The NewJeans Omniverse

bringing it all full circle (aka Min Hee Jin's vision)

We all love NewJeans. They’re so fresh, so clean and the physical manifestation of everything we could’ve wished for as a 90s kid. What a lot of us don’t quite get though is how their omniverse comes full circle—what does OMG’s asylum have anything to do with Cool With You’s cherubs and the Powerpuff Girls?

With the girls set to comeback on May 24th, now might be a good time to review the NewJeansverse.

the girls shape shift to bring alive a multitude of worlds (from left to right: OMG, Cool With You, New Jeans)

If you’ve been keeping up with me for the past few months, you’ll know that I have an insatiable penchant for picking apart the different worlds NewJeans drops like tightly wrapped candy. It’s not enough to tear through the wrapping, leaving the pretty packaging crinkling together in a holographic fugue. I need to see what constitutes the insides of this delightfully human-made concoction; the manifold layers that are revealed only after a big (voracious) bite bares open this elusive world.

I’ve done a lot of microcosmic close-reading. Now it’s time to zoom out and string together all these worlds into a necklace that Min Hee Jin would proudly wear around her neck.

Let’s start stringing.

Look to the stars

But before we dive into today’s topic, let’s revisit an old adage: “look to the stars.”

snowing or stars—can’t say no to either

There is nothing yet everything in the night sky. It all depends on where you look, and what patterns you see. It’s precisely this last part that we’ll be focusing on today. Patterns. Despite the plethora of concepts that NewJeans amazes us with, there is a common thread—a pattern—that runs throughout all of them. I can’t recall where I picked up this next line, but it’s proved true on many occasions: when something repeats twice, it’s not a coincidence. Therefore, at the heart of all this talk about stars and patterns is my approach. I’ve foraged through the individual worlds looking for traces of a common theme. Now I want to share my findings with you.

Put simply, there are two predominant motifs that recur throughout the NewJeansverse:

• a) protagonists in growth: the girls are at the center of a multi-chaptered story that unfolds through a series of comebacks. Each chapter highlights a different aspect of the girls’ artistic mien and ongoing growth.

• b) sideline supporters: the girls retreat to the sidelines or become a figment of someone’s parasocial imagination. Despite their diminished presence, the girls’ energy is still very much palpable through the lyrics and melody.

What these parallelisms mean as they repeat throughout the NewJeansverse will be the focus of today’s exploration.

Next level deities

NewJeans, as with any other idol, manifests a fictive ideal. The entire idol industry is predicated on the human desire to aspire. It’s by nature that we’re drawn to figures who embody a romanticized version of reality. As logical as we think ourselves to be, we are still very much a species that feels awe at the sight of something inspiring. Therefore, it makes sense that the K-pop industry generates so much revenue through idols a.k.a individuals who are lionized to the point of deification.

However, the way in which NewJeans is deified is, oddly enough, humane. The girls alternate between assuming the role of protagonist and supporter within the worlds they reify.

a simple mapping of the NewJeansverse I made to visualize my thesis

A) Protagonists in growth

In “Hype Boy”, “OMG” and “ASAP” the girls receive full spotlight as the protagonist, embarking on a journey that is filled with a succession of discoveries. The girls we see in “Hype Boy” epitomize the Korean It girl. Flaunting a mane of silky black hair, soft doe eyes, and a 90s vibe, the girls take turns professing their feelings for a (at times mutual) high school crush. However, the narrative doesn’t end there. Throughout the music video, the girls give each other emotional support, evoking a sense of camaraderie that extends beyond into other worlds. In short, a full hearted appreciation of friendship is forged within the “Hype Boy” universe. This camaraderie is female empowerment in its purest form and a testament to the girls’ strong bond. NewJeans is, at the end of the day, a group of friends creating memories through their love of music and dance.

instead of fighting over the same f-boy, Dani and Haerin engage in some high teen camaraderie in “Hype Boy”

Having found friendship and fame post-debut, the girls step forward to take on their next challenge: identity formation. I’ve written in-depth on this topic here, so today I’d like to direct your attention as to why identity is highlighted as a conceptual pillar within the NewJeansverse. The fact is, despite having almost instantly made a name for themselves upon debuting, NewJeans is still a fledgling in both the literal and metaphorical sense of the word. Put simply, the girls are not yet fully mature; they’re tabula rasa at both a professional and personal level. As such, it becomes easy to conflate one’s job with one’s identity. This confusion is at the heart of “OMG”, where the girls engage in a meta-performance of themselves. At once a critique of the pressure idols face to be constantly available to their audiences and a honest depiction of the girls’ ongoing journey towards maturity, “OMG” ironically dispels the very myth that most idols strive to uphold—the myth of absolute perfection. While NewJeans bears the responsibility of embodying an imagined ideal, they simultaneously owe themselves the chance to cultivate a sense of self distinct from their artistic personas. This process will be riddled with mistakes and struggles, and according to “OMG” (and me), that’s perfectly fine.

it’s not everyday you get to see an idol group admitting they’re at risk of an identity crisis

Now armed with fame, friendship and metacognition, the girls push on to encounter an industry “conundrum”: fans. I use quotation marks as fandoms are the source of both happiness and woe for many an idol and their companies. In “ASAP” the girls are portrayed as ethereal wood nymphs subject to the voyeuristic gaze of a sinister rabbit-humanoid figure. Several elements in the music video intimate that the rabbit desires NewJeans; the camera surveys the girls from a distance, as if to suggest that the rabbit is peering at the girls in secret, while the shadow of an outstretched claw hovers menacingly above one of the girls. If we take into account that the NewJeans’ fandom goes by the moniker Bunnies, it makes sense to interpret the rabbit figure as representing the girls’ fans. The question here though is why? Why are Bunnies being depicted through the lens of horror? My take is that the sinister rabbit humanoid figure symbolizes an unbridled, primitive form of human desire for the sublime.

