By Ingrid Avancena
NewJeans have taken over the K-Pop industry, the Billboard charts (with 5 out of 6 of their songs currently occupying the Billboard Global 200!), and, of course, the coveted playlists of many. In fact, these achievements come only months after their official July/August 2022 debut, which raises the questions “Who are NewJeans?” and “Why are they so popular?”
In case you’re wondering, NewJeans aren’t a bunch of singing Aeropostale jeans that go on mall tours. For starters, they are a South Korean-based girl group that is managed under ADOR, which is one of the labels partnered with HYBE Co. (the same corporation that BTS is signed to). NewJeans consists of five members: Danielle (17, Korean-Australian), Hanni (18, Vietnamese), Hyein (14, Korean), Minji (18, Korean), and Haerin (16, Korean). Yes, they’re a multicultural group, but they also happen to be very young, even younger than most UCI students. However, their ages aren’t a diminishing factor in the deserved hype surrounding them.
Many K-Pop fans met NewJeans through their first song, “Attention”, released July 22nd of last year. Initially, I was a bit skeptical of NewJeans, especially as the announcement of the group wasn’t super publicized (the song literally came out on a random weekday, too). Additionally, there were already a multitude of freshly-debuted and successful girl groups in 2022, such as Le Sserafim and Kep1er. Nevertheless, “Attention” proved to be a refreshing sensation because it was led astray from the repetitive bubble-gum pop formula K-Pop tends to safely follow. The song itself talks about the exhilarating “puppy love” stage of having a crush (which member Danielle helped write lyrics for ), a seemingly suitable concept for the teenage NewJeans. The instrumentals of the song, on the other hand, consist of a 2000s R&B-infused beat and baseline, along with exuberant claps and chants in the background. It was instantly addicting to listen and dance along to, especially with the fun hand-and-hair movements for the song’s choreography. I’d even go as far as to say that “Attention” can be in the soundtrack of the cheerleading movie series Bring It On.
Going forward, NewJeans has pushed out hit after hit, unafraid of experimenting with other genres, too. On their first EP, released August 1st, NewJeans followed up “Attention” with their second lead single, “Hype Boy”, a song that could be classified as video game electropop. The other song on the EP, “Cookie”, puts a futuristic, savvy twist on hip-hop, while the last song, “Hurt”, presents itself as an angsty, coming-of-age upbeat ballad. Their second batch of songs released last December and this January, “Ditto” and “OMG”, are also sonically impressive. “Ditto” opts more for a nostalgic, indie-pop vibe, taking it down a notch from the songs they previously promoted. “OMG”, their latest song, is a bouncy cultivation of what happens when hip-hop and R&B meet in a club. There’s ultimately no telling of what NewJeans will come up with next, which is what makes their music so exciting to listen to.
When coming down to the root of NewJeans’ songs, the meanings of them do seem a little lighthearted… at first. The most notable example is “OMG”’s line of “I was really hoping that he will come through”, which captures the giddy reliance on a love interest, perhaps someone that NewJeans looks to for their daily dose of dopamine. However, the music video for the song takes a complete 180, conceptualizing the NewJeans members as patients in a psychiatric ward, accounting their individual hallucinatory episodes. The lyrics can then be re-evaluated: Is this “he” person someone that we ended up romanticizing in our heads? Are we too dependent on other people that we lose sense of who we are? These real, inner struggles are considered too insignificant to dwell over in our already chaotic world (think about the women who are called “crazy” or “dramatic” when venting about their relationships), but NewJeans bringing these topics, and many more, to light normalizes them.
Screenshot from “OMG” MV.
Vocally, NewJeans aren’t novices. In a live performance of “Hurt”, all the members had their own space to excel: Danielle started off the song with some beautifully harmonic falsetto runs, Hyein’s high, sweet pitch complimented her soothing tone, Haerin’s breathy, wistful register was surprisingly powerful, Hanni’s “soft-teasing” of the ends of her full notes was nothing short of angelical, and Minji’s low, and incredibly steady, projection exudes a collective ambience. Such examples of their singing styles are prevalent in other NewJeans songs, slightly fluctuating to perfectly match the mood of what they’re performing, and making it easier for fans to distinguish one member from the other. So far, Hanni is the only member with a solo performance, as she performed an outstanding medley of NewJeans songs and covers.
Dance-wise, the group is uniquely lax. When looking through their choreography videos for each song, I couldn’t help but notice how effortless, yet simultaneously on-point, NewJeans’ moves are. They incorporate a plethora of subtle, pep-in-your-step jumps (or, in cuter terms, bunny hops) into their choreography, which they execute in full synchronization with their evidently tight-locked forms. Their swayful arm movements mimic those a child would aimlessly do out of boredom, but the meticulous extending of their arms and direction they travel towards are planned out to flow sleekly into the next dance move, or to fit a sudden, upcoming change in the song’s tempo. Their dances look easy to learn at first glance, but you’ll definitely break a sweat with their hidden intricacy.
All technical stuff aside, we all know that fashion is integral to music, as they’re both expressive forms of whatever one deems as art, and NewJeans’ trendy outfits are no exception. In a “Hype Boy” performance video, the members dance on a cubed platform in their 80s-style baggy jeans and sweatpants, beaded body chains, colorful stickers, and retro Nike Jordans, embodying the modern, yet vintage, look of an “obscure” arcade heroine. In both of the “Ditto” music videos, the members roam the bleak halls of a school in chic oversized blazers, pleated uniform skirts, and classic Mary Janes, which all instill the essence of mellow, bittersweet childhood memories. Whoever is styling NewJeans not only has great taste in clothing, but also pays great attention to the aura of their songs.
Screenshot from “Hype Boy” performance MV, ver.1.
It would only be appropriate to close with what “NewJeans” means. It turns out that the name DOES involve actual pairs of denim. The group is named after a closet staple, because, to simply put it, jeans are timeless, just like NewJeans and their music. Their name can also be interpreted as “new genes”, signifying that they are the next generation for pop culture, regardless of the Korean language barrier. With either interpretation, I see a bright future (or past) for the group, and it’ll be interesting to see how much they grow. They’re already way cooler than I was at their ages, after all.
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