NewJeans’ five members (pictured) have scheduled a March concert under a new name, NJZ, amid a legal battle with Hybe/Ador. Photo Credit: TV10
NewJeans 2.0? Amid a well-documented legal battle with Hybe, the K-pop girl group has changed its name to NJZ and teed up a March concert.
The act formerly known as NewJeans took to social media to announce the pivot, which won’t exactly come as a surprise to fans or even casual observers.
We’ve covered the group’s acrimonious showdown with Hybe – NewJeans had specifically been part of the company’s Ador subsidiary – since it started unfolding last year. Long story short, an ugly dispute between Ador’s founder (who also formed and worked directly with NewJeans) set the stage for multiple lawsuits and an eventual ultimatum from NewJeans.
Among other things, NewJeans demanded the reinstatement of Ador’s ousted head, Min Hee-Jin. But that ship had sailed some time beforehand; Hybe didn’t comply with the request, NewJeans promptly moved to terminate its contract, and related legal actions are ongoing.
On the latter front, Hybe is maintaining that the commercially prominent NewJeans remains subject to the multiyear deal in question. And NewJeans – or the group previously called NewJeans – evidently has different plans.
When we last checked in on the high-stakes situation, NewJeans in late January lawyered up and moved forward with a Calvin Klein ad not under its original name, but via a “jeanzforfree” social profile. Now updated to reflect the fresh name, that profile has attracted a cool 4.6 million followers solely on Instagram.
(The official NewJeans Instagram profile, apparently outside the control of the group’s members, has 12.7 million followers and is still publishing sponsored posts. One such message, plugging French fashion brand Celine, only went live yesterday.)
And hundreds of thousands of those followers have liked the posts introducing NJZ, which further took the opportunity to unveil a performance booked for Hong Kong’s ComplexCon in late March.
According to the appropriate event’s website, Metro Boomin is expected to headline on Friday the 21st, followed by Zico on the 22nd and then NJZ on the 23rd.
Predictably, Ador in a statement expressed disappointment with the concert – while reiterating its continued availability for reconciliatory talks involving NJZ. Like with the above-mentioned ultimatum, that ship has seemingly sailed.
But it’ll be interesting to see which legal developments the coming months bring; an initial hearing in Ador’s contract lawsuit against NewJeans’ members is scheduled for April, per the Korea Times.
Outside the courtroom, the confrontation is sure to fuel additional barbs in the media. NJZ, the youngest member of which is just 16 years old, has also established a dedicated PR social account, which the relevant talent’s parents manage, a translated Instagram post spells out.
More immediately, we previously touched on Australia-born NJZ member Hanni’s expiring South Korean work visa. As described by regional outlets, the 20-year-old must either renew this visa via Ador/Hybe (which, of course, appears unlikely) or return to her home country before diving into a separate application process altogether.
Though pressing, the visa hurdle evidently isn’t preventing NJZ from working; besides the Hong Kong concert, Minji in a statement put out by ComplexCon confirmed that “new music” is forthcoming from her renamed group.