Become part of the hype and discover NewJeans!

Author: Helen Bosch / Oct 11, 2022

The debut of NewJeans in 2022 had a few surprises in store. Among other things, the first song appeared before any of the members were introduced! Furthermore, the members are very young; the youngest was only 14 when they debuted. With their talent and a refreshing concept, the young girl group captivated countless K-pop fans in a very short time!

Here you can find all albums and fan articles from NewJeans!

NewJeans is already one of the most successful K-pop girl groups in the world, even though Danielle, Hyerin and Co. have only just released three albums! If you missed the hype, you've come to the right place. We have put together an overview of the creation and development of the girl group for you:

Formation of a new girl group
Release of the first single “Attention”
Other singles: “Hybe Boy” and “Hurt”
The members
Official debut with the song “Cookie”
2023: The rapid rise of NewJeans

Formation of a new girl group

Back in 2019, Big Hit Entertainment was planning a new girl group that would debut in 2021. That's why auditions took place in 2019 to find new and young talents. The entire project was led by a director named Min Hee Jin, who joined Big Hit Entertainment in 2019. She had previously made a name for herself as SM Entertainment's visual director, so fans trusted that the new girl group was in good hands.

Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan, because like all of us, Min Hee Jin and Big Hit Entertainment were surprised by the global Covid-19 pandemic and postponed the planned girl group debut.

On November 12, 2021, there was finally news: HYBE Corporation, which also owns Big Hit Entertainment, announced that it had founded a new music label called “ADOR” and appointed Min Hee Jin as CEO. Since then, ADOR has been responsible for the production and management of the new girl group.

On July 1, 2022, ADOR announced with several short animated videos on Instagram that the new girl group would finally upload their very first content on July 22! Nobody knew exactly what it would look like. The name or any other details about the group also remained a secret. So the media continued to refer to them as "Min Hee Jin's girl group."

No one expected what came next.

Release of the first single “Attention”

The entire K-Pop scene was completely surprised when not just any teaser, but a full music video was uploaded on July 22nd!

The music video not only revealed a brand new song, but also the name of the girl group and the number and identity of the members!

“NewJeans” has two different meanings. On the one hand, he alludes to “jeans”, which are a timeless fashion item. The group wants to say that they and their music are timeless, like jeans. On the other hand, “NewJeans” is also based on the English expression “New Genes”. It represents that the girl group wants to usher in a new generation of pop music.

It is very unusual to release the first music video without any promotions or major announcement, even if it is not yet the debut. With this new strategy, ADOR wanted to focus primarily on music.

The risk paid off: the music video was viewed over 1.3 million times in less than 24 hours, despite being released completely unexpectedly. Fans also praised the refreshing concept and the members' talent for singing and dancing.

Other singles: “Hybe Boy” and “Hurt”

Shortly after the release of “Attention” the first mini album was announced, which like the girl group itself is called “New Jeans”. From then on everything went very quickly! So that you don't get confused, we have summarized the next developments for you, sorted by date:

23. July: The intro of another new song called “Hybe Boy” was uploaded to YouTube. Additionally, the accompanying video finally revealed the names of the five members: Minji, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein & Hanni!

Before the day was over, four different music videos for Hybe Boy were released! Each of the videos revolves around one of the members. (Danielle and Haerin share a video.)

July 25th: The pre-order phase for the first album was opened and a third song called “Hurt” appeared on YouTube. Within the first three days, fans ordered more than 444,000 copies of the eagerly awaited album! The physical album, like the whole concept, is unusual and attracted attention: buyers of the bag versions actually received one of three handbags that the NewJeans members presented on Instagram.

26. July: In an almost 10-minute video, the members of NewJeans introduce themselves in more detail. Thanks to the video, fans learn, among other things, that Haerin is curious about herself and Minji has not changed since the members first met, but has remained true to herself.

The members

Artist name	Real name	Birthday
Minji	Kim Min Ji	07.05.2004
Hanni	Pham Ngoc Han	06.10.2004
Danielle	Danielle Marsh Korean name: Mo Jihye	11.04.2005
Haerin	Kang Haerin	15.05.2006
Hyein	Lee Hyein	21.11.2004

Did you know that some of the members were active in the Korean entertainment industry before their debut?

Danielle, for example, was seen as a child in the entertainment show “Rainbow Kindergarten”, which accompanies small children in their everyday lives. Little Danielle also made a brief appearance in the show “Shinhwa Broadcast” by the boy band Shinhwa. By the way, she used her Korean name Mo Ji Hye back then.

