Which of these accomplishment of NewJeans in the Ditto-OMG promo was the most significant? 4
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Putting IU out of business (1) 25%
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Scoring the first Billboard Hot 100 Entry in the 4th Gen (1) 25%
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Increased sway of Min Heejin in the Hybe organization (2) 50%
NewJeans has concluded promoting Ditto and OMG.
Within two months, the whole picture of KPop changed completely.
On Dec 1, 2022, IVE was at the top of 4th Gen, with NewJeans chasing everyone else albeit in a fast pace, and IU still held a huge sway in K-O-R-E-A.
On Feb 1, 2023, NewJeans is at the top of 4th Gen with a big distance between itself and the rest, IU is now out of business, being exiled to Cheju island to film a periodic drama (read:nobody outside of K-O-R-E-A gives a shit about it ) for at least a year (and out of KPop till early 2024 at the earliest), and Min Heejin's voice is more equal to everyone else's, except that of Mr. Bang himself, in Hybe.
I won't repeast the significance of NJ's billboard charting.
NewJeans driving IU out of business is far more significant than anything else it did in this round.
NewJeans accomplished what Kara, Sistar, Big Bang, DBSK, SNSD, Exo, Twice, SVT, NCT, BTS, IZOne, aespa, IVE and many others failed, and finally eliminated the greatest internal risk every KPop act had.
Like an ulcer which didn't go away, IU was there lingering, ready to attack KPop acts whenever she felt like.
But, for the first time in her entire career, she was seen running away from a new threat, instead of fighting it to force a decision like her previous 13 years of career. She ran as hard as she could, her reputation to be damned.
I have talked about New Jeans overcoming every other 4th Gen act and Min Heejin's reputation rising so high inside Hybe that she might even get to run all of Hybe's acts including BTS, a possibility the Armys are trying to ignore.
But, this round of promotion by NewJeans eliminated what plagued KPop for the last 13 years without firing a shot. That alone makes NJ the most significant act of the 4th Generation, since Kim Minji, Pham Ngoc Han , Danielle Marsh, Kang Haerin and Lee Hyein, with the direction of Min Heejin, finally removed the Strange Creature which every Kpop act had to fear from KPop scene, something no one else managed to do so.
Of course that owes a lot to Dispatch and an inability of IU to not date men of dubious reputation (Lee Jongsuk was involved in a bunch of rumors) , but nevertheless, NewJeans finally closed a chapter in Korean Pop which should never have been opened back in late 2010.
