New girl group NewJeans already seeing international success with debut EP

K-pop

Published: 02 Aug. 2022, 11:59 Updated: 02 Aug. 2022, 15:55

New girl group NewJeans already seeing international success with debut EP

Rookie girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

The debut EP of NewJeans, a new girl group under HYBE's independent music label ADOR, has quickly climbed up the charts of various streaming platforms around the world since its release on Monday evening.

The lead track "Attention" landed at No. 9 on local music streaming platform Melon's real-time chart on Tuesday morning. The three other tracks on the EP, which is also titled "New Jeans," “Hype Boy,” "Hurt” and “Cookie," placed on the top 100 charts of local music platforms such as Bugs and Genie.

In Japan, three of the EP's songs — "Attention," "Hype Boy" and "Cookie" — landed at 45th, 53rd and 70th, respectively, on the country's largest music streaming site Line Music.

The EP landed at No. 1 on the iTunes Top Album charts of nine countries including Finland, Russia and Thailand, No. 2 in Japan, No. 3 in Sweden and New Zealand, No. 6 in Canada, No. 9 in Germany, No. 10 in the United States and No. 14 in Britain, as of Tuesday morning.

Rookie girl group NewJeans [ADORA]

NewJeans made a surprise entrance to the K-pop scene last month by releasing the music video for one of the lead tracks, "Attention." It went on to release seven more music videos for songs “Hype Boy,” "Hurt” and “Cookie,” All the songs except “Hurt” have been designated as lead tracks on "New Jeans."

The group set a unique precedent by releasing music videos and all the tracks on its EP before the group's actual debut and EP release on Monday. Most new K-pop acts announce their debut with teaser images and clips.

“Cookie” was the last music video to be released. It was posted on the group's official YouTube page on Monday. “Cookie" is a dance-pop song with a minimal beat.

“In the same way people can’t think of any other food once they indulge in a delicious cookie, we want to put out music that people keep looking out for,” said the group in a press release on Monday.

NewJeans is comprised of five members: Kim Min-ji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Lee Hye-in. Danielle is from Australia and Hanni is from Vietnam while the rest of the members are from Korea.

Rookie girl group NewJeans [ADORA]

On July 28, ADOR announced that as of July 27, NewJeans’ debut EP had already sold over 444,000 copies within four days of the EP's pre-orders being made available. According to the agency, it is the highest number of debut album pre-orders achieved by a girl group.

The hard copy of “New Jeans” will be released on Aug. 8.

Min Hee-jin, the chief branding officer of K-pop powerhouse HYBE and CEO of ADOR, said that the group's name refers to both a pair of jeans and the word "gene."

"Pop music is a form of culture that is very close to our everyday lives, which is why it can be likened to the clothes we frequently wear," Min said in a statement. "We named the group NewJeans because people never get tired of wearing jeans, and we hope that the group will become a new icon in this era. It also has the goal of becoming 'new genes.'"

Min is the creative mind behind NewJeans. Before joining HYBE, she worked at SM Entertainment on visual aspects like music videos or album art for big-name K-pop acts Girls' Generation, SHINee, f(x), EXO, Red Velvet and NCT. She was appointed to lead ADOR, which stands for All Doors One Room, late last year. At the time, ADOR announced that it would recruit trainees through “Plus Global Audition,” an audition project hosted by HYBE and Source Music, to create Min’s girl group.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]