K-pop group announces career break for ‘mental and emotional’ reasons’ reasons

The K-Pop Newjeans female group surprised fans by announcing a career break on Sunday (23). Hanni (Pham Ngoc Han), Haerin (Kang Haerin), Minji (Kim Minji), Hyein (Lee Hye-In) and Danielle (Danielle Marsh) claim that the agenda suspension is due to “mental and emotional” motives because of a problem they face with the label.

“As strong as we are trying to be, this is honestly affecting us mentally and emotionally,” said Danni, one of the singers. Already Hanni explained that the decision of the group “pausing all activities” was not easy. “We believe this is something we need to do,” he added.

In November, Newjeans held a press conference in which the members announced that they were terminating their contract with the ador, accusing the label of “manipulation”, “mistreatment”, “deliberately wrong communication” and harassment at the workplace.

The ador contested the allegations and stated that the group remained under contract. The label filed a lawsuit against Newjeans and requested a court injunction to prevent the group from signing advertising contracts. “We regret that this issue has reached the tribuinal and we believe that much of what was found by the members of the Newjeans originated from a misunderstanding,” said the company.

At the same time, the quintet claimed to have “completely lost confidence” in the ador and added, “We believe we will win this battle against Hybe and the ador.”

In February, the group announced a new identity: NJZ. The name came from the group’s legal dispute against the ador, subsidiary of their former Hybe company, which also agrees the Seventeen, Enhypen and BTS groups. An injunction on the case is scheduled for April.