BBC did two interviews with NewJeans, one before and one after the injunction ruling was announced, and published an accompanying article.
Some highlights from the BBC video (I transcribed the quotes as best I could):
- On the issues involving other idols: at ~0:46, Hanni says that, “To be completely honest, I–we’re not that comfortable about constantly bringing up the situation, because we know it involves another team, and we don’t want to–we don’t want to affect that team in any way, ’cause, you know, there’s no–there’s no need for that. There really is no need for that. But if you don’t express how you’re feeling and what you’re thinking, people don’t know. And people would have just believed what was going on in the media.“
- On the rumoured involvement of “influential adults” behind the scenes/how much input the members actually have: at ~1:53 in the video, Hanni states, “Because we’re really young, in a way that’s an easy way to kind of devalue that we are actually trying to do something about this issue. It’s just easy to kind of be, they’re young, what do they–they’re not doing that by themselves, like, but, um, that doesn’t mean that we’re any less serious or any less concerned about the situation. That’s not the scenario at all. We’ve always said to each other, if one person doesn’t want to do it, then we’re not gonna do it. It has to be all five of us that agree to do it.“
- At ~2:25, Danielle says, “In 2024, when I was going through that situation myself, I really, I don’t know, I tried to keep quiet about everything and I really tried to compress my emotions, trying just to like ignore what’s happening around me, because it started in a situation where we were preparing for a comeback, but it came to a point where, like, I feel like I’m about to explode inside. And–and heartbreaking, in a way.”
Second interview:
- On the injunction: At ~3:10, Danielle says, “I was obviously expecting the alternative result, but, yeah, so, I think it was like a moment where we were all really just like, kind of in shock, and kind of…”
- Hyein (quote from the article): “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. 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.”
- Additional portion of Hyein’s statement translated by Pannchoa but not by the BBC article: “If we speak from a societal standpoint, the situation is not unfolding in our favour. However, I believe that simply stating the truth about the situation itself is important. We’re speaking after gathering a lot of courage.”
- At ~4:03, Danielle says, “I guess we just really wanted to be able to work, and to be able to the work that we love without these misleading and false lies getting in the way.”
- On their future: At ~4:23 Hanni says, “Not being able to do this work, I think, that’s such an obvious biggest fear for us, that’s why we’re pushing forward. But it is something that, you know, is in the back of my mind, because anything is possible. We did not know we were going to go through this [mumble I can’t decipher] two years ago when we were trainees, we had no idea we were going to go through anything like this. But you don’t know, we don’t know what’s in the future and maybe, maaaaybe, there might be a case where we’re not able to work, and that is something that we want to avoid, because that is, I wouldn’t say fear, but it’s just, if in any way possible, we don’t want to fall down that road.“
Some highlights from the BBC article (with quotes pulled verbatim from the text):
- The members were completely shocked by the injunction ruling.
- ADOR issued a statement to BBC, saying that the majority of NewJeans’ claims are not based in substance but instead in misunderstandings and further claiming that ADOR has upheld most of its duties to the group (with payment flagged as a specific duty ADOR had upheld).
- The members were unable to contact Min Hee-jin in the immediate aftermath of her dismissal as CEO of ADOR, with Danielle commenting, “We didn’t know what was happening and we didn’t have a way to support her. That itself was a hard thing because she was always there for us and… in a way a person to look up to.”
- ADOR blames MHJ for NewJeans issuing their ultimatum and, once it went officially unmet, leaving. ADOR pointed to ADOR’s former management as the source of what ADOR claims to be the distorted explanations that lead to the misunderstandings between NewJeans and ADOR and, ultimately, NewJeans’ departure.
- From Hanni’s testimony at the National Assembly: “I came to the realisation that this wasn’t just a feeling. I was honestly convinced that the company hated us.“
Some highlights from the NYT article (with quotes pulled verbatim from the text):
- Danielle told the crowd at ComplexCon Hong Kong that the five members would perservere “no mattter what our group name is, no matter what kind of tough time we’ve been through.”
- Each member performed a separate solo stage in individual styling, after which all five members returned returned in coordinated looks with their new styling (including Minji wearing a pair of tights with “CHAPTER NJZ” written in English and all in capital letters).
- After performing “PIT STOP”, the group read out prepared statements in English and Korean for eight minutes.
- Half an hour after the show, after most of the vendors had packed up and left, the NewJeans members filed out to look at the booth “that had been selling NJZ merch” and see the notes and messages that fans had left for them. “For around five minutes, they took in the messages, signed the wall in a couple of places, and then posed for photos in which they mustered some long-practiced defiantly joyful faces.”
BBC: Article, Video | Pannchoa (additional translation for BBC quote) | NYT
I did not pull more than 3 quotes from the actual text of each article, mods! Everything was me playing and replaying the YouTube video and typing furiously.
Another article that may be of interest include Why K-Pop Group NewJeans—Or NJZ—Is Brazenly Taking On an Industry Giant (TIME), which is the source of the “Maybe this is just the current reality in Korea” quote regarding the injunction that is going over like a lead balloon right now. But it is late and I am done with this post.
To the one person who reads this whole thing, thank you. 😂
