NewJeans Has Entered the Chat...
NewJeans Has Entered the Chat...
Okay, HYBE, you're cool in my books now.
Hello there! The Soymilk Book Club has been inactive for a while because the first half of 2022 has been a blur for me—finishing my undergraduate thesis, dealing with illness in the family and finally graduating from university. I promised myself that I’d get back to writing purely for leisure as a way to recharge, and I’m excited to get the newsletter up and running again. Thanks for reading. 💥
Yesterday, HYBE dropped a surprise music video, ushering in a brand new five-member girl group: NewJeans. Produced by legendary creative director Min Heejin and managed by HYBE sub-label ADOR, NewJeans would be the conglomerate’s second girl group debut in 2022 after LE SSERAFIM. Here’s to hoping it would be off to a better start with no bullying scandals involved.
Much like their utterly bizarre name, the group’s rollout strategy also strikes one as unconventional. Unlike most labels that typically build hype by introducing individual member profiles and teasers before any sort of music is released, NewJeans are turning that method on its head. Instead, four consecutive MVs will be followed by a proper introduction before the debut EP finally drops on 8 August. There’ll also be a pop-up store—call it HYBE privileges since most rookie groups outside of the Big Four simply can’t afford this sort of promotion.
In barely 24 hours, ‘Attention’ has racked up over 2 million views and is trending at #15 for music on YouTube. The strategy seems to be working; it’s clear that people are talking about it. Bear in mind, we know close to nothing about the members except their names and what they look like. According to their Instagram profile, the girls are Hanni, Minji, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein. Of course, there’s already been lots of discourse about the members’ extremely young ages, but that’s a whole other topic for discussion.
HYBE/ADOR also dropped another pre-release track just today:
This time, the ‘Hype Boy’ intro teaser offshoots into four separate MVs at the end, each featuring the members in different storylines for the same song. It’s giving choose-your-own-adventure, and I’m obsessed.
However, what I’m really intrigued about is the music itself. Underpinned by an intoxicating groove, ‘Attention’ sounds like early 2000s R&B but updated with a K-pop sheen. Airy synths form the centrepiece on ‘Hype Boy’, which remind me of MonoTree’s earlier production work for LOONA or even an f(x) B-side. Interestingly, the girls’ vocals don’t suffer from the over-processing that HYBE is infamous for.
The songwriting isn’t particularly complex or groundbreaking, and their short lengths seem to be tailored for the era of mass streaming, but these songs provide a breath of fresh air in a girl group soundscape that has been uninspiring for a while now. Trading sticky hooks and actual melody for insubstantial noise and lazy sing-talking, many K-pop producers now merely recycle tropes that feel hollow and trite. It says a lot when the best K-pop single of 2022 so far is a hyperpop track from a third-generation veteran group that daringly sampled Bach’s ‘Air on the G String’; nothing as musically interesting has come out ever since.
There’s something to be said about NewJeans’ art direction as well. Min Heejin’s signature flourishes are everywhere, from the arthouse sensibility of the MVs to the borderline uncanny Y2K graphics and the girls’ on-point styling.
Again, they’re not anything revolutionary, but they’re unique enough to stand out in a hyper-saturated crowd of badass girl crush caricatures. It’s energising to see NewJeans bring two things back into focus: Good Music and Girls Just Having Fun. Like, can we please have more of this!!! (For a primer on Min’s brilliant creative direction for SM Entertainment, read this excellent piece.)
As someone who wasn’t particularly impressed by LE SSERAFIM’s entrance and has yet to feel emotionally invested in a HYBE group, I’m genuinely curious to see where NewJeans will go. It’s been a long time since LOONA that I’ve been this excited by a girl group debut…so HYBE, you win.