All five members of NewJeans are exiting their agency, ADOR.
Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein revealed their steadfast resolution to leave the company during an emergency press conference held in Seoul on November 28, 2024. The press conference began at around 8:30 p.m. KST.
The five K-pop artists made a bold move of declaring their clear stance regarding their future as NewJeans. In a translated quote by Soompi, NewJeans noted that the reason for their press conference was to prevent unprecedented "media play" or "media manipulation of HYBE. HYBE is the parent company of their agency, ADOR.
"Actually, tomorrow morning we are leaving for Japan and are returning next week because we have scheduled activities abroad. We were worried because we are not sure what kind of media play or media manipulation HYBE and the current ADOR will do during that time, and we wanted to express our thoughts accurately, so we discussed a lot among ourselves, and we had no choice but to hold an emergency press conference today," the girls expressed during the press con.
Bravely, the girls criticized ADOR for not executing enough efforts to protect the NewJeans' welfare and for not listening to their requests. The members were pertaining to the certification of contents sent on November 13, 2024. The document aimed to highlight NewJeans' pleas for better management and so on. Stated in the document as well, is that if requests are not met, NewJeans' exclusive contract with ADOR will automatically cease within 14 days.
The 14th day happens to be November 29, 2024, 12 a.m. KST. "The reason we are leaving ADOR is very simple, and I think the reporters here who know our situation are also all very aware. NewJeans is an artist of ADOR, and ADOR is obligated to protect NewJeans. It is the most basic obligation that an agency has," NewJeans stated.
The girl group got as transparent as possible to the press even pointing out HYBE and ADOR's possible defense against their controversial contract termination. "HYBE and ADOR are currently differentiating the two companies like wordplay, insisting that it cannot be a violation of contract because HYBE is at fault and not ADOR. However, as everyone knows, HYBE and ADOR are pretty much just one entity now."
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What happens to NewJeans after leaving HYBE and ADOR?
With all the commotion going on with NewJeans' management, there's only one question left: is NewJeans disbanding? Thankfully, there has been no information about a possible disbandment of the five-member girl group. Instead, the group is set to be free talents for the time being. However, there is a huge possibility that they may not legally use NewJeans as their group name already.
And so, the fight for their name begins. The five members have expressed their desire to keep the name NewJeans as it holds so much meaning for them as a group. That is why they will be fighting for it until everything is settled. The girls conveyed, "When midnight passes tonight, there is a possibility that the five of us may not be able to use the name NewJeans for the time being despite our will. However, the essence that the five of us are NewJeans will not change at all, and we do not have any thoughts of giving up the name NewJeans."
They added, "To some people, NewJeans may just feel like a name or a trademark issue, but it is not that simple to us. It is a name that contains the meaning of everything we have achieved from the first day that the five of us met until now, so we will continue to work to secure the rights to the name NewJeans."
