Since they debuted “Attention” in July of 2022, K-pop girl group NewJeans has been the talk of the music industry. The South Korean quintet, made up of teens Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein (15), has repeatedly gone viral on TikTok, broken a Guinness World Record, and landed endorsements with luxury brands. With their raw talent and international appeal, they’ve become a household name.
Now, they’re set to hit another milestone — a holiday performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest. Below, find out five things about the K-pop group currently taking over the music scene.
They’re all teenagers.
NewJeans has reached a lifetime’s worth of success in an extraordinarily short period of time — and they’re all still in their teens. Minji is 19, Hanni and Danielle are both 18, Haerin is 17, and youngest group member Hyein is just 15.
Each member of NewJeans is a luxury brand ambassador.
NewJeans’ outstanding sense of style wasn’t lost on purveyors of luxury goods, who all but lined up to attach the members of the K-pop group to their brands. According to Business Insider, Minji has been appointed global brand ambassador for Chanel, Hanni a brand ambassador for Gucci, and Danielle for Burberry and YSL Beauty.
Per WWD, Haerin was appointed Dior‘s house ambassador for fashion, jewelry, and beauty, while Hyein was named brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton. They were appointed group ambassadors for Seoul Fashion Week 2023, as well.
The girls regularly highlight their respective luxury brands on their official Instagram account.
NewJeans broke a Guiness World Record.
The group holds the significant distinction of unseating BTS as the “Fastest K-pop act to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.” They did so in just 219 days, while BTS took 409 days to do the same, previously unseating Jungkook. NewJeans reached those lofty heights on March 8, 2023, and they currently still hold the record.
Their fans call themselves ‘Bunnies.’
NewJeans’ ever-growing fanbase of K-pop lovers call themselves “Bunnies,” or “tokki,” which pays tribute to a cartoon rabbit that makes an appearance on their album cover.
They’re young philanthropists.
NewJeans and ADOR announced in December of 2022 that they’d be donating part of their annual album sales to The Snail of Love, per their Wikipedia page. The donations are to fund speech therapy and cochlear implant surgeries for the hearing impaired. NewJeans and ADOR also donated upwards of $200 million to the World Food Programme to aid victims of the massive Turkey–Syria earthquake of February 2023.