I'm still deciding on whether or not I want to continue the Into the K-hole series, but I thought I would give an update on the latest happenings with NewJeans

Background

Episode II of Into the K-hole: https://rdrama.net/post/327370/into-the-khole-episode-ii-the#m-actionsmodal

For those who don't want to read all that shit or need more context:

Back in November, NewJeans tried to claim that their exclusive contract with Ador was automatically terminated due to major violations by Ador. Rather than file for contract termination in a civil court, they simply insisted that the contract was terminated and that they could begin seeking independent oppurtunities. Since the NewJeans ip was owned by Ador, they began marketing themselves as NJZ; creating social media accounts, seeking endorsements, scheduling a show in Hong Kong, and even recording new music. In order to prevent this, Ador filed a lawsuit to confirm the validity of the contract and sought an injunction to prevent the members of NewJeans from engaging in independent activities. The first hearing for the injunction was held on March 7th.

The Hearings

On March 7th, the two parties met in court to present evidence. ADOR presented a total of 229 slides. NewJeans presented 93 slides. NewJeans' arguments included:

• ADOR was favoring other HYBE girl groups over NewJeans, most notably Le Sserafim and Illit.

• Illit was specifically created to plagiarize NewJeans and steal their success.

• An incident between NJ member Hanni and the group Illit's manager was not properly addressed by Ador.

ADOR's rebuttal included the following arguments:

• Through their exclusive contract ADOR fulfilled their obligations to provide opportunities and distribute profits (5 billion won to each member).

• A KakaoTalk conversation between Hanni and Min Hee Jin related to the'hallway ignoring incident. The conversation showed Hanni being uncertain about what the manager had said and that she did not consider it a significant issue at the time.

• t would not make sense for a company whose purpose is to make profit to discriminate against or sabotage their own successful artists and lose a revenue source.

This first hearing ended with the Judge setting a second hearing on the 14th, which would be both sides final chance to provide evidence. This second hearing came and went with the only additional evidence being claims of Illit being rude with no supporting evidence being provided.

This past Friday, the 21st, the Judge ruled in favor of ADOR, granting an injunction that would prevent NJZ from engaging in independent activities.

NewJeans and Ador React

NewJeans dropped a massive cope post on social media that you can read in this thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/s/7gqgQ7loC5

But I'll share some highlights from the statement:

we believe that this ruling did not fully take into account the fact that the members' trust in ADOR has been completely shattered.

We REALLY don't want to work for them any more, that should matter more than evidence.

ADOR and HYBE have access to all information regarding the members' entertainment activities, whereas the members must individually reach out to various parties to request information.

Hanni working the phones, desperately calling around Seoul to find witnesses.

Most importantly, the members faithfully fulfilled their contract obligations up until the point of termination and bear no fault, whereas ADOR and its parent company, HYBE, have continuously subjected them to unfair and discriminatory treatment, destroying their trust. It is only a matter of time before the truth becomes clear.

Just two more weeks guys.

Meanwhile, after much deliberation, we have decided to participate in the Complex concert scheduled for March 23 to prevent unexpected harm to fans who are looking forward to the concert and to the many people involved in its preparation.

>We respect the courts decision to ban us from engaging in activities as NJZ, but we have decided to engage in activities as NJZ.

For their part, ADOR welcomed the ruling and stated that they could perform at Complex.Con, but only as NewJeans, not NJZ.

They performed at complex-con as planned, but I can't find any info on whether the were introduced as NJZ or NewJeans. How'd the performance of their new song go you ask? Have a look:

Reddit Reacts

Redditors have mostly supported Ador throughout this drama, and they have been having a field day since the injunction has been granted. Here's a few shitty memes and threads:

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jggr78/well_aint_that_revolutionary_no_its_not_we_all/

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jg9beh/njz_newjeans_loses_court_case/

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jgje15/in_an_industry_as_cutthroat_and_fastpaced_as_kpop/

The Future

The contract validity case is scheduled to begin on April 3rd and NJZ has announced a hiatus due to the injunction. We will have to wait until then before finding out more as to what the future holds for these . Until then, I leave you with a parting gift:

In a post about how beautiful Chaeyoung of Twice is, one redditor poses a simple philosphical question:

Tbf which woman in kpop isn't one of the prettiest women in kpop

One brave redditor knows the answer:

Jeongyeon from Twice

Over 187 seething fat women. Lets see what they have to say:

What a untrue and unnecessary comment

You're gonna get downmarseyd to heck and i'm one of the downmarseyrs

you asked. she's not the prettiest as an idol, even though she's pretty by normal standard. "uncensored" but can't take the truth?

It's not the truth, it's your (shitty) opinion

you're a man your opinion is invalid

I do not accept this type of behavior here

Friendly reminder who is the most beautiful women in kpop.

!kpop

On another note, please keep this hole alive between Sundays. There's some stuff coming up in the next month with NewJeans that I want to make posts about, but because of Lent I won't post until Sundays.

Here are a few Momo's to hold my fellow koreaboos over.

Matches pretty well with actual YG slop

Takeaway: It's basically impossible for Korean Pop not to be creepy

It's so fricking over for New Jeans?

Should I make a post about the toxic downfall of New Jeans?

