The K-pop industry is off to a rocky new year with the catch-22 of NewJeans—the popular South Korean girl group recently under fire for legal disputes. On January 12th, member Danielle Marsh broke silence regarding the group’s unsteady status as well as her highly controversial contract termination. What has the dissension between the artists and their company looked like up until this point? Let’s take a dive through the timeline.
NewJeans was founded in 2022 under ADOR, a label of the Korean entertainment giant HYBE. HYBE is one of the most successful entertainment companies in Korea, managing well-known artists like BTS and TOMORROW BY TOGETHER. NewJeans quickly gained fame for their youthful concept and uniquely refreshing music styles. With just their debut song “Attention,” they received hundreds of millions of streams on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify.
Despite their initial success, the instability of NewJeans began within two years after debuting. In April 2024, HYBE unprecedentedly audited the ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, who was responsible for managing NewJeans at the time. HYBE’s investigation arose from the suspicion that Min Hee-jin had plans to take over the label and make NewJeans independent of the company.
In an infamous press conference in Seoul during April 2024, Min emotionally denied all allegations and defended herself through multiple complaints about another HYBE girl group, ILLIT, supposedly copying the NewJeans image and concept. This marked the beginning of the temporary ILLIT–NewJeans rivalry among many K-pop fans. K-Pop Dance Club co-president Natalie Kim, as a fan of both groups, discussed the unnecessity of the dispute: “It feels kind of sad. I wish fans could give both groups the grace and protection they deserve.”
When the controversy around Min Hee-jin continued, NewJeans stepped in. They expressed their trust in their manager and filed a legal appeal to protect Min from HYBE’s considerations to fire her. Danielle personally reached out to Min in a letter to communicate her support and loyalty in difficult times, which would eventually serve as testimony against her in her own legal battle with HYBE.
“I think this conflict really exposes the ugly side of K-pop and the power imbalance in the industry,” expressed Kim when asked about the continuous ramifications of the HYBE/ADOR conflict. “It’s a shame that the members had to face such a serious legal and corporate battle especially at a young age.” Despite the girls’ efforts, Min Hee-jin did not return and eventually resigned from ADOR altogether.
Without the support from their former executive, NewJeans attempted to rebrand through the new name, “NJZ,” in January 2025. SAS sophomore Alyssa Carmona expressed her excitement for the girls’ comeback: “I was happy to see NewJeans finally making an appearance after all this controversy. It felt good to see them come back as a group and potentially make music again.”
However, Carmona, who is familiar with NewJeans’ signature musical style, second guessed the success of their rebranding. “When their song ‘Pit Stop’ was leaked, I realized they weren’t going to have the same quality of music compared to when they were NewJeans.”
In March of the same year, the girls made their debut as NJZ at the ComplexCon in Hong Kong with a special performance. It turned out to be an unauthorized decision; according to the Seoul Central District Court ruling earlier that month, the girls’ requests to rebrand were rejected along with their ability to engage in any future activities with third-party companies.
This stalemate between NewJeans and HYBE continued as the members were placed on an indefinite hiatus after the ComplexCon incident. During this time, members pondered their futures within the group. In November 2025, the official return of the two youngest members, Hyein and Haerin, was announced, and later Hanni also returned. December came unfortunate news for the remaining members: while Minji is still in discussions with HYBE, Danielle’s contract was unexpectedly terminated, which led to a furor of fans everywhere.
SAS Junior Lubna Alam, although not quite familiar with NewJeans, learned about this controversy through her peers and social media. She expressed her disappointment with ADOR for handling the conflict in such a way, referencing Danielle’s earlier actions with the letter addressed to Min Hee-jin: “[It’s disappointing] that this lawsuit is just a punishment for [Danielle defending] Min Hee-jin…”
There was much silence after these announcements, leaving K-pop fans on their toes for any sign of a peaceful NewJeans reunion. It wasn’t until the new year that updates arrived. On January 12 this year, Danielle hosted a 10-minute livestream on her independent Instagram account (@dazzibelle) to address the current news around NewJeans.
Although not much detail was covered, fans felt comfort knowing that she was still hanging in there and available for communication with everyone. “I appreciated her attitude and ability to stay calm and positive during such a tough time, and I hope that she is able to find new opportunities that excite her,” said Kim. Since then, there have not been any other updates from Danielle, any of the other members, or HYBE.
Fans worry about the implications of the NewJeans controversy in the larger context of the K-pop industry. “I think this issue sets an important precedent for future idols and entertainment companies,” says Kim. “Agencies should be pressured to be more transparent and ethical especially when issues concern young idols.”
Alam applies her thoughts on a more specific scale, taking the popularity of NewJeans into consideration with regards to the industry as a whole: “I think NewJeans could have genuinely been something really big, like KATSEYE type of big… This issue may create even more tension between agencies and their [artists] to ensure that scandals like these don’t happen…”
Although the future of NewJeans remains uncertain, fans continue to express positivity. Whether Danielle decides to stay with the K-pop industry or pursue a different path, it is clear many will support her. On a larger scale, it seems that the loss of an artist has not completely dispirited the world of K-pop; the legacy NewJeans carried will certainly remain remembered.
