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NewJeans

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NewJeans

NewJeans (Korean뉴진스), briefly known as NJZ (엔제이지), is a South Korean girl group formed by ADOR, a sub-label of Hybe. The group is composed of five members: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein. Mainly produced by Min Hee-jin, they are known for their girl next door image and musical stylings reminiscent of the 1990s and 2000s.

The group debuted under the name NewJeans on July 22, 2022, with the single "Attention", their first number-one song on South Korea's Circle Digital Chart. It was followed shortly afterwards by two other singles, "Hype Boy" and "Cookie", with "Hype Boy" becoming the longest-running song on the Billboard Global 200 by a K-pop female act. The singles were all featured on their eponymous debut extended play (EP), released in August 2022. In January 2023, they released their first single album, OMG, to commercial success. It was accompanied by two singles, "Ditto" and "OMG". "Ditto" gained widespread popularity, becoming the longest-running number-one song on the Circle Digital Chart and the group's first entry on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

Their second EP, Get Up, peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 and sold over one million copies in South Korea. Its lead single, "Super Shy", became the group's highest-charting single on the Billboard Global 200 (number two), the US Billboard Hot 100, and the UK Singles Chart. NewJeans has received rookie awards and was featured in listicles such as Time Next Generation Leaders and Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40. IFPI named NewJeans the eighth best-selling artist worldwide in 2023.

In 2024, a dispute over NewJeans' management arose as former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and the members clashed with Hybe and ADOR executives. The members sought to terminate their contract, which ADOR denied. In March 2025, the Seoul Central District Court granted an injunction filed by ADOR, blocking the group from carrying out independent activities. The group subsequently announced a hiatus later that month. The court ruled in favor of ADOR on October 30, which resulted in Hyein and Haerin agreeing to return to the label, while Minji, Hanni and Danielle are still discussing the terms of their return with ADOR.

The group's name "NewJeans" alludes to the idea that jeans are a timeless fashion item and the group's intention to carve a timeless image for themselves. The name is also a word play on the phrase "new genes", referring to the group ushering a new generation of pop music.

In February 2025, the members changed their name to "NJZ" amid their contract dispute with Hybe. The group stopped using "NJZ" two months later, following an injunction.

Before debuting with NewJeans, several group members were involved in television, music and dance. When Australian-born Danielle Marsh lived in South Korea, she was a regular cast member of tvN's Rainbow Kindergarten, a variety show that aired until 2011. She also appeared in the TV shows Jesse's Play Kitchen and My Heart's Crayon. Hyein debuted as a member of the children's music group U.SSO Girl alongside Rora of Babymonster in November 2017 under the stage name U.Jeong, before departing from the group one year later. In December 2020, she joined the music group and YouTube collective Play With Me Club formed by PocketTV, and graduated from the group on May 3, 2021. Vietnamese-Australian Hanni Pham began performing in Melbourne as a member of the Aemina Dance Crew who covered choreographies of K-pop groups.

Preparations for a new girl group in collaboration between Hybe and Source Music began as early as 2019 where Min Hee-jin was to be the creative director, after joining as the chief brand officer that same year. Min was widely recognized for her art direction as visual director at SM Entertainment. At the time of Min joining in 2019, it was revealed she would be the creative lead in multiple girl groups, excluding Big Hit, while a separate label would also be established later where she would be a producer. Global auditions took place between September and October 2019. Minji, a Source Music trainee, was featured in the promotional videos for these auditions. Various other auditions were held, and it was later revealed Hanni was the only trainee from the Plus Global Auditions to join NewJeans. Other members came from various backgrounds: Danielle was a former YG Entertainment trainee, passing a separate Source Music audition in July 2020 while Haerin was a trainee at another agency and was street cast at the end of 2019, officially joining Source in early 2020. Hanni and Minji made a guest appearance in BTS's 2021 music video for "Permission to Dance". All of the members then transferred to ADOR at the end of 2021.

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