NewJeans (aka NJZ) have spoken out about their feud with ADOR, addressing the company’s injunction against them and the public backlash that has ensued.
On March 26, BBC published an interview with NewJeans, which included two separate conversations, ones that occurred before and after ADOR’s injunction against them was granted by a Seoul court last week. That court order prohibits NewJeans from pursuing work as independent artists, and they have since announced a hiatus in accordance with it.
“It took a huge amount of courage to speak out,” the band told the outlet. “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. 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.”
“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 added. “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.”
NewJeans described last week’s court ruling as a “shock”. Leader Minji told the outlet she was “stunned” upon receiving the news, and so were the others when she informed them. “At first I thought I didn’t hear her properly,” Danielle added. “We were all kind of in shock.”
“Even if we do everything we can and it doesn’t work out the way we hope it does, then we’ll just have to leave it to time. I’m sure time would figure it out for us,” Hanni added. However, the band said they would “find more ways” to move forward despite the setback.
NewJeans also went on to address the public backlash they’ve faced so far, saying they’e been “very aware of the intense scrutiny and judgement since the press conference in November”, where they announced their unilateral termination of their contracts with ADOR.
The quintet asserted that their young ages shouldn’t mean they should be taken less seriously. “That’s an easy way to devalue the fact that we are actually trying to do something,” Hanni said. “The decisions we’ve made in the past year have been decided through a very, very large amount of discussion between us.”
“There hasn’t been a single moment when we’ve expressed our opinions without worry or tension,” Minji added. “We’ve thought more than anyone else about how much responsibility each of our actions carries, and we’re currently bearing that responsibility ourselves.”
NewJeans filed a legal objection against the court order the same day it was issued, in hopes to contest the ruling, which they claimed “did not fully take into account the complete breakdown of trust the members have experienced toward ADOR”.
NewJeans and their team also alleged they “did not have sufficient opportunity to fully present the factual background to the court” during the only hearing held before the court made its decision. ADOR and NewJeans continue to be engaged in legal battle as the company’s lawsuit against the quintet to verify the validity of their contracts is still ongoing.