An article by 10Asia covering NewJeans’ 3rd debut anniversary has stirred backlash among fans. The piece highlighted the celebration organized by their agency, ADOR, stating: “NewJeans is celebrating its third anniversary and is currently in the midst of a behind-the-scenes content broadcast. This broadcast is being watched by approximately 850 people. The comments section is mostly in English, with Japanese and Korean appearing occasionally.”
It added: “NewJeans, which celebrated its third anniversary on the 22nd, is broadcasting behind-the-scenes content titled ‘NewJeans Day Live’ on its official YouTube channel for approximately 19 hours, from midnight to 7 p.m. By 4 p.m. on that day, between 850 and 900 NewJeans fans are enjoying the content. The comments section is filled with more than 90% English users, and comments from Japanese and Korean users are occasionally picked up.”
NewJeans debuted on July 22, 2022, and gained widespread popularity after releasing the songs “Attention,” “Hype Boy,” “Ditto,” “ETA,” “Super Shy,” and “OMG.”
However, NewJeans’ third anniversary is largely quiet. This is due to a legal battle with their agency, Adore. They have been unable to hold any official activities for a year and three months. The entertainment industry anticipates that they will be unable to resume their activities until the relevant legal proceedings are concluded.
The entertainment industry believes that reaching an agreement with Adore is the only way for NewJeans to resume activities, but given the slim likelihood of reaching an agreement between the two parties, the hiatus is expected to be prolonged.
On April 29, the court also accepted Adore’s indirect compulsory injunction against NewJeans, ruling that if NewJeans engages in independent activities without Adore’s prior approval, each member must pay Adore one billion won for each violation.
Despite Adore’s attempts to circumvent the status quo and show her support for the band, NewJeans fans continue to support the band’s decision to part ways with the agency and embark on a new career under management more aligned with their ideas and aspirations.
A fan commented on the article, saying: “Is it really a brag? I don’t get it, because there have definitely been way more than 800 people on that stream. And why would they brag about English comments when most of them are telling people not to watch it? Also, doesn’t this lady hate NewJeans? I don’t understand lmao”
Another fan criticized HYBE’s manipulation, pointing to the number of viewers of NewJeans’ performance at Complex Con in Hong Kong, “NJZ Complex Con over 1.2 million BUNNIES streaming, 800 is ador failure hmmm”
A fan criticized what they saw as HYBE’s media manipulation tactics to sway public opinion in its favor, saying:”why even 10asia is exist!! they are the one who said bad things about newjeans and and now if they are have problem with girls why even they report the girls?!!! just go away”
