Interesting excerpts from that controversial MHJ interview

  • I'm reading through this human-translated interview between Cine21 and MHJ (MV director Shin Wooseok is also interviewd elsewhere). She makes some important points about NewJeans and ADOR's direction, I'll post the really interesting parts.


    Warning: she gives long answers. Walls of text in the spoilers.


    Cine21: I heard that ‘deer in a snowfield’ imagery in the <Ditto> MV was directly from you. What was reason? Personally it reminded me of <Stand By Me> and <All That Heaven Allows>.


    Cine21: Instead of Hybe’s producers, NewJeans music is being made by producers from BANA, a label that was founded by the former SM Ent employee Kim Kihyun. Why did you decide to work with BANA? I want to hear what the process of getting NewJeans’ music ready was like.


  • (this next question seems to be where the controversial Pannchoa edit came from)


    Cine21: From SM Ent’s Visual and Art Director to Creative Director, to HYBE’s CBO, and now to ADOR’s leader. I imaging there was a process in learning how these roles differ. I wonder why you decided to become a leader and a executive producer after coming to ADOR. Business and production could’ve been separately managed and yet you chose to do both; why?



    On Experimenting With The Fundamentals of Promotion

  • (The most interesting question for someone like me)


    Cine21: The fact that the music that a former creative director and now producer chose and released became one of the most widely successful music of the year means a lot. How do you interpret the music’s success?


  • KpopJop

    Changed the title of the thread from “Interesting excerpts from that controversial MHJ interview :eyes: :eyes: ​​​ :eyes:” to “Interesting excerpts from that controversial MHJ interview”.
  • Personally, I have very much not been a fan of the way K-Pop typically handles melodic progression or vocal styles. The need to include a high pitched part, awkward and sudden rap sections, everyone sounding the same, etc.”


    Ohhh that’s the best description of SM style music that is my pet peeve.. can’t believe MHJ don’t like it too lol

  • Simply spending a lot of money without proper planning does not lead to good creative output nor business output.



    Such a simple thing to comprehend but there’s more than 1 big company rn who doesn’t seem to get it lol :pepe-cringe:

  • “Personally, I have very much not been a fan of the way K-Pop typically handles melodic progression or vocal styles. The need to include a high pitched part, awkward and sudden rap sections, everyone sounding the same, etc.”


    Ohhh that’s the best description of SM style music that is my pet peeve.. can’t believe MHJ don’t like it too lol

    there's parts of the interview where she outright said that her and others disagreed with the style and system SM was promoting, just before she left

  • “Personally, I have very much not been a fan of the way K-Pop typically handles melodic progression or vocal styles. The need to include a high pitched part, awkward and sudden rap sections, everyone sounding the same, etc.”


    Ohhh that’s the best description of SM style music that is my pet peeve.. can’t believe MHJ don’t like it too lol

    Funny I thought it was perfect description for HYBE as well. Often their artists are singing out of tune high notes they can’t hit and their songs are filled with try hard rap parts as well. I suppose this is a general kpop thing. MHJ really does want NJ to stand apart from that I suppose.

  • “Personally, I have very much not been a fan of the way K-Pop typically handles melodic progression or vocal styles. The need to include a high pitched part, awkward and sudden rap sections, everyone sounding the same, etc.”


    Ohhh that’s the best description of SM style music that is my pet peeve.. can’t believe MHJ don’t like it too lol

    By the way, the “everyone sounding the same” is kinda funny because I can’t for the life of me tell which newjeans member is singing which part. They all sound beautiful but the same.

  • My non-music takeaway from this is confirms to me that MHJ is a chronic over-sharer (for good and bad)

    - Good because fans get quite a lot of insight into how this process works for her

    - Bad because rivals get a lot of ammunition to work and words to twist (and across language barriers too)


    Why does she do this? I'm not sure. Hard to tell via translation what her tone is; it's possibly borderline arrogant like you expect from an auteur or CEO, but I could be very wrong. I try to take into account that she is a female CEO not short-selling her work ethic in a male-dominated field.

  • ISaidISaid as the representative for SM Entertainment, I'm genuinely curious about this Kim Kihyun character who used to produce there. Do you know much about him?

    I don’t think he’s a composer right? I don’t remember him in any EXO song…. but might have been a part of the A&R team. There was a HUGE falling out with the SM A&R team that’s all I know about that. It was because of SM and how they dealt with song rights.

  • I don’t think he’s a composer right? I don’t remember him in any EXO song…. but might have been a part of the A&R team. There was a HUGE falling out with the SM A&R team that’s all I know about that. It was because of SM and how they felt with song rights.

    yeah he hasn't showed up in any ADOR composing credits either. says in the interview he collects demos with MHJ so you might be on the right track for an A&R job :/

  • i can't believe i went through all that formatting for this ;(;(;(

    Let me try to restore your faith that we haven't all been put off by the bloody battle going on in the corner...


