When it comes to American pop music, most fans have no idea what label or company their favorite artists are signed to. It often just doesn’t matter. In South Korea with K-pop, however, a group’s company can have a major impact on their promotions and even their overall likelihood of success. The group NewJeans has been incredibly successful since its debut, and one of the many reasons why is indeed its label. So if you are wondering what K-pop company and label NewJeans is under, here is the full answer.
NewJeans Belongs to the ADOR Label Under the Company HYBE
HYBE is one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea thanks to the meteoric success of its boy group BTS, the all-time most successful K-pop group. HYBE began life as Big Hit Entertainment, established in 2005 by Bang Si-hyuk (also known as “Hitman” Bang), and it reorganized as HYBE Corporation in March 2021. HYBE maintains several independent labels as subsidiaries, including the likes of Source Music (Le Sserafim), Pledis Entertainment, Zico’s KOZ Entertainment, and — pertinent to this discussion — ADOR.
ADOR stands for “All Doors One Room,” and it was established by Min Hee-jin, who is CEO and creative director. Min had initially joined Big Hit as Chief Brand Officer in 2019, but her career in the K-pop industry had been filled with dramatic successes prior to this. At SM Entertainment, another major Korean entertainment company, she had been an art director who had an important impact on the visuals of groups like Girls’ Generation, SHINee, EXO, and Red Velvet.
NewJeans is the first group to debut under the ADOR label at the company HYBE, and Min Hee-Jin was meticulous in crafting their image for debut and beyond. Min reportedly took visual influence for NewJeans from Calvin Klein jeans modeling that a teenaged Brooke Shields did in the 1980s; Min has had an interest in replicating the energy of Brook Shields in K-pop seemingly as far back as 2009 with Girls’ Generation. Interestingly, Min Hee-Jin actually faced some pushback from others in HYBE over her overall vision for NewJeans, because it was deemed too “plain” or “the type that doesn’t have public appeal.” She proved the skeptics wrong though, since NewJeans’ debut album alone surpassed 1 million units sold, an extraordinary event.
The more financial resources and the stronger the creative vision a company has, the more likely a K-pop group is to be successful. Since NewJeans is under the ADOR label at the company HYBE, benefiting from Min Hee-jin’s vision and Hitman Bang’s checkbook, the group is uniquely situated for tremendous success. Of course, it also helps that their music is just really darn catchy.
Now you know all about NewJeans’ label ADOR and company HYBE. For more about NewJeans, read up on how old the members are, where the members are from, who speaks English (or Vietnamese) in the group, and when they debuted.
