K-pop group NewJeans changes name to NJZ, announces March performance dates amid contract dispute

South Korean girl group NewJeans announced today that it will be performing in March under its new name NJZ, amid an ongoing legal dispute with the managing label Ador.

Speaking to CNBC on “Squawk Box Asia,” the group said it will be performing at the ComplexCon Hong Kong festival set for March 21 to 23, with the event adding NJZ as a co-headliner.

The five-member band will unveil a new song on the last day of the event, and members will also perform solo during the festival, the group said.

The event may mark the group’s first major event since it said it parted ways with Ador. Its members said they terminated their contracts with the company on Nov. 28.

However, Ador reportedly has filed two injunctions in South Korean courts, one in December to confirm the validity of the group’s contracts and another in January to stop the group from independently signing advertisement contracts, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Ador is a sublabel of K-pop powerhouse Hybe, which manages groups including boy band BTS. Shares of Hybe were down 0.63% shortly after the interview.

The group, formed in 2022, also announced its new name, NJZ, on Instagram today, after previously asking fans to submit ideas for a temporary group name following the supposed departure from Ador. 

The Korea Herald reported that NewJeans had completed all “major commitments,” barring some advertisement-related obligations, under its contract with Ador as of Jan 5.

Group member Danielle told CNBC that the situation is still “quite frightening for us,” and added that Ador is “still interfering with a lot of our work.”

Member Hanni also added that NJZ’s goal for 2025 was to “release music as quick as possible… because we want to reshift the focus back onto our job and what we should be.”

She added, “honestly, we have done nothing wrong, so we’re not afraid of anything at the moment. I think we’re more excited to kind of see what the future holds, and I’m sure that everything will work out well.”

NewJeans maintains that it will “never return” to Hybe and Ador, while Ador said the group’s contracts remain valid until 2029. 

South Korean media reported that a hearing for the contract dispute will take place in April, while the hearing for the advertising contract injunction is reportedly scheduled for March 7.

The group became one of K-Pop’s most popular faces when it debuted in 2022, winning numerous accolades at South Korean award shows and having their songs appear on Billboard charts. In 2024, NewJeans had also won the Group of the Year Award at Billboard’s Women in Music ceremony.

NewJeans said in a press conference on Nov. 28 that it was leaving Ador, claiming that the label had breached its contract with the band.

The move saw Hybe lose as much as 6.97% of its share price, or $423 million of value from its market cap on Nov. 29. 

“Staying here would be a waste of time and would only bring pain, mentally,” Hanni said then.

“There is nothing we can gain professionally from staying here, so the five of us see no reason to remain at ADOR,” according to a translation by South Korean media outlet Yonhap.

NewJeans had been at the center of a long-running management dispute between Hybe and then ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, who formed NewJeans back in 2022. 

In April, Hybe accused Min of attempting to take the sublabel independent, along with NewJeans.

Min denied the allegations and denounced Hybe, saying they had copied the concept of NewJeans to use with another girl band under a different Hybe subsidiary.

Min stepped down as ADOR CEO in August, but remained as a director of the company, before resigning entirely on Nov. 20.