    __ __ __


    She may insist on full control, but the money, platform and name recognition (that got her the creme de la creme in terms of members) that came from being part of Hybe all played a part - and heavily to her benefit. It is not right to give Hybe all the credit, and perhaps that is what she is reacting to, but it is also not right for her to try to take all credit either. It is in PARTNERSHIP.


    Had she started off as a completely independent label, unattached to any big names with capital she scrounged up on her own (probably through some heavily unfavorable borrowing with interest), my read on this would be different. But she didn't and she needs to stop acting like she did.

  • :zipr:


    *by the way, the high pitch is very common in kpop BG song and it’s actually nice for people who loves them. Tictac was the one saying about “high pitched not hitting the notes” insult which I think was uncalled for. It’s just a kpop style that I think was made famous by SM. Just like what MHJ said.

    No it wasn’t ’uncalled’ for . Singing in a range that is not suited for you is a very kpop thing I can think of many kpop artists that fall under this category. It’s actually an objective assessment no matter what you think. In SM for example take Taemin’s Advice that also falls under the category or some the Twice songs as well are examples of singing notes that is not in your range.


    I don’t think NJ is much more talented vocally than BTS or TXT and yet the latter ones have more of a bad rep NOT because they are some how worse than the rest of kpop. They certainly are not. They are perfectly adequate. But their artists are provided singing ranges that’s quite outside what they are comfortable with and that’s one of the main reason I personally cannot consume their music. For me when MHJ said misplaced high notes those are the ones that come to mind indeed.

  • Yeah it seems to me that she's fighting the air by downplaying Hybe's involvement, just cause rando comments about "Hybe capital" seemed to have gotten under her skin. That kind of response never prints well

    Not that I can't see how it might have gotten to her. I know the feeling when you play an important role in something and everyone raises the other guy instead of you. But there are much better ways to tackle it and yes, I'd give this advice to a man too before someone comes at me.

  • Not that I can't see how it might have gotten to her. I know the feeling when you play an important role in something and everyone raises the other guy instead of you. But there are much better ways to tackle it and yes, I'd give this advice to a man too before someone comes at me.

    yeah, she can just be wording a little better lol.

    I don't why CEOs are so arrogant, I guess there are reasons why they are at the top of their game despite how many people hate them.

  • "well she's an indiesleaze snowflake hippie pick me girl who talks like she took one semester of film school" there that's the starter pack

  • Simply spending a lot of money without proper planning does not lead to good creative output nor business output.



    Such a simple thing to comprehend but there’s more than 1 big company rn who doesn’t seem to get it lol :pepe-cringe:

    Also interesting that sometimes the small company groups who managed to break out and make it big had companies who understood this/had no choice but to be creative with their budget then seemed to forget when they got big.

  • Also interesting that sometimes the small company groups who managed to break out and make it big had companies who understood this/had no choice but to be creative with their budget then seemed to forget when they got big.

    Yeah ik what you mean; sometimes a budget constraint is a good thing bc it forces you to be efficient and think outside the box and be diligent with your creative product, whereas unlimited amounts of money can make you sloppy and reliant on the bling bling and dazzle without caring to put much substance in your product, worsening its value and quality from an artistic standpoint. Let’s just hope each of our faves doesn’t fall victim to that :sweatr:

  • Yeah a lot of Kpop groups have the same high pitch style too, I agree.


    Sorry KpopJop for derailing the thread.


    Tbh I can understand MHJ’s frustration because her work was kinda downplayed - it’s either it’s because of SM or Hybe. Ador is her label so I get it. But I hope she won’t keep on making it about her all the time.

  • I don’t think he’s a composer right? I don’t remember him in any EXO song…. but might have been a part of the A&R team. There was a HUGE falling out with the SM A&R team that’s all I know about that. It was because of SM and how they dealt with song rights.

    ISaidISaid as the representative for SM Entertainment, I'm genuinely curious about this Kim Kihyun character who used to produce there. Do you know much about him?

    Well I found this interview snippet from LSM talking to billboard

    SM has invested in the company behind XXX? Their songs are quite vocal against the established state of music in South Korea.

    Lee: I love them. Actually, the founder of their company BANA, his name is Kim Ki-hyun and he was one of my favorite A&R staff. One day, he came to me and said he wanted to quit to make his own hip-hop label before he turned 30-years-old. So he founded it, and we invested.


    So who knows how dramatic that falling out was but in 2018 at least LSM was an investor.


    Also this from an interview with the man himself

    The company BANA (Beasts And Natives Alike) is new to music and hiphop fans. Please introduce BANA.

    BANA is currently made up of E SENS, XXX, 250, and Erick Oh. We are not limited to hiphop or music only, we work together with people from various types of arts to create new media and contents.


    In the same interview he mentions know alot of international writers due to his time in SM and after reading it seems his role is helping the company in fleshing out the kind of sound they want, then making the links between what the company want and the appropriate writer who can make it happen. It seems like he basically ran the writing camps. He also mentions beign involved in marketing as well, so it looks like they may have been involved with some of the media marketing and the ban hee soo yt channel. Maybe more like a sounding board for her in fleshing out the music side of the concept and helping it fit with her marketing ideas and plans.

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