NewJeans & Murakami Collab Character Sparks Controversy For Being Used As Album Cover
NewJeans and Murakami’s collaboration character faced negative reactions as the meaning behind the Murakami flower was revealed
A netizen in theqoo shared several photos, explaining why NewJeans’s use of the flower character in their collaboration with Murakami for the cover of their Japanese release “Supernatural” is controversial.
According to the information in the picture, Murakami created the symbolic smiling flower, known as ‘Happy Flower’ or ‘Murakami Flower’ in English-speaking countries and ‘Rainbow Flower or ‘Smiling Flower’ in Korea, with inspiration from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to emphasize the despair and fear behind people’s smiling faces.
In particular, this flower carries the message that modern Japanese people may be smiling but they are still remembering the trauma from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is not the only artwork related to the atomic bombings, and the artist has consistently released works referring to that event in Japan’s history.
In response, other netizens commented:
– I didn’t know that the smiling flower has such a meaning;;;
– Some other groups even apologized for wearing T-shirts with bomb images. NewJeans and Min Hee-jin should apologize, too
– You need to check very carefully whatever you do in Japan. That’s why I hate Japan
– If it were another group, the collaboration would have received a lot of criticism
– Didn’t Min Hee-jin plan this? Whoever planned this, shouldn’t you have researched more carefully? I have nothing to say
– Are there any positive articles about NewJeans lately?
– Oh… I didn’t know this. I hope Korean groups can check the information more carefully when doing promotions in Japan. That’s disappointing.
