The unexpected conflict between K-Pop giant HYBE and ADOR‘s infamous CEO, Min Hee Jin, has made headlines today. While netizens stay tuned for more updates, the dispute has dredged up old statements from Min — in which she staunchly denied HYBE’s influence over the meteoric rise of NewJeans.
| Korea Herald
In a past interview with Cine21, Min discussed ADOR’s financial and creative independence. She emphasized that, despite what seems to be public opinion, NewJeans’ success stemmed from her meticulous planning rather than the financial backing of HYBE.
Unplanned spending and consumption never lead to good creative outputs or business outcomes. People often mention ‘HYBE Funding,’ but I personally disagree with this term.
— Min Hee Jin via Cine21
| HYBE
Min also highlighted that ADOR had other investment offers when her concept and ideas for ADOR were initially pitched.
After the investment is secured, the actual management strategy of the detailed label is independent of HYBE, as I had received similar investment offers from other parties at the time. Back then, I had various options, and whether the investor was HYBE or not, ‘independence in creation’ and ‘non-interference’ were my top priorities.
— Min Hee Jin via Cine21
| NAVER
Furthermore, she opened up about what part HYBE’s budget played in NewJeans’ unprecedented success that followed their debut mini album.
The budget for NewJeans’ 1st EP wasn’t made lightly. There’s been a lot of talk about HYBE’s funding in the context of the production costs for four music videos. HYBE can’t confirm every production plan or expense at ADOR due to the autonomy we’ve been granted. Our budget is not significantly different from other companies or labels because it was based on my experience and market research.
— Min Hee Jin via Cine21
And that’s not all. Min talked about HYBE’s part in NewJeans’ debut in an even older interview with Billboard — from 2022. In the interview, she also claimed that HYBE played no part in the planning or execution of the group’s debut. The CEO further elaborated on ADOR’s autonomy despite being part of the multi-label company.
ADOR is a label that started with guaranteed autonomy, so it has no ties with HYBE’s management. They actually didn’t have any knowledge about anything we were going to release up until the first music video was released on July 22. [Laughs.]
— Min Hee Jin via Billboard
| People’s Magazine
Min Hee Jin even pointed out that the hype around NewJeans had been due to the connection between the girl group and her name.
That was a strategy we used to put all the focus purely on their music, since the buzz around “Min Hee Jin’s girl group” was already so high.
— Min Hee Jin via Billboard
| ADOR
As the situation unfolds, fans, netizens, and industry experts watch keenly to see how the tensions between HYBE and Min Hee Jin will unfold.
