NJZ vs HYBE & ADOR

Who are New Jeans?

New Jeans is a 5-member girl group who debuted on August 1st, 2022. They quickly made waves with their fun, upbeat songs and their cool-but-cute style and concepts. Originally signed under Hybe and managed by Ador, New Jeans became one of the most talked-about groups in K-pop in no time. There’s been a lot going on with them recently, and while I’m not a hardcore stan, I’ve always enjoyed everything they put out. That said, I wanted to take a closer look at what went wrong and how the people behind the scenes have, frankly, failed them time and time again.

When New Jeans debuted in 2022, the K-pop world was absolutely blown away. It felt like there wasn’t a single K-pop fan who wasn’t blasting their songs. The group rose to stardom almost instantly, gaining fans and securing their place at the top. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize—New Jeans was it. Other girl groups couldn’t even touch them.

For a while, it seemed like there was no stopping them. They were loved not only by fans but by other idols as well. The hype around New Jeans was massive, and they were cruising straight to the top with nothing in their way.

Now, this post isn’t about saying that their careers are over or that they can’t bounce back from everything that’s happened. I’m not trying to be biased, even though I do have my opinions. The purpose of this blog is to look at the series of events and consider how things could’ve gone differently. Clearly, people are going to have different perspectives, so feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments, I’d love to hear them!

Ador's #1 problem

From the title of this section, you already know we are talking about the one and only Min Hee-Jin. Listen this whole case is really meant for another blog, so I won't go into too much depth on this right now because truthfully it is way too much to talk about. So, I will give you the highlights because everything for New Jeans hit the fan as soon as this scandal happened.

All we really need to know about this situation is that Hybe opened an internal audit against Min Hee-Jin in April of 2024. This was due to suspicion of Min Hee-Jin trying to take control of Ador. Min Hee-Jin denied claims and then it turned into a whole mess from there. Hybe asked Min Hee-Jin to step down and she inevitable did. Now it should be noted that on top of the claims that she was trying to take ownership of Adorn she also was accused of spreading hate and false rumors against many of the Idols and groups within Hybe. I think fans of New Jeans and non-fans alike can agree that this is pretty messed up. There was proof of her hatred and ill intentions towards many of the other Hybe girl groups. Even going as far is spreading hate or making up fake rumors to try and deter other groups success to ensure her own groups.

No matter what everything that came out about Min Hee-Jin was not a good look and when the two parties took their case to court Min Hee-Jin did not win. All of this is to say that from my standpoint getting the girls as far away from this situation as possible was the only logical move.

The Hand That Fed Them

Even though Min Hee-Jin was under scrutiny, that didn’t mean New Jeans should’ve been. In fact, they were still under Hybe and part of Ador, so none of the outrage should’ve landed on the girls. The best move would’ve been for them to just keep doing their thing, as they were. Bring in a new CEO who could continue guiding them to success, and let the girls focus on what they were already doing. And honestly, that was the course of action they seemed to be following.

Now, if you're not super familiar with the K-pop industry, let me break a couple of things down for you. This market is insanely oversaturated. It feels like a new group debuts every other second, so getting any kind of leg up for a group is absolutely crucial. One of those advantages is the company you're under. There are three major companies that reign supreme, and if you’re with one of them, success becomes a lot easier. We're talking about Hybe, JYP, and SM—each of these companies has built a massive reputation for themselves.

Of course, Hybe is the biggest and most successful of the three, and honestly, if I were with Hybe, I’d do everything I could to stay there. The resources they have, the connections, the global recognition. It’s a huge advantage.

It’s not easy to switch companies in the K-pop world. Most idols from big companies like these don’t even think about leaving until they’ve built up enough popularity to feel secure doing it. And even then, it’s usually done on an individual level, not as a group. Plus, if they want to continue doing group activities, it would typically still be under their original company, so it’s crucial to leave on good terms.

Now this is not to say you need to be in a big company to succeed there is plenty of proof against this, but it doesn't hurt.

