NewJeans, who is named after the world’s favorite classic denim, has successfully captured the hearts of people of all ages.
On July 22nd last year, NewJeans made their first step into the K-pop market by releasing the first title track “Attention” from their debut mini-album “NewJeans”. Originally, NewJeans was known as “Min Hee Jin Girl Group”, with her being the CEO of their agency and being directly involved in the creative process.
Min Hee Jin, meanwhile, used to work as the visual director at SM Entertainment and later moved to HYBE Labels. During her time at SM Entertainment, Min Hee Jin played a significant role in helping groups like Girls’ Generation, SHINee, and f(x) maintain their unique colors. Therefore, the expectations for the “Min Hee Jin Girl Group” under HYBE were naturally high. In addition, NewJeans did not reveal any teasers about their member lineup or group name before “Attention” dropped, and instead made it extra intriguing by directly releasing a music video with a striking concept.
With their first album, NewJeans indeed caught the attention of Kpop fans worldwide, right from their debut. The group’s other title tracks, “Hype boy” and “Cookie”, also received huge attention and swept through music platforms, marking the beginning of the “NewJeans era”.
After dominating the summer of 2022, NewJeans continue to captivate fans in winter with their first single “OMG”. Particularly, the pre-release track “Ditto” achieved a remarkable feat, holding the number one spot on one of Korea’s largest music platforms, Melon, for 14 consecutive weeks, making it the longest-running number one song in Melon’s history.
Fast forward to July 21st, 2023, exactly one year since their debut. On this day, NewJeans released their second mini-album “Get Up”. Once again, they presented three title tracks, which are named “Super Shy”, “Cool With You”, and “ETA”. The songs had an impressive producer lineup with 250 and Frank, rapper Beenzino writing lyrics for “ETA”, and acclaimed director of the “Ditto” and “OMG” MVs, Shin Woo Seok, taking charge of the “Cool With You” MV.
Notably, the “Cool With You” MV featured surprise appearances by global actors Tony Leung and Jung Ho Yeonn. It was revealed that Min Hee Jin personally contacted Tony Leung, who later on made his appearance without need payment, drawing huge attention.
At the same time, NewJeans has proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with, not just in the digital realm but also in physical album sales. According to the girl group’s distribution company, pre-orders for their second mini-album “Get Up” exceeded 1.72 million copies as of July 20th, more than twice the pre-orders of their previous release. Meanwhile, NewJeans’ first single, “OMG” recorded around 800,000 pre-orders and has sold about 1.57 million copies (as of June). It is evident that NewJeans is on their way to becoming a three-time million seller with their 3 releases.
By this point, it is clear that NewJeans’ only rival is themselves, having already achieved unprecedented records and history within just one year since their debut.
In addition, NewJeans has gone beyond Korean and become a global icon in the music industry, garnering attention from reputable media outlets worldwide.
Source: Daum
