The superstar K-pop group NewJeans signed restrictive record label contracts that waived their right to “sleep, rest and free choice”.
A new report from the New York Times found that the contracts were signed when the members of the record-breaking girl group were aged ۱۴ to ۱۷.
The contracts banned the performers from having an “insincere attitude” and engaging in “inappropriate romantic relationships”. They also struck standard child protection language which protected “basic human rights” including the group members’ right to education.
The contracts from record label Ador (a subsidiary of Hybe, home of popular groups BTS and Katseye) additionally excluded portions of the Korean government’s K-pop contract template stipulating that the label “shall not demand that a performer who is a minor engage in excessive physical exposure or overly sexually suggestive expression”.
In a statement to the New York Times, Hybe representatives said the company adheres to child-protection laws and works hard to make sure its artists work and train in safe conditions.
NewJeans are one of the decade’s most popular K-pop acts. In ۲۰۲۳, the five-member group followed Blackpink to become the second Korean girl-group to score a number one album on the Billboard charts. In November ۲۰۲۴, the band made global headlines when they announced their decision to leave the label amid contract disputes and claims that Ador had deliberately undermined their careers.
Band member Hanni alleged that NewJeans were mistreated by the label and accused Ador of “deliberate miscommunications and manipulation” in a statement to South Korea’s parliament last year.
Ador has consistently maintained that they did not violate their duty. “A unilateral claim that trust has been broken does not constitute valid grounds for termination of a contract,” the label said in a statement.
The label sued band member Danielle, a member of her family and the band’s producer in December ۲۰۲۵ for a total of nearly $۳۰m for damages and a contract break penalty.
Hybe representatives told the New York Times that its exit penalty fees do not exceed industry standards.
In July, the group promised that ۲۰۲۶ would be the “summer of NewJeans,” with a teaser showing the group as a four-piece sans Danielle. New music has yet to emerge.
The new reports expose the shadowy world of K-pop contracts and shine a light on the restrictive conditions that the genre’s biggest stars can be subject to.
By the time they signed their contracts, the NewJeans members – Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Hyein and Danielle – had already clocked in years of training in K-pop “boot camps” which taught vocal training, choreography and foreign language education.
Schedules were strict, one source told the New York Times, and it was not unusual for rehearsals to stretch as late as ۲am. NewJeans’s youngest member, Hyein, was ۱۲ at the time.
After the band members received their exclusive contracts with Ador in January ۲۰۲۲, the parents of one member requested multiple changes. They were told that the “contract itself” could be reconsidered if it was not signed in its current form.
In a statement to the New York Times, Hybe said its contracts were legal and negotiated in good faith, with protections in place for the artist as well as the label’s investment in them.
That contract also struck government language that forbade performers working for “excessive periods of time”. It also stipulated that the band would have to repay a significant percentage of the plastic surgery costs that are common in K-pop.
“We do not even recommend cosmetic surgery or procedures against an individual’s wishes,” Hybe said in a statement.
The NewJeans contact also granted Ador rights to use the band members’ “name, photographs, likeness, handwriting, voice and any other elements” in perpetuity, in a level of ownership that goes further than government recommendations for such rights to end at the point of contract termination.
The clause also grants Ador the right to use the NewJeans members as AI chatbots or clones.
The Guardian has reached out to Hybe for comment.