Hyejin made her debut in 2017 as part of a children's group called “U.SSO Girl” and called herself U.Jeong. But she left the group just a year later.

Hani and Minji appeared in the music video for “Permission to Dance” by BTS in 2021!

On August 1st, 2022, NewJeans finally officially debuted their new song “Cookie”!

In addition to the title song “Cookie”, the first album “New Jeans” also contains the three previously released singles “Attention”, “Hybe Boy” and “Hurt”.

The album was released digitally on August 1st and physically on August 8th. The physical album sold more than 311,000 copies in the first week of release, more than any other debut album by a K-pop girl group in that period!

On August 4th, New Jeans appeared on a music show for the first time and not only performed the title song “Cookie”, but also the two singles “Attention” and “Hybe Boy”. On August 18, the girl group won a music show for the first time with “Cookie” and four more trophies followed by the end of the promotions. In addition, all four songs on the album placed high in various charts such as Melon, Genie and the Circle Charts!

This debut will certainly be remembered for a long time!

2023: The rapid rise of NewJeans

In 2023, NewJeans released three more albums and developed into one of the most successful K-pop girl groups ever at an incredible pace!

The single album “OMG” started on January 2nd.

It topped the Korean Circle Chart and sold over a million copies in just one month! At the end of February, the first album “NewJeans” also broke the million mark, making it the first debut album by a K-pop girl group to reach this milestone.

Both the album “OMG” and the title song of the same name were a complete success. But the highlight from the album is the pre-release single “Ditto”.

It was released on December 19, 2022 and topped the Circle Digital Chart for thirteen weeks! In the history of the chart, no other song has stayed at number 1 for so long. In second place is “Dynamite” by BTS with 11 weeks and in third place is “Super Shy” by New Jeans with eight weeks. At the end of 2023, “Ditto” was also named “Song of the Year” at the Mama Awards.

“OMG” was followed six months later by the second mini album “Get Up” with six songs.

With their comeback, NewJeans once again attracted attention: the girl group presented no fewer than five music videos within the next few weeks! First, a music video for the song “New Jeans” was uploaded to YouTube on July 6th. In the next few days, videos for “Super Shy” and “Cool With You” followed. The album itself was released on July 21st, along with a music video for the single “ETA”. Just four days ago, NewJeans also released a video for “ASAP”.

The album sold over a million copies on the first day after its release. That wasn't much of a surprise anymore, after all, the two predecessors also exceeded the million mark. Nevertheless, NewJeans was able to celebrate a completely new milestone with “Get Up”.

In December 2024, the album broke the two million mark! It is currently NewJeans' best-selling album and only the third K-pop girl group album ever to sell more than two million copies. The first two albums were “Born Pink” by Blackpink and “My World” by aespa. And that wasn't all: “Get Up” topped the Billboard 200 chart. Before NewJeans, only Black Pink had achieved this. And as the first K-pop girl group ever, NewJeans managed to place three singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at the same time: “Super Shy”, “ETA” and “Cool With You”!

With its success, it's no surprise that NewJeans members have also been busy with many other activities:

They gave concerts, graced the covers of magazines and became the most sought-after advertising models in Korea. The girl group performed for the first time in the USA and Japan in 2023: at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago and at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. We're excited to see when the young singers will host their first world tour, but until then, we can at least enjoy new content on a regular basis.

NewJeans have recorded songs not only for their own albums, but also for K-dramas and promotional purposes:

In September, "Beautiful Restriction" was released as the soundtrack for the fantasy series "A Time Called You", and in November "Our Night is More Beautiful Than Your Day" followed as the soundtrack for "My Demon".

The group also collaborated with Coca-Cola in April and released the promotional single “Zero”. In October, NewJeans recorded a song for the 2023 League of Legends World Championship:

Before the year ended, the group presented their first remix album “NJWMX”.

It is a purely digital album with remix versions of six songs: “Ditto”, “OMG”, “Attention”, “Hype Boy”, “Cookie” and “Hurt”.

2024 has just begun, but we have no doubt that the girl group has another successful year ahead. On February 18th, NewJeans was named “Artist of the Year” at the Hanteo Music Awards alongside other stars such as TXT and aespa. What is the girl group preparing for us next?

Sources: Hybe Corporation, ADOR social media channels, NewJeans social media channels, Korea JoongAng Daily, The Korea Herald, Circle Chart, Billboard, Hanteo

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