It might get in the way of my anti-feminist propoganda writing.

more footage from the brawl at viviz concert from tiktok 😭 pic.twitter.com/bczZv3uvrb

— maya ʚïɞ (@SinBsCat) August 3, 2024

so Viviz held a "world" tour last year, and during the Minneapolis concert, while the girls were talking on stage, a few people had apparently pre-gamed and then promptly went an got further fricked up at the bar. the result was a rather heated discussion in the crowd, mean while the girls just stood on stage awkwardly staring around, waiting for security to deal witht he problem

look at eunha's face

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/1atv43k/apparently_a_fan_pooped_their_pants_during_the/

Does anyone remember in 2024 when someone shit themselves so badly at the Hanteo Music Award it had idols gagging?

CULPRIT REVEALED

This account is definitely not a troll

>Hunter Shit Standing Potty

He corrects his sins by offering to pay laundry fees

SECOND PUBLIC POOPING (NONACCIDENTAL VER.):

Urine and condoms were also added to the scent of Hanteo Music Award 2024

Actual fights broke out after a boy group's performance due to a protest over one of the members

Allegedly, people were also having s*x during this concert. Here is a visual representation of this event

Anyways, I hope something like this happens again

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1iw4ku3/context_behind_this_picture_was_just_revealed/

https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/109/0005135319

~Best comment:

Doyoung (in English):

"Take a shower please..."

"Promise, promise, take a shower, please."

"Bark, take a shower, please..."

"Promise."

Mirin' those traps.

Is it me or is she turning into an absolute hog?

Here is her before shot.

This is where her physique peaks in my honest opinion. Here she appears to be of an ethereal beauty. Her incandescent image flows gracefully into my willing eyes like water to an african child. This is quite the contrast to her current appearance.

Notice how her face, which once looked as if it were chiseled from marble by a master craftsman... Is now round and plump as if she were nothing more than a common stone? Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying she is ugly. She is definitely still better looking than someone like @AnHeroedOats. But this is Wongyoung we are talking about. She is supposed to be more than that. She is supposed to be a goddess up in the heavens amongst the likes of Madoka Kaname. As something for us to aspire to be. Not as some regular slut just like you and me. You honestly think the producers came up with her iconic butt twirl?

And speaking of the butt twirl (which I actually enjoy in her routine and am only being half serious when I say she's a whore for forcing the producers to include that smut in her videos. But look at what her butt twirl looks like after gaining all that mass?

It just doesn't have the same flow to it. It is... So much meatier. Take a look at how it looked before.

Notice how effortless that was? She flew. She is literally flying right there. What a disgrace it is to see such a thing of beauty reduced to this. I wish Wongyoung would take some time to think about the legacy she would like to leave behind.

!anime !weebs

Is this another reason to like the Japanese more than Koreans?

I like the brief moment of panic when she thought it was a fan who did it

Glory to NK!

Michelangelo's version for comparison, the similarities are uncanny.

Drama, the title track of aespa's 4th mini album, highlights the unique artistry of aespa which is not found elsewhere in k-pop. While maintaining their signature hyperpop music style, Drama presents a fresh new vibe for the group. Some may consider Drama to be a turning point in aespa's discography towards a more refined while simultaneously abstract theme.

It holds first place for total streams on aespa's discography by 64 million ahead of Next Level. It's expected that Supernova, a title track in aespa's latest album Armageddon, will eventually hold the first place title. Within it's first week after being released, Drama sold 1.1 million album copies.

There were many stage performances that featured Drama, but the most viewed and notable stage for this era of aespa would have been on 2023 Melon Music Awards. This remix of Drama implements heavy rock instrumentals which compliment the overall powerful nature of this song nicely. aespa displays the ability to adapt to different genres and nuances of music with this remix.

The title track was received well by the k-pop community, (I don't know how to make those fancy Reddit links yet where you can see the comment before clicking);

...

K-pop and modern pop as a whole is plagued with repetitive lyrics, and Drama is no exception. Some other aespa songs, especially their b-sides, have thoughtful and not-too-repetitive lyrics (as far as modern pop goes ), so it's a shame that title tracks seem to have this cancer.

• Final remarks

Beats

We can notice an enjoyable mix of hip-hop and hyperpop in Drama. Winter and Ningning's vocal talents are strategically used to provide a dramatic peak which brings Drama to the Next Level . Ad-libbing is used throughout the song to enhance depth.

Visuals

The music video for Drama was directed by Sam Son, and was intended to be similar to an action movie featuring motorcycles and katana sword fights, all set in a futuristic city. Without explicitly stating it, Drama clearly follows the unique lore of aespa- where the real and "fake" world seems to be blending together.

K-pop music videos tend to be a slideshow of the members in cute outfits lip-syncing the lyrics with no real visual story, so it's refreshing to see aespa break this mold.

Styling

Although the MV styling suits Drama's grunge motorcycle vibe, some of the outfits seemed a little awkward.

Drama's stages seem to be where the stylists got it right.

Concept

This is an area where aespa shines, with their captivating videos and unique concepts. Drama shows us another side of Kwangya, although it isn't referenced obviously like in their earlier songs, where we see "reality" breaking and switching between universes. Discerning viewers might notice that Drama switches between being in a real futuristic city and a movie set. The concept of an alternate reality is frequently used in aespa videos.

This switch between reality and the "alternate world" might be metaphorically portrayed by this scene;