The year 2024 left K-pop idol Lee Hyein, in a word, confused. In just months, she and her bandmates in NewJeans went from being one of the industry’s biggest-selling acts to a group of renegade artists in a controversial dispute with the label they abruptly left.
“Some people would conveniently switch their perspective, treating me as a kid when it suited them and then expecting me to act like an adult when it was more convenient for them,” said Hyein, 16, through an interpreter during a video interview with TIME in early March. “It was really tough—definitely one of the hardest times for me.”
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Last November, Hyein, along with bandmates Minji (Kim Minji), Danielle (Danielle Marsh), Haerin (Kang Haerin), and Hanni (Phạm Ngọc Hân), unilaterally terminated their contract with former label and management company ADOR—a subsidiary of K-pop juggernaut HYBE, the firm behind BTS. It was a rare revolt that sent jitters across the South Korean entertainment industry, as the group’s members have accused their former label of “unfair treatment,” “discrimination,” and workplace harrassment—all of which ADOR has denied.
To everyone’s surprise, in February, the members, who are all under 21, revealed they have taken on a different group name—NJZ—with a performance comeback set for March 23, at the ComplexCon festival in Hong Kong. Haerin says in Korean that nothing about the group has “fundamentally changed,” but in rebranding as NJZ, “we now have greater creative freedom and a broader artistic scope.”
But none of this has come without hurdles. Since their debut in August 2022, the group—standing out among its peers for their vibe reminiscent of 2000s-era music and fashion—has churned out hit after hit, with songs like “Super Shy,” “OMG,” and “Ditto” making the Billboard Hot 100 charts. They also earned a Guinness World Record for streams, and became a go-to ambassador for some of the world’s top brands, from Coca-Cola to Apple to the Powerpuff Girls. Their separation from ADOR stands to hurt the firm, as the industry at large reels from 2024’s flagging worldwide sales of K-pop albums. When they left in November, HYBE lost almost half a billion dollars in market cap.
So ADOR filed an injunction at a Seoul court in January, first to bar the five from taking on new promotional activities without the management company, and then expanded that demand the following month, after the group’s rebranding, to include a ban on new music releases and international performances. Just days before their performance, the court granted the preliminary injunction. ADOR said in a statement that they are “fully committed” to supporting the five and will be present at their ComplexCon performance, but the members publicly said they will challenge the court decision.
In an exclusive statement to TIME, the five said they were “disappointed” in the court decision, but added that they didn’t expect the issues in the K-pop industry to change overnight.
“Compared to everything we’ve been through so far, this is just another step in our journey,” they said. “Maybe this is just the current reality in Korea. But that’s exactly why we believe change and growth are necessary. It almost feels like Korea wants to turn us into revolutionaries.”
The past year has been rough for K-pop. On top of weak worldwide sales, the NJZ controversy, while the most prominent, was far from the only scandal rocking the South Korean entertainment industry, from BTS member SUGA’s drink-driving incident, to SM Entertainment’s firing of former NCT member Taeil after the male idol faced charges of sexual assault.
The NewJeans controversy was first made public in April 2024, when HYBE said it would audit ADOR, then under CEO Min Hee-jin, the producer of NewJeans. HYBE was concerned over rumors that Min was trying to poach NewJeans away from HYBE. In turn, Min accused HYBE of “undermining” and damaging the group—even roping in other girl groups under the company in her claims. This came to a head in August when Min stepped down as ADOR’s CEO. The five members broke their silence in a surprise livestream that was later deleted, demanding Min’s reinstatement, and alleging a toxic work environment at HYBE, which they called an “inhumane company.” Hyein had good words to say about their former CEO Min: “She was like a shield, protecting us from a lot of the difficulties we’re now facing.”
K-pop has, for many years, faced accusations of agencies failing to treat their employees and artists with sensitivity. The industry is further plagued by the high incidence of idol suicides and grueling work conditions required for success. Some idols have broken free from their labels for a greater share of independence and a little more breathing room. “There’s just a very structural problem in K-pop in general, where companies don’t really view their artists as actual human beings and rather see them as products,” Hanni said.
NJZ’s accusations of mistreatment in particular have been raised multiple times. The group’s legal representatives pointed to some instances in an email to TIME. These include claims that a HYBE PR representative called a local reporter to “downplay” the group’s achievements, that a manager allegedly ordered members of another band to ignore Hanni as the latter greeted them (in line with accusations from the group that HYBE higher-ups including Chairman Bang Si-hyuk ignored them), and HYBE’s “media manipulation” just days before their April 2024 comeback. During the group’s interview with TIME, Minji also pointed to how HYBE tried to stop them from wearing memorial ribbons to honor victims of the December 2024 Jeju Air crash.
