Amid the conflict between HYBE and ADOR, the role of LE SSERAFIM Sakura in the issue was addressed by the affiliate label through K-media.
The infighting between Korea's largest music agency HYBE and its affiliate label ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin is intensifying.
HYBE initially triggered the issue when they accused Min of attempting to steal ADOR's management rights. As a response, CEO Min countered with a press conference.
To better explain its position, ADOR once again released a new position on May 5, where they broke the matters mentioned at the press conference into nine topics.
Here's Why NewJeans Didn't Become HYBE's 'First Girl Group'
Based on the press conference, CEO Min Hee Jin was promised by HYBE to originally debut NewJeans as "HYBE's first girl group" under her affiliate label, ADOR.
This claim was refuted by HYBE and blamed on NewJeans not being their first girl group due to CEO Min strongly insisting that they debut under her own separate label, rather than Source Music, where other trainees are supposed to debut with other NewJeans members.
ALSO READ: K-Netz Speculate 'Hidden Messages' About HYBE & Ador Behind NewJeans Track 'ETA'
Accordingly, it took a considerable amount of time to establish the label, and since the girl group members were trained by Source Music, procedures such as management's consent were required for the transfer.
Apparently, NewJeans was supposed to debut in March 2022, but it was postponed to the third quarter of the same year. Just then, LE SSERAFIM debuted first in May 2022.
Why Is Sakura 'Obstacle' to NewJeans Debut
Amid this explanation, there is one K-pop idol who is being mentioned for allegedly "hindering" NewJeans' earlier debut than LE SSERAFIM, and that was due to Sakura.
Accordingly, NewJeans was already introduced as a group comprised of rookies when Sakura joined Source Music. HYBE reportedly requested Min not to promote NewJeans at the time of their debut, and this confused the CEO since it has nothing to do with the debut of NewJeans nor they have something to do with Sakura's transfer to Source Music.
The parent label told CEO Min without prior notice that they needed to set a promotion period because the two teams' debut points continued in a row and there was not enough time to promote each other.
However, ADOR claimed that HYBE did this to give the K-pop market confusion that LE SSERAFIM is actually Min Hee Jin's girl group.
This can be confirmed through SNS conversation records between CEO Park Ji Won and Min Hee Jin, but HYBE is constantly changing its words, citing unrelated reasons such as:
"Due to the R&R dispute between Source Music and CEO Min Hee Jin, NewJeans' debut schedule was pushed back, and LE SSERAFIM, prepared by Source Music, debuted first. The two teams debuted one after another, giving them enough time to promote each other.
It was originally not enough, so we decided to set a minimum promotional period for a certain time. Even before Sakura signed with HYBE, there were a lot of articles about "HYBE" transfer rumors. In this situation, ADOR's team was called 'a team made up of only rookies.'
There was a concern that the fact that Sakura was joining Source Music and information about the members of NewJeans members would be exposed as well, and the request was made to protect the news value of both teams, and even this period was shortened in the middle."
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