New Jeans Speaks Out

Alright, let’s jump back into it and get back on track with New Jeans. Shortly after Min Hee-Jin was dismissed as CEO, the girls didn’t waste any time speaking out. They went live, just the five of them, and addressed her departure. By this point, the news surrounding the CEO had already been circulating, and let’s be real—most people were interpreting it in a pretty negative light. So, when the girls went on live, they talked about their worries for the future, how they felt unsafe at Hybe, incidents of mistreatment, and, most notably, their support for Min Hee-Jin and how they wished she would come back.

Now, it’s important to note that the girls went live of their own volition—no one else knew this was going to happen.

As I said earlier, this was probably the worst thing they could’ve done at that point in time. The public’s opinion of Min Hee-Jin was already negative, and the girls needed to distance themselves from that drama if they wanted to protect their own careers. Instead, they did the exact opposite—they fully supported her, even at the risk of causing issues for themselves. In a lot of ways, they “bit the hand that fed them.” Harsh? Maybe. But let me stress something: Hybe is a massive conglomerate. We're talking about a company with a ton of successful and talented groups under its belt. If one group is causing problems? Unfortunately, that group can be seen as expendable.

Now, I know this might sound brutal, but this is just how things go in K-pop. Companies are driven by one thing: money. Their goal is always to make a profit, and if a group’s actions start to affect that, they’ll take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You might be on top today, but tomorrow? Who knows? The K-pop industry is fast-moving, and staying in a strong company can be helpful.

Switching The Narrative

When that live happened, I remember being so scared for them. Denouncing the company you’re currently under? Yeah, that’s never a good look. But, as I watched the situation unfold, I noticed a narrative starting to play out that, in hindsight, probably saved them for a while. The narrative was simple: "These girls are too young to fully understand what’s going on. They probably had a close relationship with Min Hee-Jin and only knew she was being taken away."

And honestly? I totally fell into that narrative too. If you want to hear my take on it, I can definitely share, but for now, let’s leave it at that.

The thing is that this narrative was kind of genius. It saved them from having to take full responsibility for their actions because, according to this story, they didn’t really know any better. "This live was just young girls venting their frustrations because they were hurt." You get the picture. Deflecting can be a really smart strategy, and sometimes, you can let the public write their own narrative and fix things for you. Pity can go a long way if it’s done right, and in this case, it was done right.

Because let’s be real—we all felt bad for them. We felt pity for their situation. They were young, confused, and seemingly just reacting to a situation they didn’t fully understand. That sympathy gave them a little cushion during a time when things could’ve gone much worse.

Let's Fastforward a Little Bit

After all of this went down, New Jeans kept on speaking out in support of Min Hee-Jin and against Hybe. They made one clear request: that Min Hee-Jin be reinstated as Ador's CEO. But as the K-pop world slowly moved on, the narrative they had built started to fade. Many of their statements started raising suspicions among fans, and, honestly, everyone was just left wondering what was next for them.

Eventually, Hybe refused their request to bring Min Hee-Jin back, and in November 2024, the girls held a press conference announcing they were terminating their contract with Hybe. Now, leaving a company like Hybe? That's no small feat. There’s a ton of legal red tape to deal with before you can even leave. But it seemed like the girls didn’t really care about all of that. I say this because it’s unclear if their contracts were actually terminated, as Ador claimed that their exclusive contracts were still valid.

Whether the contracts were valid or not, New Jeans didn’t seem to mind. They took to Instagram—no longer affiliated with Hybe or Ador—and announced that they would be debuting under a new name: NJZ.

Naturally, Hybe and Ador weren’t having it. They filed an injunction against the group, claiming they still held the rights to their music and their title. The girls technically couldn’t rebrand themselves, at least not legally. They weren’t allowed to perform under the NJZ name, and they definitely couldn’t sing their old songs as NJZ either.

But they did it anyway. NJZ went ahead and started publicizing under their new name, singing their old songs, and their "new rebranding" looked so similar to the New Jeans brand. The girls said they were going on hiatus until their legal situation was sorted out, but what did they do right after? They went on an interview as NJZ and even did a performance as well.

The Court Has Ruled

Well, the court case has come to an end and the ruling favored HYBE and Ador. What does this mean? it means that every proposition that New Jeans brought to court was denied. This also means that they are not allowed out of their contract and must remain as New Jeans under HYBE and Ador. This further means they are not allowed to promote under NJZ so this new comeback they were planning will yet again be illegal and a breach of contract.

