Is NewJeans washed out or will the group be back in style?

After a high-profile legal defeat and former member Danielle’s departure, NewJeans appears to be finally moving closer to a comeback — potentially as a four-member group.

But returning is one thing, reclaiming what NewJeans once had is another.

Upon its debut in July 2022, NewJeans, then a quintet created under former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, reshaped K-pop’s trendiest sound and aesthetics. Now, after a hiatus of more than a year, will it be able to regain that momentum despite the public fatigue from the bitter disputes surrounding the group?

Possibly, experts suggest, but the answer may ultimately hinge on the music.

ADOR, the HYBE label representing NewJeans, released a series of videos and photos to mark the group's fourth debut anniversary on Wednesday, featuring Minji, alongside members Hanni, Haerin and Hyein. 

The anniversary content was the first official promotional material featuring the four members since a court injunction barred NewJeans from independent activities, prompting the group to halt activities in March last year. The uploads, therefore, signals the clearest indication yet that ADOR is preparing to resume the group’s activities, although the agency has said Minji’s return has yet to be finalized.

Haerin, Hyein and Hanni have already been confirmed to be back with ADOR, while Minji's return had been described by the agency as progressing in a positive direction without an official announcement.

The hiatus followed a massive conflict that began in April 2024, when HYBE accused then-ADOR CEO Min, the creative force behind NewJeans, of attempting to seize control of the label. Min was subsequently removed as CEO.

The members demanded Min’s reinstatement and by November 2024, declared that their exclusive contracts with ADOR were null and void, citing a breach of contract by the label. In response, ADOR challenged the move, and a Seoul court ruled in the label’s favor in October last year, ultimately leading to the members returning to the agency.

Danielle, however, was ousted from the group in December, and ADOR filed about 33 billion won ($22 million) in damages, alleging she had played a central role in the dispute.

As of now, NewJeans’ most recent official release was its first Japanese single, “Supernatural,” dropped in June 2024, and the group has yet to release a full-length album.

Still, its discography has retained considerable presence during the hiatus. With “Right Now” (2025), a B-side from its last Japanese single, hitting the 100 million streams on Spotify on July 10, the group now has a total of 16 songs reaching the milestone on the platform.

Yet that alone does not necessarily guarantee a successful comeback after nearly two years of absence, especially in the fast-paced K-pop scene. Some of NewJeans’s most loyal fans also have been on a boycott against ADOR since Danielle’s departure, with hashtags such as “No Danielle, No NewJeans.”

But the most vocal opinions online do not represent the wider public, music critic Lim Hee-yun pointed out.

“The voices that tend to stand out on the online space are those of people with the strongest opinions, such as NewJeans’ most loyal fans on one side and those firmly opposed to the group on the other,” Lim said. “But the larger and more important group is the silent majority of the general public.

For them, all that matters is whether the music is good and the group is compelling, the critic said.

K-pop has already seen examples of a strong song turning the tide following a damaging member departure, with one of the most prominent and recent examples being girl group i-dle, formerly known as (G)I-DLE.

Former member Soojin left the group in 2021 amid widely publicized school bullying allegations, leaving the group inactive for more than a year. During a conference presentation in September last year, leader and producer Jeon So-yeon recalled one particularly painful comment she encountered during the hiatus, which she compared to “the valley of death.”

“The comment that broke my heart the most said, ‘They withered before they even had the chance to bloom,’” Jeon said.

But i-dle returned after a year and two months with “Tomboy,” written and produced by Jeon, which became one of the group’s biggest hits and opened a new chapter in its career.

However, this also suggests NewJeans has a significant challenge ahead: preserving the recognizable musical identity crafted under Min, particularly with producers such as 250 of BANA now unlikely to be involved.

BANA, short for Beasts And Natives Alike, served as a central architect of the NewJeans sound but is unlikely to continue working with the group, given its close creative partnership with Min. BANA's producers crafted most of NewJeans' biggest hits, such as "Attention" (2022), "Hype Boy" (2022), "New Jeans" (2023) and "Ditto" (2023).

Still, Lim believes ADOR has the resources to preserve enough musical continuity for the group’s return to feel compelling.

“If the music retains elements closely associated with NewJeans — such as its delicate chord progressions and effortlessly hip flow — I believe the company is fully capable of creating something convincing.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]