One of the hottest rookie K-pop groups is taking K-pop on a different level and there’s no stopping. As we all know, NewJeans is truly the new hype. The group is composed of five members: Haerin, Hyein, Minji, Danielle, and Hanni.
Fun fact: The girl group’s name ‘NewJeans’ is a word play on the phrase ‘new genes’ referring to the group of new generation K-pop idols.
The group seems like it was built for early success. As people may know, two of their members are former models, and one of them was an opera singer.
Members Minji and Hanni were both featured in the BTS “Permission to Dance” music video, as NewJeans and BTS are both groups under entertainment company HYBE. Other big name K-pop stars have also covered some of their most popular songs like “Hype Boy” and “Attention.” Truly sensational.
THE MIN HEE JIN EFFECT
Known as the genius creative director, Min Hee Jin has really built her name around successful Korean groups in the industry. If we come to review her dashing portfolio, we’ll be seeing the likes of star groups EXO, SHINee, Girl’s Generation, and Red Velvet. Under four entertainment groups of SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, HYBE, and YG Entertainment, Min Hee Jin is setting the OG standard packed with high expectations and jaw-dropping crafts.
Here are some of the tips on how she crafted NewJeans’ iconic moves, look, and style.
1. Curiosity
People who are drawn into the K-pop scene will most likely wait for everything else to fall on the ground. Direction Min gives her audience the state of being curious. According to her, surrounding people with never-before-seen content would create more buzz and at that time, her biggest goal was to transform the curiosity into something tangible.
2. The “secret” ingredient
At the back of Director Min’s mind, she thought that, not revealing any information about the members would lead people to re-watch the music videos several times in order to identify the members– which is an awesome brand strategy. Even if the girls’ name were revealed, people still look it up online a thousand times for sure.
3. Confuse people
The group was drastically styled in different figures of each music videos so that curious people will be going to re-watch the videos to figure who is and who’s that. So much fun or charades and guessing games I guess?
4. The new formula
This is actually a combination of the two: secret and confusion. People tend to dissect the music according to their own terms and depending on how they understand it, but in here– music is your companion and the visual aspect supports it differently. When we think of the USUAL K-pop music videos, people connect it so easily to the visuals and make notes out of it. But in here, it’s different. She kept in mind that, for a rookie with no fan base to garner interest in the beginning, securing a fandom in a short period of time is key.
5. NewJeans isn’t your typical K-pop group
Director Min was caught in the idea to make NewJeans ‘less K-pop’. What she meant by less K-pop was to break from the traditional K-pop visuals and moves. A lot of creative directors were drawn into the idea of following the general formula of K-pop which includes overly-designed visuals. In here, she wanted to be rebellious. She even mentioned in one of her interviews, “Hasn’t the concept of ‘public appeal’ that we commonly talk about also been repeatedly crammed into us?”
She said that following the general terms and the traditional won’t guarantee a huge success so why not try breaking free?
AT PRESENT
People might be wondering, what’s up with NewJeans. Some will say that they had it so easy and comfortable but in reality, their generation in terms of visual and sounds are attacking a completely different strategy. From their music video, to how they dress in Y2k style–the messy way– the new gen of K-pop just wants to break trad. It’s not something people expects to have, but something that the creative director wants to see which is to be different.
CONCLUSION
The K-pop scene is constantly pumping out new idol groups, each with their own concepts and styles. People can put all their drama and rate their favorites but it’s a fact that K-pop rookies like NewJeans are here to break trad. They have proven skills in terms of immaculate choreography, great singing, and a close-knit relationship with fans of around their age, the Bunnies. They actually look to be offering something different. In a genre of music that has sometimes grown trapped in the same pop sounds, NewJeans are bringing in more of an R&B sensibility, delving into both wistful nostalgia and apprehensive coming-of-age style.