Humans lust after a vision to which they can subscribe. For Bunnies that vision is NewJeans—elusive long-haired nymphs make a lot more sense now right? The dilemma inherent within this situation is that NewJeans must embrace this dark, chaotic side of fans if they are to succeed as idols. And according to the music video, they do; towards the latter half of the film, the girls stand shoulder to shoulder to plush Bunnies figures and gently goad their fans to “hurry up”. The girls recognize that fans are a double edged sword. The powerful desire that pulsates throughout a fandom, as destructive it can be when agitated, is the same energy that sustains the NewJeansverse.

ethereality and distance, paired with desire, is a common mythical trope

B) Sideline supporters

NewJeans, through their visual narratives, conjecture that the essence of music is to empower. The girls step back from the limelight in “Cool With You”, “ETA” and “Ditto” to allow another fictional character to carry forward the plot. By having the girls recede from center stage, all three films mediate the message that agency rests within the hands of the listener.

“Cool With You” exemplifies NewJeans’ shift towards a more supportive role within the NewJeansverse. Here’s a quick recap of the narrative: the girls—interpreted by many sources as cherubs—watch from afar as a female Eros falls in love with a human. The girls never interfere with her movements, choosing instead to remain on the sideline. However, their attitude is far from nonchalant. The girls are seen eyeing Eros with an almost worried expression that translates to care. While the girls are noticeably concerned for Eros and her decision to shrug off her role as a modern day cupid, they let her be. The distance between Eros and the cherubs mimics the realistic divide that exists between NewJeans and their fans; the girls cannot be physically present for everyone. However, this spatial divide is overcome through the atemporal nature of music—the girls will always be looking out for you in harmony.

NewJeans assumes a more active role in “ETA”, albeit they remain supportive friend figures. The plot revolves around a teenage girl named Eva who has issues with a cheating boyfriend. NewJeans tries their utmost best to persuade Eva to discover her self worth through a variety of iPhone-based tactics; they send her literal wake-up calls, film the guy’s incorrigible actions, report where said guy is going with his new love interest, etc. The girls are way more involved with the story this time. In doing so, the girls relay to listeners that, for all the wing-wearing and groovy dancing they do, they are your friend. Just like any other friend you might encounter at a soda-saturated pool party.

This leaves us with a winter favorite: “Ditto” (for an in-depth close reading of the MV click here). The music video for this track encapsulates the parasocial fantasies of a high school girl named Heesoo. She conjures NewJeans at school, at the park, in an attic whenever she yearns for the support of a group of friends. That NewJeans is portrayed through the recordings of Heesoo’s camcorder implies an imaginative impasse, much like the distance depicted in “Cool With You”. The girls aren’t real. While “Ditto”’s narrative can be construed in a sundry of ways, one message surfaces like a common thread across all interpretations: NewJeans is a shared memory. The girls will exist inasmuch as people remember them. A remembering that is invoked through the continued act of listening. A memory that brings warmth to one’s heart.

To sum up, NewJeans reinvents the idea of what it means to be a K-pop deity. No longer is the idol restricted by an illusion of perfection that bestows an impermeable mystique to those who keep within its bounds. NewJeans refuses such self-containment. Rather, the aspiration-building NewJeans pursues is contingent upon a transparency that reveals their incompleteness and humanness to the public. As beautiful as they are, the girls are not perfect. Nor are they always the main character. NewJeans, more often than not, serves as the soundtrack for many a listener; the girls uplift and empower people to carpe diem. As such, the NewJeansverse is, at heart, a trajectory of the girls’ growth as they discover the meaning of friendship, wrestle with the ever elusive concept of self, probe the nature of human desire and contemplate the meaning of music. In short, the girls are next level deities. Goddesses who aren’t fixed to a pedestal but evolve with the flow of time.

Branding takeaway

What the NewJeansverse’s popularity suggests, from a branding perspective, is simple: people seek out purity.

For all the metaphorical and convoluted concepts ADOR presents us with, NewJeans is narrating a very human story. The girls are deities in contradiction; they wield a mystique they voluntarily dismantle at times to reveal that they are just ordinary girls. The seemingly erratic worlds they reify reflect at once the transportive nature of the music industry and the multiplicity of their personas. At the bottom of all this intricate storytelling is a reversion towards aspirational purity.

The public’s craving for purity is a reflection of our times. We live in a world that is saturated with content, a large portion of which is provocative. People expect instant engagement—there is no time to wait. Attention is scarce. As a result, those who seek attention resort to a conspicuity that is highly stimulating but rarely nourishing. Against such a context, NewJeans is what Elvis Presley was to an American public in the 50s—the timely embodiment of an unfulfilled desire. If Elvis symbolized rebellion, NewJeans represents detoxification. A loosening of the grip on self-serving perfection. The entire NewJeansverse communicates to viewers how the girls are without artifice. Yes, they may dress up as nymphs or cherubs and It girls but their intentions are pure: they don’t just want our A-T-T-E-N-T-I-ON. They want to have fun, with us.