K-Pop Superstars NewJeans Leave Label Days Prior to Rumoured Fortnite Crossover

K-pop icons NewJeans have announced they will leave their record label Ador, a subsidiary of Korean giant Hybe, days prior to their rumoured appearance in Fortnite. According to reliable leakers, the Super Shy singers are due to headline the next season of rhythm game Fortnite Festival, replacing current star Snoop Dogg.

Based on past seasons, this likely means all members of the five-piece are set to receive skins, while their songs will be added to the game. This author was looking forward to kicking ass as Danielle in Battle Royale, but who knows if the crossover will even happen now?

NewJeans has been embroiled in a very public spat with its record label for quite some time. While the situation is complicated, it involves a dispute between the band’s producer Min Hee-Jin and Hybe’s chairman Bang Si-Hyuk.

Effectively, it’s alleged that Hee-Jin had tried to break sub-label Ador from its parent company Hybe, and take NewJeans with her. This would have effectively made the extremely successful group independent. Hee-Jin left the company in August as a result of the accusations.

However, she’s since accused Hybe of stealing NewJeans’ style with the group Illit.

The band, meanwhile, has come out in defence of Hee-Jin, and member Hanni has also accused Hybe of workplace harassment.

This all led to NewJeans filing a lawsuit on 13th November, demanding the label resolve breaches of their contracts within 14 days. They said the failure to meet the demands would lead to the termination of their contracts.

And that’s the situation we find ourselves in today. Ador, for the record, says its contract with NewJeans remain valid and that the group will “continue its activities” with the agency. That suggests to us that Fortnite crossover will still go ahead.

It’s going to be fascinating to see exactly how this situation shakes out. There’s been some suggestion that the members of NewJeans may be liable to pay around $170 million to terminate their contracts early, should it be ruled they breached any rules.