“Not participating in the HYBE exhibition is in no way a sign of uncooperation. It’s because we decided that we couldn’t properly show what Newjeans can show.”
An official from Ador told World Biz & Sports World on the 15th regarding Newjeans’ recent decision not to participate in the HYBE exhibition hosted by the Grammy Museum in the United States.
The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, United States, is hosting an exhibition that will highlight the footsteps of HYBE and its artists. While HYBE’s major groups are participating, Newjeans’ name was not on the list, which became an issue. Some have brought up the internal strife between HYBE and Ador's CEO, Min Hee-jin.
Despite the rumors that would have followed, the reason Ador declined to participate in this exhibition is because they decided that it would not be of any benefit to Newjeans.
They also said that the exhibition planners must have known from the beginning that Newjeans would not have a large presence in this exhibition.
An exhibition industry insider said, “If you think about content planning, out of the total at 100, BTS would take up 40, Bang Si-hyuk would take up 10, making up half of the total, and there’s also a large team called Seventeen. After these teams, the rest would have to be split up and divided up by other teams,” adding, “I don’t think Ador didn’t know this.”
In this situation, it is also questionable that articles continue to come out with keywords such as 'non-cooperation' or 'discord'. Ador also said, "It is natural for BTS and Bang Si-hyuk, who created HYBE, to occupy good spots."
However, they questioned whether Grammy suggested a 'good spot'. One media outlet reported that the Grammy Museum in LA in the US suggested to Ador in March that they would 'give the most important spot to Newjeans', but Ador's position was that 'the location was fatal because there was no wall where exhibits could be hung, and when we first received it from HYBE in March, we received only rough sketches, and there were many unclear details such as some teams not being applied'.
CEO Min Hee-jin is an expert who has shown excellence in branding using offline spaces. This is something that HYBE and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk acknowledged when they entrusted them with the entire building-related project. The exhibition space that GRAMMY actually operates is also small. The third floor of the Grammy Museum is 8,000 square feet, or about 224 pyeong (?). According to the website, it can accommodate 250 people standing. It is not a large space to display the vast history and worldview of HYBE, which owns the largest K-pop label.
Some analyze that although it is true that Newjeans is performing well on the US charts and gaining popularity, they may feel burdened because they have not been actively engaged in large-scale local activities such as participating in large-scale concerts or festivals.
Ador has proven at Tokyo Dome that Newjeans' way is to make a strong impact on local fans in the most effective way after sufficient preparation
https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/396/0000682684