NewJeans

NewJeans (뉴진스) arrived on July 22, 2022, with no pre-debut hype, no member reveal, no traditional rollout. ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE led by creative director Min Hee-jin, simply dropped "Attention" and let the music do the talking. It worked. The track topped South Korea's Circle Digital Chart, and follow-up singles "Hype Boy" and "Ditto" rewrote records: "Hype Boy" became the longest-running song on the Billboard Global 200 by a K-pop female act, while "Ditto" held the Circle Digital Chart's number-one spot for thirteen consecutive weeks. The group's sound drew from 1990s and 2000s R&B, UK garage, and dance-pop, a deliberate counter to K-pop's maximalist production trends. Pitchfork called their debut EP "plush and stylish." Their second EP, Get Up, peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, making them only the second K-pop girl group after BLACKPINK to top the chart. Lead single "Super Shy" cracked the top five on the Billboard Global 200. IFPI ranked NewJeans as the eighth best-selling artist worldwide in 2023, the second-highest female act that year. The accolades piled up fast. NewJeans became the first girl group in twelve years to win Artist of the Year at the MAMA Awards, following Girls' Generation in 2011. They swept Song of the Year for "Ditto" across MAMA, Melon Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and Asia Artist Awards. They performed at Lollapalooza as the first K-pop girl group on that stage and headlined Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Then the ground shifted. In April 2024, a corporate war erupted between HYBE executives and Min Hee-jin over control of ADOR and the group's creative direction. The members publicly sided with Min, delivering a YouTube livestream ultimatum to HYBE in September 2024. Min was dismissed as ADOR CEO in August 2024 and resigned from HYBE entirely in November. The members announced contract termination with ADOR on November 28, 2024, briefly rebranded as NJZ, and performed at ComplexCon Hong Kong in March 2025 before a court injunction halted independent activities. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of ADOR on October 30, 2025, upholding contracts until 2029. Haerin and Hyein agreed to return in November, followed by Hanni in December. Danielle's contract was terminated by ADOR on December 29, 2025. Discussions regarding Minji's return remain ongoing as of early 2026. The group that changed what K-pop could sound like now faces the challenge of what comes next.