If you listen to K-Pop you may have heard of the recently debut group “New Jeans.” If you don’t “”New Jeans” is a recently debuted girl group signed under ador, a sub label of HYBE. The name New Jeans is a double entendre according to the Ador CEO Min Hee Jin. One meaning of it is the “clothing article and how each generation has it’s own style of jeans tat represents said generation and New Jeans want to take the ambitious lead and be that representative figure.” The second meaning is the play on words “New Genes, as they are ushering anew generation and sound for k-pop.”
The group consists of 5 members: Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein. The girls come from various backgrounds, Hani is Vietnamese and Australian, while Danielle is Australian and Korean, while the rest of the girls are all Korean.
They have been killing it with sales and streams; having their debut EP “New Jeans 1st EP ‘New Jeans’” sold out everywhere, and having all their songs from said EP on all the top charts in Korea and around the world. However, with the success a lot of controversies have come up. In this post I will talk about various issues with the group and why i think they are big at the moment and how they are probably going to only get bigger.
Something ‘Fresh’
One reason that New Jeans stand is out is their sound. Now i put fresh in between the ‘’ because, while it is a new sound, it sounds like something you have heard before. The music comes with a sense of nostalgia. A lot of the beats and production gives it a late 90’s early 2000’s vibe. While comparing them to their peers, their music definetly stands out amongst the bunch. It sounds less “futuristic”and experimental and is just good R&B influenced pop. People online were saying they saved the K-pop music from “noise music” and lmao. For those who don’t know what “noise music” means, it is music that has heavy instrumentals that are computer generated, focus more on choreography and have less singing and are usually in the girl crush/tough (boy crush a term ?) concepts for groups.
New Jeans also feels like a fresh of breath air because they are just a group of girls who sing. That’s it. If you’re into k-pop now a days, you see that almost every group at this point has a lore, a world that was created for the group in which said group is the superhero/protaganist, etc. This isn’t a specific concept for any group it is used for boy and girl groups alike, some groups who use this strategy are LOONA, ATEEZ, AESPA, BTS, CIX, just to name a few and there is WAAAAAAY more. This is no hate to these artist, I listen to them and this is how I know they have this type of concept/storyline. I just noticed that everyone wants their own world and its cool when it was a few groups only. But it’s gotten to the point where whole agencies like SM Entertainment are trying to connect all their artist to AESPA’S lore to have a shared made up universe. I like that New Jeans were not steered in this direction, and decided to keep it simple and cute. (No shade, but. That’s doing too much skjdslk)
Controversies
With massive success, controversies are inevitable because of the amount of attention and press you get, since more people are knowing about you and expressing their opinions. One thing that has been criticized about the girls is their age. This is honestly something I have to agree on. The girls age range from 14-18.
I defiantly think that they should have waited a couple more years to debut the girls, so the youngest member at least wasn’t 14 and was a little older. Knowing how people who consume kpop can be online, i just think someone who is young should not have to see what people say about them. Especially because in Korean celebrity culture people are always commenting on how the celebrities look and again don’t think teenage girls need to be dealing with this type of thins. Especially since all the girls have their own instagram page(except the youngest) Furthermore, I just think kids do just need to be kids. Like at least wait till 16 and have a 14 year old just be in school and have fun with their friends. LET THEM ENJOY THEIR YOUTH.
Additionally, people were commmenting on the clothing they were wearing. However this is something I don’t agree on. I think they looked like regular teenage girls. Wearing shorts, crop tops, sweats, etc. A lot of people were saying “when i was their age I wasn’t wearing that” well maybe you weren’t stylish idk… like i definelty had friends who wore outfits like that or I saw people wearing that. Like their outfits gave young summer fun vibes. They give off a high teen vibe from their music videos and their songs.
Moreover, people were saying some of the lyrics for the song “cookie” were suggestive. It’s only suggestive if you think of it that way. When I first listened to it, i thought it was a cute track abut baking someone they like cookies. (I saw the music video for attention, so i just assumed “aww, she found the guy, they started talking and now she’s gonna bake him cookies to show she likes him.”) People were saying “cookie” was code for female genitalia. While I have heard those two words being used for each other, it never popped in my head to think about it like this since I knew the goes of the girls. (Mind you the girls ages were told before debut, so when this came out people had known some members were underage.) A video online showed that back in the 90’s burning cd’s in Korean had a term that was called baking. Which makes senses as in the music video for the song there is cookies floating around the girls which turn into cd’s and go back and forth from said forms. So it was always about making music for the fans that will love them like cookies. This furthermore is solidified as Ador, New Jeans company even put out a statement to clear out the air and to end speculation. Linked is the statement as it is lengthy and explains everything in detail.
Nevertheless, I do think it is important that people are concerned about the ages that idols debut. I do agree that 14 is a young age to debut. While others have debuted at that age, it is not an easy thing and you can hear this from idols who are used as examples of debuting at a young age. A lot of idols who debut at a young age express that it was hard and they don’t recommend debut at such a young age, while grateful for the success if they are successful; they do wish they had more time to be kids.
Future Success?
I do believe that New Jeans has a lot of potential to be successful in the western market for a variety of reasons. First reason is the sound. They have that Pop/R&B sound that westerners love, and with that hint of throwback beats; they will really pop off especially with the nostalgia craze going on. To add on, their music sounds like American music; but with Korean lyrics. This definitely surprised me the first listen because it did not sound like kpop at all. You usually get an idea of how the music might sound from concept photos and all that pre-release good stuff. But when i heard all of their EP, i was surprised at the sound and loved it. It sounds very American and like a girl group in the early 2000’s would have release it.
Moreover, all the girls speak English. I think this is a skill that is honestly needed in kpop at this point because of how globally it has become. Since all the girls speak English i think this is great because they can each express themselves and talk to their fans without having one girl be the designated speaker when speaking in English any of the girls could take this role. This would definitely giv all the girls more times to speak publicly to fans and help all of them get more fans. I definitely believe if they released an English version of attention or just their whole 1st ep in English it would be successful. I think it would sound just as good in English as it did in Korean.
All in all, I am expecting to see more positive news in regards of New Jeans and their future endeavors. Since the group is still young I think they have plenty of time to grow a great loving fan base that will support them and their music in the future. Also just in case people thought I was calling them a trend in the title, it was a play on words, as I do write bout fashion and they have Jeans in their name. lol
What are your thoughts on New Jeans? Let me know in the comments! Also check out their debut EP. LINKED BELOW
J’s Journal 