Summary of NewJeans’ Sudden Press Conference to “End Contract”

K-pop girl group NewJeans suddenly called a press conference claiming to terminate their contracts with their agency ADOR. Yes, that NewJeans — the one which put out songs like “Super Shy” and “OMG” that your friends couldn’t stop listening to.

Here’s a summary of everything you need to know about the claims made by NewJeans in the press conference, so you can pretend to be informed when you talk to your “K-pop fanatic” friends.

The Context Behind NewJeans’ Sudden Press Conference

For those among us who don’t follow the K-pop scene, NewJeans is a K-pop girl group that debuted in 2022. The group is composed of five members — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein.

The group was a hit and their songs quickly found their way into global charts, with most of their songs clocking hundreds of millions of streams. The group also won the Group of the Year Award at Billboard’s Women in Music Awards.

So, now that you know a little something about NewJeans, let’s set out why NewJeans’ sudden press conference announcing the end of their contracts with their agency ADOR isn’t all that surprising. You see, the “sudden” announcement is actually part of a long saga that started earlier in the year.

NewJeans is managed by ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE, which is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2005. Many other popular K-pop groups are managed by HYBE and its subsidiaries — these K-pop groups include BTS, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, LE SSERAFIM, and SEVENTEEN.

Earlier in the year, HYBE had accused ADOR’s former CEO, Min Hee-jin, of attempting to make ADOR independent. A long management dispute between Min and HYBE followed. This eventually culminated in Min stepping down as ADOR’s CEO in August and subsequently resigning as an ADOR director in November.

However, NewJeans wasn’t all too happy with how the management dispute ended — the five-member K-pop group wanted to continue working with Min. As such, on 13 November, the K-pop group decided to send a list of demands to ADOR stating that they would terminate their exclusive contracts with the agency if these demands were not met.

And of course, this list of demands included the return of Min Hee-jin to ADOR.

“Let CEO Min Hee-jin once again manage Ador and NewJeans as before. Bring back the Ador where NewJeans enjoyed performing happily, which was until March 2024. We miss NewJeans’ dream-filled vision of future music, performances and creative activities with Min Hee-jin,” the five-member group said in the “certification of contents” setting out their demands.

I guess the group is not so “Super Shy” after all.

NewJeans’ Press Conference Claims to “End Contract” With ADOR

On Thursday (28 November), the girl group held an emergency press conference declaring that they were seeking to “end” their contracts with ADOR. But how did a list of demands suddenly lead to a NewJeans press conference purporting to terminate their contracts with ADOR?

Well, after the girl group had sent their list of demands to ADOR, ADOR had 14 days to rectify the issues raised in the list of demands. The list of demands included a formal apology from the manager who had allegedly told another HYBE group to ignore one of the NewJeans members, Hanni, and of course, the reinstatement of Min Hee-jin as ADOR CEO.

If ADOR failed to rectify those issues, NewJeans would terminate their contract with ADOR.

No prizes were guessing why NewJeans then decided to “end” their contract with ADOR — ADOR had refused to make any rectification during the 14-day window.

“Over the past few months, we have made several requests to ADOR for rectification. However, ADOR consistently responded with evasion and excuses. We want to make it clear that genuine communication based on mutual respect was not possible due to ADOR,” the girl group shared in an official press release the day after the press conference.

During the Thursday press conference called by the girl group, group member Hanni shared that staying with ADOR would be “a waste of time” and would “only bring pain”.

Wow… This is more exciting than any K-drama that’s streaming on Netflix.

ADOR Responds to NewJeans’ Claim to “End Contract”: NewJeans’ Contract Valid Until July 2029

However, one question remains — are the contracts terminated just because NewJeans says the contracts are terminated? Well, according to the girl group, after they delivered their signed termination notices to ADOR, their contracts will be terminated.

“This termination notice is in accordance with our exclusive contract, and all five of us have signed the termination document. The notice takes effect immediately upon its delivery to ADOR on November 29, 2024. From that moment, the exclusive contract is null and void,” NewJeans shared.

Yet, on ADOR’s end, the story appears to be a little different.

On Friday (29 November), ADOR shared that NewJeans’ contract remains valid for a few more years — specifically, up till 31 July 2029. The agency also shared that it also has plans for a fan meet-and-greet event in March 2025 as well as a new album slated to be released by NewJeans in mid-2025.

“We hope that even now, they can open their hearts, meet and have a sincere conversation. ADOR will do its utmost to support NewJeans’ activities and help them grow into global artists,” ADOR added.

How now, brown cow? Macam romance K-drama like that — one person say break up already, the other person say haven’t break up.

For now, NewJeans appears to still be active as a group. Over the past week, the group has still been actively posting on their Instagram account.

So, is NewJeans going to stay with ADOR until 2029 or are they already split off from the agency? Well, we can only wait and see what happens next lah.