Distortion of NewJeans’ Debut Narrative and Timeline

Minji joined Source Music in 2017. Hanni came in 2019—she passed a global audition co-hosted by Big Hit and Source Music.

Haerin and Danielle signed trainee contracts in 2020. The last to join was Hyein. She was discovered online, passed the audition, and signed with Source Music.

Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Danielle, and Hyein were resources of Source Music, selected by CEO So Seong-jin. They received training at Source Music until the second half of 2021.

Min Hee-jin was (originally) supposed to prepare Source Music’s debut group. But she (first) wanted to be the head of her own independent label. This is the background behind the birth of ‘ADOR.’

Min Hee-jin selected trainees from Source Music. She had Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Danielle, and Hyein transferred. In exchange, she paid Source Music for the training costs incurred.

Is Min Hee-jin the mother of NewJeans? It’s true that she brought them into the world. She did an excellent job. But the one who gave birth to them was So Seong-jin. They were children he invested in for up to three years or more.

• First Contact
  Just two days after leaving SM Entertainment, she was approached through a headhunter by an anonymous individual requesting a meeting. The person she met a week later was Bang Si-hyuk, Chairman of HYBE.
• Chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s Proposal
  Chairman Bang called Min Hee-jin a “successful superfan” and promised full support. He proposed the following two key projects:
  • HYBE Rebranding: Overseeing the overall branding following Big Hit’s transformation into HYBE as a holding company.
  • Joint Girl Group Production: Chairman Bang said he “lacked confidence in girl groups” and told CEO Min to “forget SM and build the Min Hee-jin World,” promising her full creative control.

• Three-Party Collaboration Structure
  For a quick launch, Chairman Bang proposed a three-party collaboration structure (Min Hee-jin – Bang Si-hyuk – Source Music) utilizing trainees from Source Music, which HYBE was planning to acquire.
• Initial Disagreement and Acceptance
  CEO Min initially declined the structure involving multiple parties, but as it was early in her tenure, she accepted it in a spirit of cooperation. During this process, there were some differences of opinion between the two regarding creative vision (e.g., a Billie Eilish concept proposal).
• Leading Member Casting
  CEO Min selected only ‘Minji’ from among Source Music trainees. She then personally branded the “Min Hee-jin Girl Group” audition and cast ‘Hanni,’ while claiming that Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein were selected under the title of “HYBE’s First Girl Group.”

• HYBE’s Unilateral Notification (Around June–July 2021)
  Park Ji-won, then CEO of HYBE, informed CEO Min that LE SSERAFIM, with Sa**** and Kim C****** joining, would debut first as HYBE’s first girl group. This was a breach of the original promise to launch the “Min Hee-jin Girl Group” first.
• CEO Min Hee-jin’s Protest
  Furious at the broken promise, CEO Min strongly protested, calling it “thug-like behavior,” and declared she would resign and hold an exposé press conference.
• Background of ADOR’s Establishment
  HYBE discussed establishing a separate label as a way to retain CEO Min, who had declared her resignation. This is the background behind ADOR’s establishment.
• Coercive Terms of Establishment
  Chairman Bang demanded that “HYBE must own 100% of ADOR’s shares” as a condition for taking the trainees. CEO Min, wanting to prevent delays in the members’ debut, gave up her own shares and accepted this condition.
  During this process, HYBE paid Source Music 2 billion won as compensation for transferring the trainees.