“It looks like this will be our last stage for the time being.”

The five members of New Jeans declared a voluntary halt in activities after the court ruled that they would return to Adore. Their agency, Adore, unilaterally notified them of the termination of their contracts. They did present a new song, which was like a ‘product’. This happened at the Hong Kong paid omnibus performance ‘Complex Con Hong Kong’, where they signed a contract as NJZ without the agreement of their agency, Adore.

The five members of New Jeans stood on the stage of ‘Complex Con Hong Kong’, held at the Hong Kong AsiaWorld-Expo at 10:40 PM on the 23rd, Korean time. They did not directly mention NJZ, which they had always used as their stage name, as if reflecting the results of the injunction handed down by the court on the 21st.

Immediately after the live that lasted about an hour, the five members each took out the pieces of paper they had prepared and delivered a message with the gist of it being a ‘temporary hiatus’. The five members stated, “This Hong Kong concert could be our last for the time being. We have decided to respect the court‘s decision and suspend all activities for a while.”.

It seemed uncertain whether the five members would appear on the concert due to the Seoul Central District Court’s ruling on the 21st to ‘fully accept’ the injunction to preserve the status of Adore‘s agency and prohibit the conclusion of advertising contracts, but Adore dramatically made it happen when it stated that it would tolerate the members performing ‘as New Jeans, not NJZ.’.

Attention was also focused on whether or not the five members would release a new song planned and produced without the agreement of their agency, Adore. Amidst the many speculations surrounding the new song, the five members revealed some ‘spoilers’, including the title, through posts on their own social media accounts, which were carried out on stage.

The title of the new song is ‘PIT STOP’, a hip-hop based song. ‘PIT STOP’ is a term derived from racing events such as F1, and refers to the section during a race where a vehicle undergoes maintenance for refueling or tire changes. In everyday conversation, it is sometimes used as a term symbolizing ‘rest’.

This concert has garnered extraordinary attention from within and outside the K-pop industry as well as the global industry, as it took place right after the court fully accepted the injunction application filed by Adore against the five members.

Earlier, on the 21st, the Seoul Central District Court issued a ruling to ‘fully accept’ the injunction filed by Adore against the members of New Jeans to preserve the status of the agency and prohibit the conclusion of advertising contracts. As a result, the five members of New Jeans, who unilaterally notified Adore of the termination of their exclusive contracts last year and went their own way, will have the legal brakes put on not only their ‘return to the original group’ but also all their entertainment activities under the tentative name ‘NJZ’.

The five members of New Jeans have indicated that they will file an objection to the court’s decision.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.