We will see if they take this seriously as last time they did not seem to care about the legal repercussions. They have already decided to take their case to another court to try for a ruling in their favor.

Now before we break down each ruling, I want to say that if they are unwilling to provide further evidence of mistreatment then the next ruling will be the same. They have yet to give real evidence that they have received any real mistreatment since Min Hee-jjin left and a new CEO took over. This mistreatment is the only real argument they have to break their contract, and they have yet to put forth proof.

Now to look at each ruling, first we know that the court denied their ability to rebrand as NJZ. They will not be allowed to promote under this new name and brand. They will not be allowed out of their contract either. The group also argued that the departure of their former CEO, lack of support, mistreatment and misconduct were grounds to leave. To this the court says it was not within their contract to have Min Hee-jin as the CEO, so those grounds are not valid. Next there has been no evidence of mistreatment by the company or lack of support from their new CEO. Therefore, they have denied all of New Jean's claims.

Still despite all of this HYBE and Ador would like to keep New Jeans as an active group which is a surprise to me. These girls have been super successful and although they have caused a lot of problems, I understand why the company would want to keep such a big profit source. This in my opinion is great news for New Jeans and they should definitely take this opportunity. But since they are taking this to a whole other court I don't think they will accept this offer. The only thing left is waiting until all of their individual contract expires and not sign with HYBE again. Which might take a while but clearly, they are not getting out of it any other way.

My Hot Takes

This whole situation has me thinking: What on earth is their BTS (behind-the-scenes) team doing? From a PR standpoint, this is honestly ridiculous. Is no one advising them against any of this? I get the saying “all publicity is good publicity,” but when there are actual legal repercussions, that’s a whole different story. At this point, I wonder if they think they’re untouchable just because they’re so successful and still maintain a solid fan base. I don’t know, but I’m genuinely worried for them. The fact that they’ve been so quiet recently. Yeah, that’s not a good sign. They should have taken that hiatus like they said and waited for all the legal stuff to play out before they started publicizing their rebranding.

Another thing that recently popped up was this whole mess with them meeting the owner of a fan account. At first glance, I guess this could’ve been a PR move to reconnect with fans, but, as we saw with OnlyOneOf, this is a slippery slope. Idols and their fans need to have boundaries, and this situation is a prime example of why. The person behind the fan account was known for being a racist bully online, hating on other groups—especially other Hybe groups—and using slurs. Meeting up with this fan account? Yeah, it just made NJZ look way worse.

So, how do they come back from all this? Well, first they need to wait for all the legal stuff to wrap up. And I’m doubtful they’ll be able to keep the rights to their music, considering how messy things ended with Hybe. So, they really need to take a step back and figure out their next move.

Luckily, they still have a loyal fanbase, and I don’t think this is the end of their career. But they need to plan way better going forward. I think the best move for them would be to separate themselves from Hybe as much as possible and find a rebrand that’s not so closely tied to what they were doing before—because that will only get messier. Plus, they need to be way more cautious with the image they’re putting out there. This is where their management team really has to step up and make sure they can write a new narrative that shows this girl group in a more positive light.

And let’s be real, from the start, they should’ve played into the audience’s pity more. If they were planning to leave, they needed to make their separation from Hybe feel more justified than just Min Hee-Jin’s departure. They should’ve leaned into the mistreatment by Hybe more. Like I mentioned earlier, there was that incident with Hanni, where another girl group was told not to talk to her because of everything that was going on. That’s a pretty unfortunate situation, and the group did mention that and other mistreatment incidents, but we never really got any clear details. Fans are still wondering, “What actually happened?” To this day, they haven’t really said much more about it—just that they can’t talk about it. If they had shared more examples and really painted Hybe as the villain like they tried to in the beginning, they could’ve used that narrative to their advantage. Because now? Honestly, I don’t feel that much pity for them anymore, and taking Min Hee-Jin away? It was necessary.

Now, NJZ is backed into a corner, and I’m not sure what’s next for them, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.