“It took a huge amount of courage to speak out,” NewJeans have told the BBC in their first interview since a court blocked their attempt to leave their record label, in a case that has rocked the K-pop industry.
“This fight is necessary. Although it will be extremely difficult and arduous, we will keep doing what we have done so far and speak up,” said Haerin, one of the band’s five members.
“We thought it was important to tell the world about what we’ve been through. All the choices we’ve made so far have been the best choices we could have made.”
NewJeans looked invincible in the charts when they launched what was an unusual rebellion in the high-pressure, tightly-controlled world of K-pop. Hanni, Hyein, Haerin, Danielle and Minji stunned South Korea and fans everywhere with their decision in November to split from Ador, the label that launched them.
They alleged mistreatment, workplace harassment and an attempt to “undermine their careers”, which Ador denies. It sued to enforce their seven-year contract, which is set to expire in 2029, and sought an injunction against any commercial activities by the group.
On Friday, a South Korean court granted it, ordering NewJeans to stop all “independent” activities, including song releases and advertising deals, while the case was still under way. NewJeans has since challenged the injunction in court.
Friday’s ruling was a “shock”, the group told the BBC.
“Some people think that we’re famous enough to do whatever we want and say whatever we please. But the truth is, it’s not like that at all,” Hyein said. “We held it in for a long time, and only now have we finally spoken up about what we think, what we feel and the unfairness we’ve experienced.”
The K-pop industry has repeatedly come under fire for the pressure it puts on its stars not only to perform and succeed, but to appear perfect. But rarely do conflicts spill into the public, exposing stars’ grievances and rifts with their labels.
NewJeans’ dramatic announcement last year followed a long and public spat with Ador and its parent company, Hybe – South Korea’s biggest music label, whose client list includes K-pop royalty such as BTS and Seventeen.
Ador told the BBC in a statement that the contract with NewJeans still stands, adding that “most of their claims have risen from misunderstandings”. The court said that NewJeans did not “sufficiently prove” that Ador had violated the contract, adding that the label had upheld “most of its duties, including payment”.
The girls were rehearsing for a performance in Hong Kong, when news of the ruling dropped. They found out when Minji got a worried message from her mother: “She asked me, ‘are you okay?’ And I was like ‘what happened?'”
“I was stunned,” Minji says. So were the others when she told them. “At first I thought I didn’t hear her properly,” Danielle says. “We were all kind of in shock.”
This was their second of two interviews with the BBC in as many weeks. In the first interview, which happened before the ruling, the group had been excited to release their new single, Pit Stop – their first since they announced their break from Ador and renamed themselves NJZ.
They spoke about how they coped with a difficult period, including finding comfort in cooking. “I’m not really good at it but it’s kind of healing,” Minji had said, before promising to cook an “amazing dinner” for the group.