five members — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein. 

The five-member group’s latest release was the Japanese single “Supernatural” in June. They also recently visited the Philippines for the “Coke Studio: The Ultimate Fandom Concert” on September 5. – Rappler.com