On December 5, ADOR sent out a press release highlighting Spotify’s 2024 year-end rankings, which placed NewJeans as the 5th most-streamed K-pop artist globally—the highest rank for a K-pop girl group. Domestically, NewJeans ranked 4th among K-pop girl groups.
ADOR also spotlighted NewJeans’ achievements this year, mentioning the release of their double single “How Sweet” and Japanese debut single “Supernatural”, both of which performed well on domestic and international charts. The agency noted that NewJeans has surpassed 5.5 billion cumulative streams on Spotify.
It seems that despite contract conflict with NewJeans, the agency still continues promoting NewJeans.
On the other hand, NewJeans previously held a press conference announcing their contract termination.
Subsequently, Dispatch alleged that ADOR’s CEO, Min Hee-jin, was involved in NewJeans’ surprise YouTube live broadcast, Hanni’s National Assembly appearance, and their recent press conference, raising concerns of tampering.
While NewJeans previously stated that their decisions were independent and unrelated to Min Hee-jin, the reports left the public confused.
On December 5, ADOR filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court seeking a legal confirmation of the validity of their exclusive contract with NewJeans. On December 6, the Korea Entertainment Producers Association issued a statement urging NewJeans to “withdraw their baseless and irresponsible claims”, even saying that the girl group’s action deserves criticism.
Meanwhile, as the legal battle between NewJeans and their agency ADOR over the validity of their exclusive contract unfolds, ADOR’s former CEO Min Hee-jin is set to appear at a talk concert.
In particular, Min Hee-jin will attend the Hanwha Life Insurance x Fol:in Talk Concert, “Women Who Became Genres,” on December 6 in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
Given that Min Hee-jin has not shied away from discussing NewJeans in public, attention is focused on whether she will address the ongoing contract dispute during the talk concert.
Source: Daum (1) (2)
