By Michael Luce
I f there’s one group that has been all over the news and charts this year, it’s NewJeans. It seems like every month there’s a new reason people are paying attention to the girl group, and based on their plans for the rest of the year, there won’t be any slowing down.
2024 might be the year NewJeans have kept the public eye on them the most, but they’re no strangers to “Attention.” They debuted in 2022 with a surprise single (named “Attention”) and immediately found their way to the top of several charts. Their later singles also landed to much acclaim, and “Hype Boy” went on to be the longest-running song by a K-pop girl group on the Billboard Global 200 chart to that point. Later releases saw them topping more lists at home and even joining the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles charts abroad. Last year, NewJeans even performed on Dick Clark’s New Year's Rockin’ Eve in New York City for New Year’s Eve, the first K-pop girl group to do so.
NewJeans has never quite fit the same mold as other groups, but that’s kind of their intent. Their name is meant to invoke ideas of both timelessness and fresh new perspectives, and many of the group’s actions and marketing have reflected this. For example, instead of a full preview lead-up of photos, teasers, interviews, and more like most groups do, NewJeans released their debut single and MV with basically no prior warning other than a cryptic message posted by their label earlier that month. The risky maneuver helped set them apart from other groups, and they are still seeing returns on that decision to this day.
Stylistically, the group tends to be a bit less showy than their peers in other girl groups. Their look has been described as having a “girl-next-door” vibe, and many of their defining characteristics, both in sound and visual, allude to Y2K and 90s trends. As mentioned previously, the goal for the group is to remain timeless while providing something fresh. This seems to be paying off for the group as they have won dozens of awards and have received praise for their massive impact on Korean pop music in such a short time. They’ve established themselves as a group to pay close attention to despite their relatively new status.
Part of what has kept the group in the public eye these past few months has been the very public feud between NewJeans’ label ADOR and its parent company HYBE. To summarize several month’s worth of drama for anyone who has managed to avoid hearing about this, essentially the issue boils down to the CEO of label ADOR Min Hee-jin accusing other HYBE labels of copying the marketing plans and strategies Min developed for NewJeans as well as other conspiratorial efforts to downplay the group’s success. In return, HYBE has accused Min of plotting a hostile takeover of the label ADOR and fabricating details to twist the story in her favor.
It’s a brief oversimplification of the issues at hand and not really central to appreciate the hard work and time put into NewJeans, but the girls have unfortunately been caught in the crossfire. The members have reportedly been quite distraught by the public feuding and repeated court cases. Min Hee-jin has sometimes been called “the mother of NewJeans,” and the bond she shares with the group has been apparent through the whole proceedings.
For better or worse though, this ongoing news has kept the attention on NewJeans, and likely has something to do with their chart success this year. Both “Bubble Gum” and “How Sweet” have been massive in the K-pop sphere this year, and their recent Japan debut has kept the attention going. While not the biggest hits of all time, both “Supernatural” and “Right Now” have received positive attention and were two of the biggest tracks this last month.
The group has also announced plans for a full-length album coming later in 2024 and a massive tour beginning in 2025. There has been some speculation that these plans will be delayed due to the ADOR/HYBE situation, but to date there have been no official announcements.