{"id":342734,"date":"2025-12-30T11:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/342734\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T11:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:46:13","slug":"k-pop-band-breaks-up-after-bitter-feud-with-record-label","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/342734\/","title":{"rendered":"K-pop band breaks up after bitter feud with record label"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelly Ngand<\/p>\n

Jake Kwon,Seoul correspondent<\/p>\n

Watch: ‘Trusting time’ – NewJeans discusses court ruling in record label dispute<\/p>\n

Chart-topping K-pop band NewJeans is losing one of its members in what is yet another twist in the group’s bitter year-long feud with its record label.<\/p>\n

Ador announced on Monday that they had “terminated” their contract with 20-year-old Danielle Marsh and the return of Minji remains uncertain, leaving the band with three members. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, local media reported that Ador is suing Danielle, her family member, and ex-boss Min Hee-jin for $32m in damages. None of them have spoken publicly yet. The BBC has reached out to Hybe, Ador’s parent company, for comment.<\/p>\n

Coming less than two months after reports that NewJeans would return to the label as a band of five, this news dashes fans’ hopes of a comeback.<\/p>\n

Many took to social media with the slogan: “NewJeans is five or nothing, while others questioned why Danielle was singled out.<\/p>\n

“Does this make any sense??? NewJeans without Danielle isn’t NewJeans. Do you think you can just erase a member this easily? Give us back Danielle,” one wrote in an X post.<\/p>\n

“It’s not fair at all. Free NewJeans [all 5 members],” another wrote on Instagram. “All they wanted to do was to be [artists] and make their fans happy.”<\/p>\n

NewJeans, which became the eighth biggest-selling act in the world a year after their debut in 2022, were seen as a game-changer by critics for their blend of 1990s R&B and sugar-coated pop melodies. <\/p>\n

Then came a dramatic fallout with Ador in 2024, sparked by the controversial dismissal of the agency’s former CEO Min Hee-jin, whom NewJeans regarded as a mentor.<\/p>\n

The move shook the K-pop world, setting off a battle between hugely successful and very young stars – they are between 17 and 21 years of age – and a South Korean entertainment giant, Hybe, which owns Ador.<\/p>\n

NewJeans accused Ador of “mistreatment” and “deliberate miscommunications and manipulation”, then announced they would leave the agency. Ador in turn launched a lawsuit blocking their departure, which it won in October this year. A district court ruled that NewJeans must honour their contract with the label which runs until 2029.<\/p>\n

A month later, local media reports indicated that all five members would return to the agency.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

NewJeans have delivered remarkable success since they debuted in July 2022<\/p>\n

Then in a surprising turn, Ador issued a statement on Monday, saying it would take legal action against a family member of Danielle’s and Min, who founded the label and created NewJeans before her dramatic departure. <\/p>\n

Both of them, Ador claims, “bear significant responsibility” for the fallout between the agency and the K-pop group. <\/p>\n

Monday’s statement did not mention a lawsuit against Danielle, saying only that Ador had decided it was difficult to continue working with her, and told her they would be ending the contract. <\/p>\n

Ador also claimed that NewJeans’ members had been “exposed to persistently distorted and biased information” which led to “significant misunderstandings” about the label.<\/p>\n

That statement named two other NewJeans members: Hanni, who it said decided to remain with the label after “extended conversations” which included her family, and Minji, who is still in “ongoing conversations” with the agency.<\/p>\n

It’s been a whirlwind for fans, especially since Ador initially announced in November that only two members, Hyein and Haerin, would return to the agency, sparking fears the group would split up.<\/p>\n

These fears were allayed when Hanni, Danielle and Minji said in a separate statement hours later that they too would return – but only for a short time, as it turns out. <\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Ador announced on Monday would terminate its contract with NewJeans member Danielle Marsh<\/p>\n

“NewJeans is a very important group that changed the world of female K-pop acts. For the music listeners and fans, it has been the hope to see their return as a full five-member team. That’s no longer possible,” music critic Lim Hee-yun told the BBC, adding that this outcome would not “make anyone happy”.<\/p>\n

Mr Lim believes Ador would be pressured to recruit new members into the group, especially if Minji also leaves the label.<\/p>\n

It is hard for three-member groups to find success in the K-pop industry, where fans pay close attention to the relationships and chemistry between members.<\/p>\n

Danielle’s future as a musician is also uncertain.<\/p>\n

“Not only will there be a large part of the public that see her negatively [because of this controversy], but the record labels will too… She might need to pursue being a solo act as an actor, model, or an influencer,” Mr Lim said.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Leehyun Choi and Hosu Lee in Seoul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelly Ngand Jake Kwon,Seoul correspondent Watch: ‘Trusting time’ – NewJeans discusses court ruling in record label dispute Chart-topping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-342734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}