Pop Base: NewJean's Final Warning To HYBE & More

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NEWJEANS' Bold Message To HYBE

The Min Hee Jin x HYBE situation has seen recent developments that have left the entire K-Pop industry in shock. For context, on August 27, 2024, Min Hee Jin, CEO of HYBE's subsidiary ADOR, was removed from her position. It was announced that she would continue producing NewJeans’ content as an internal director.

On September 11, 2024, NewJeans members created a YouTube channel without ADOR's knowledge and started a surprise broadcast. In the broadcast, they voiced their grievances against ADOR's new management and requested the reinstatement of Min Hee Jin as CEO before September 25.

The members expressed their thoughts on their former CEO, saying:

"CEO Min Hee Jin is not only the person who produces our music, but someone who makes NewJeans who we are. She discusses even the smallest details with us and explains them in ways we can understand clearly. NewJeans has a distinct color and tone, and this was created with CEO Min Hee Jin. She is integral to NewJeans’ identity, and we all feel that she is irreplaceable."

Hanni also shared a story, claiming that a manager from another group instructed their members to avoid her.

“I was waiting alone in the hallway one day,” she said, “and members of another group passed by with one of their managers. We greeted each other politely. But when they came back out a little while later, their manager told them in front of me, ‘Ignore her,’ even though I could hear and see everything. Thinking about it now, I still don’t understand why I had to go through something like that.”

Hanni continued, “I told our new CEO about it, but she said there was no proof and that it was too late to do anything about it. Seeing her try to move past it, I felt that we had lost our protector, and that she wasn’t worried about us. I had told her honestly about the incident, but in that instant, I felt like I had become a liar. Before, CEO Min Hee Jin fought for us a lot. The new executives say they’ll help us, but they just made excuses and said it was something they couldn’t do anything about.”

Soon after the surprise broadcast, the YouTube channel was deleted. While it's unclear whether the members deleted it themselves, a few hours later, HYBE's CEO made a statement about the live stream, saying:

“It will take some time, but we will stick to regulations and respond calmly. HYBE is a company that follows the rules and pursues precision management. Looking back, those who follow the rules always end up as the winners."

Since then, Min Hee Jin has filed an injunction to convene with the shareholders and attempt to regain her position as ADOR's CEO.

We don't know what will happen on September 25, but one thing is clear that in this battle between executives and higher-ups, the artists are truly suffering.

Criminal Case Against L’OCCITANE Employee For Secretly Recording SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu

After SEVENTEEN's Mingyu was announced as the French brand L'OCCITANE's first-ever Asia Ambassador, he began filming official content for the brand. One of these projects was an ad promoting the brand's skincare line, for which Mingyu had to go shirtless. Everything went smoothly until a few days ago when a female employee (now fired) of L'OCCITANE posted a screenshot of her photo gallery, which was filled with photos of Mingyu that she had secretly taken during the shoot. The employee's unprofessional behavior sparked a controversy, leading L'OCCITANE to fire her and issue an apology that read:

"We have no excuse for the recent incident where unofficial photos related to the L’Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign were posted without permission via our employee’s social networking account. We accept full responsibility for this and apologize."

Since then, the situation has developed further.

On September 10, JoongAng Ilbo reported that Gangnam Police Station in Seoul received a complaint against the employee for violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (using a camera, etc., to film), and the investigation is ongoing. The Police also mentioned that the police complaint was not filed by Pledis Entertainment, but by a fan instead.

2024 Asia Artist Awards Line-Up

The Asia Artist Awards have announced the lineup for the 2024 award ceremony, and it is truly incredible. The artists set to perform during the event are:

&TEAM, ATBO, BEN&BEN, BOYNEXTDOOR, BSS, DREAMCATCHER, HORI7ON, ITZY, KARD, Kep1er, KINGDOM, LE SSERAFIM, Lim Young Woong, NewJeans, NMIXX, ONEUS, SB19, SEVENTEEN, STAYC, Stray Kids, TEMPEST, THE BOYZ, and ZEROBASEONE.

The More You Know:

• 2NE1 has announced four more stops for their "WELCOME BACK" Asia Tour, and fans couldn't be more excited!

  In addition to the previously announced stops in Manila (2024.11.16) and Jakarta (2024.11.23), the world-famous girl group will also be performing in Hong Kong (2024.12.08), Singapore (2024.12.21), Bangkok (2025.01.25), and Taipei (2025.02.08).

• According to the American Heart Association, K-Pop star Lisa's recent hit song "Rockstar" has the perfect tempo for Hands-Only CPR. Thankfully, K-Pop fans have already memorized the song beat by beat, which could help them save lives in the future.

Our Favorite Songs From Last Week

Last week's comeback schedule wasn't as packed as usual, but one particular group was there to save the day.

KOZ's boy group, BOYNEXTDOOR, released their 3rd EP "19.99", consisting of 7 songs. Members Woonhak, Jaehyub, and Taesan also contributed to the songwriting and composing. The entire album has a chill, mid-to-low tempo vibe, with interesting instrumentation that allows the members' vocals to shine. The songs we particularly loved were "Gonna Be A Rock" and "Nice Guy."

This Week's Comeback Schedule

Saturday, September 14, 2024

• VAHN: 1st EP “Come&Go”

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

• ORβIT: 3rd Mini Album”蘭”

Thursday, September 19, 2024

• HWASA: The 2nd Mini Album “O”

• YEONJUN (TXT): YEONJUN’s Mixtape "GGUM"

• JINHO (PENTAGON): 1st Mini Album “CHO:RD”

• RIIZE: 1st Mini Album “Epilogue”

• ShinEuiJin: Digital Single "소녀, 빛을 달리다"

• JUEUN: Digital Single “1,2,3,4” (feat.Moon Sujin)

Friday, September 20, 2024

• FIFTY FIFTY: 2nd Mini Album "Love Tune"

• P1Harmony: 7th Mini Album "SAD SONG"

— Javeria Yousuf

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