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NewJeans announces departure from ADOR; label claims contracts remain ‘valid’

NewJeans announces departure from ADOR; label claims contracts remain ‘valid’

by Joanna Deala

MEMBERS of the K-pop girl group NewJeans made a brave decision that would greatly affect their future, amid the conflict between their agency, ADOR, and its parent firm, HYBE.

The award-winning Gen Z artists—Hanni, Haerin, Minji, Hyein, and Danielle—announced the termination of their exclusive contracts with their label in an emergency press briefing on Thursday. The termination would take effect on Friday, November 29.

Hanni said this move resulted from the alleged mistreatment that the members and their staff experienced.

“[It is] 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,” the Vietnamese-Australian singer said.

“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,” she added.

Before this, NewJeans sent a certification of contents to ADOR on November 13, demanding the agency rectify the supposed breaches of the exclusive contracts within 14 days. The label, however, did not “listen to our requests,” said NewJeans.

Contracts remain valid’

In a statement following NewJeans’ announcement, ADOR maintained that it did not commit any wrongdoing and that the members’ exclusive contracts with the label remain “valid.”

“ADOR, as a party of the exclusive contracts, has not violated the contracts, and claiming that trust has been unilaterally broken does not constitute grounds for termination,” the label said in a statement, translated by Korean entertainment website Soompi.

ADOR said it expects NewJeans to continue their scheduled activities with the agency.

“We have requested several meetings with the artists, but they were not carried out. We hope that even now, we can open our hearts and have sincere conversations together,” it added.

Danielle said at the conference that they aim to “pursue freely the activities that [they] really desire” and hope to release new music for their fans, collectively known as Bunnies,” next year. 

She added that they would continue the fight to reclaim the name “NewJeans” following their departure from ADOR.

“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,” the idol said.

“Regardless of our name, just remember that NewJeans never dies,” she added.

Controversies

The chart-topping K-pop girl group has been surrounded by controversies for several months. 

In October, Hanni testified before the South Korean National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee, as part of its workplace harassment inquiry. 

The K-pop idol revealed that a manager of another K-pop group linked to HYBE allegedly instructed the members to ignore her. However, the workplace harassment claim was dismissed by the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor as she could not be classified as an employee under the country’s labor laws.

NewJeans emphasized that ADOR had a duty to protect them as its artists—something that the group claimed their agency failed to do.

“If we remain here, it will be a waste of our time, and our mental distress will continue,” NewJeans said at the press conference, as translated by Korean entertainment website Soompi.

They continued, “More than anything, there is nothing that we can gain in terms of our work, so the five of us think that there is no reason at all for us to remain at ADOR.”

Last week, former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin stepped down as the label’s internal director and terminated the shareholder agreement with HYBE, which she claimed the latter breached. NewJeans previously demanded Min’s reinstatement as CEO, stressing that she was “integral” to the group’s identity.

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