I heard that Min Hee-jin raised him… Four of New Jeans are Source Music trainees

Amid the conflict between Adore CEO Min Hee-jin and parent company Hive, it was revealed that members of the group New Jeans had received training for several years at Source Music, another label of Hive.

On the 24th, an entertainment industry official told Hankyung.com, “All members, including New Jeans leader Minzy, received training at Source Music. Minji has been a Source Music trainee since 2017, two years before CEO Min came to Hive.”

He said, “CEO Min selected the members of Source Music’s debut team, saying he would create a girl group, and I understand that there was a lot of noise internally because of that.” He added, “Hive persuaded Source Music executives under the pretext of ‘company-wide development’. “I know that,” he said.

Source Music discovered and succeeded in the group GFriend, and is currently the agency of Le Seraphim. Hive acquired Source Music in 2019. Minzy became a Source Music trainee in 2017, before Source Music joined hands with Hive, and Hani became a Source Music trainee in 2019 through a global audition jointly hosted by Source Music and Big Hit. Haerin and Daniel signed a trainee contract with Source Music in 2020. Hyein, who was the last to join, signed a trainee contract with Adoor, but it was reported that she received training at Source Music shortly after passing her audition and before Adoor was placed. The five members of New Jeans separated after the establishment of Adore.

CEO Min worked as a creative director at SM Entertainment before moving to Hive in 2019. He served as general manager of the brand, including the design of Hive’s new Yongsan headquarters, and was appointed as CEO after the establishment of Adoor in 2021.

In various interviews after New Jeans’ debut, CEO Min described herself as “New Jeans’ mother” and made statements to the effect that she chose the members to form the team. However, given that it is Source Music that discovered the rough diamond and trained her for many years, some are reacting by saying, “CEO Min should not openly claim that New Genes’ originality was ‘copied’ by a rookie from another label.”

In addition, about Adore’s sales exceeding 100 billion won and operating profit exceeding 32 billion won in less than two years after Newgenes’ debut, he said, “Newgenes’ performance is amazing, but it would have been difficult without the children, capital, and connections selected by Hive. “It must have been something,” and “the term ‘small and medium-sized idols’ didn’t just come out,” and there are also interpretations that CEO Min may have been overly greedy by putting Newgenes in the spotlight.

In the first quarter of last year, Hive allowed CEO Min to buy Adore stock at a low price. As a result, CEO Min held 18% of Adore’s shares, becoming the second largest shareholder after Hive’s 80%. At the time, Adore was a loss-making company, but it is analyzed that Hive benefited CEO Min in that New Genes was on the road to success.

On the 22nd, Hive announced that it had begun an audit of Adore’s management. Afterwards, CEO Min issued a statement and refuted, “When I raised the issue of ‘Aillet’s New Genes copy,’ I was notified of the dismissal process.” In addition, he described Aylit as a ‘New Jeans clone’ and said, “Aillet is copying New Jeans in all areas of entertainment activities,” and “How can a legitimate protest to protect the cultural achievements of New Jeans, an affiliated artist, harm the interests of Adore?” “Are you saying it can work?” he argued.

Kim So-yeon, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]