In October, Hanni faced South Korea’s lawmakers at the National Assembly to testify on the workplace harassment she said she felt at HYBE. ADOR’s replacement CEO, Kim Joo-young, was also present—she said, “I wonder if there was more I could have done.” Fans of NewJeans have also filed a petition claiming workplace harassment on Hanni’s behalf, though the South Korean labor ministry eventually rejected it, issuing the controversial reason that under the law, artists aren’t legally classified as workers.
Feeling backed into a corner, the quintet set a press conference for Nov. 28. “We did not predict any of this was going to happen,” Hanni says. Minji, who had strong words for Chairperson Bang in their November press conference, told TIME in Korean: “Since our debut, we have faced so many obstacles and interference from them. And only now are we finally able to speak about it.”
In the middle of our conversation, Danielle breaks into tears. “There are probably so many situations similar to ours,” she says. “It’s truly heartbreaking to think that anyone would have to go through a situation like this.”
A separate hearing on the validity of the five’s contract with ADOR, which is set to expire in 2029, is scheduled for April 3, and the process may take years. Some in the industry sounded alarms that a potential legal victory for NJZ could harm the industry by rattling future investments into idols since they could set a precedent for unilaterally canceling contracts. These industry leaders say that agencies are getting the short end of the stick, given their investments in their talents. ADOR invested some 21 billion Korean won (around $14 million) for the group to debut, and argued in court that over 12 billion won (around $8 million) has been paid out to NewJeans members in settlement, since October 2023. ADOR, in a statement to TIME, said that their aim is “not to hinder the artists’ careers, but to ensure that they can continue their activities under our existing contractual agreement.”
But damage to agencies is not what NJZ’s legal representatives are seeking with a favorable ruling—only for the five to “break free” from “unfair constraints” they say their previous label has set and to be able to pursue their music independently. “It will not have any negative impact [on] other entertainment companies or artists,” they said in their email to TIME. “If a company has fulfilled its contractual obligations and properly protected its artists, there would be no grounds for the artist to win a lawsuit against them.” Minji, in particular, tells TIME that their demands from HYBE and ADOR weren’t ”anything extraordinary or unreasonable.”
Legal experts have expressed varying opinions as to what the outcome could be. Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo cites one lawyer who believes HYBE’s reported plan to abandon NewJeans makes for a “strong case” on the group’s behalf to unilaterally end its contract, while another says there may not be sufficient grounds for such a termination. NJZ could lose a lot of money if it loses in court: experts say the penalty for breaching their contract with ADOR could go up to 620 billion won (around $420 million).
ADOR, in its statements to TIME, said that it “regret[s] the escalation of this matter to court,” and said that any “misunderstandings,” which it blamed on the label’s previous management, “can be fully addressed and resolved upon the members’ return to the label.”
But the relationship between NJZ and ADOR may be beyond repair, given how the group is taking on business matters on its own. Hanni disputed rumors that they have signed with a new label, but says, “We are looking for an agency to help us… a third party to help us in between to communicate with other people.”
They’re also putting all their efforts into what their comeback will look like. As NewJeans, the five members became known for exuding a Y2K vibe in their music and fashion, but as NJZ, they’re saying they have more room to experiment. They held off on saying how exactly they would change things up, with Danielle saying fans will have to find out by watching their Hong Kong performance live: “We want it to be like, BAM!, like, just in that moment.”
Legal issues aside, the five got excited and jittery while speaking about what’s to come for their craft, as they fight for their independence and creative freedom. They also expressed gratitude to the fans—whom they still call “Bunnies”—and to their families, who have backed them throughout the feud.
“At first, when this situation happened, my initial thought was, ‘Why does this have to happen to me?’” Minji says of their ordeal. “But now, I realize that I’ve grown through this experience and have met so many incredible people along the way.”
Back in 2023, Hanni told TIME that it would be hard to predict the future of K-pop. Less than two years later, she says she didn’t expect to be at the heart of K-pop’s latest workplace-related controversy. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” her bandmate Danielle echoes, adding that it was not the group’s intention to be embroiled in such a mess, but she regarded their ordeal as an “important experience” for themselves as artists.
And while the outcome could have far-reaching consequences, Hanni and the girls are choosing not to worry about what those might be right now. “If it changes the K-pop industry, it does. If it doesn’t, it just won’t, and that’s what it will be,” she says. “Whether it changes the K-pop industry or not, I think we are really proud of ourselves.”