New Jeans (EP)

New Jeans is the debut extended play (EP) by the South Korean girl group NewJeans. It was released on August 1, 2022, by ADOR, a subsidiary of Hybe Corporation. Produced by Min Hee-jin, 250, and Park Jin-su, the EP draws from synth-pop and R&B and infuses elements of musical styles from the 1990s and 2000s decades. The songs "Attention", "Hype Boy", and "Cookie" were released as singles.

Music critics generally complimented the EP's musical styles and considered it a solid debut effort. Rolling Stone ranked it among the best albums of 2022 in their year-end list. In South Korea, New Jeans debuted at number one on the Circle Album Chart and has achieved a Million certification from the Korea Music Content Association. It additionally charted in Croatia, Germany, Hungary, and Japan.

Background and release

The lineup for NewJeans was reportedly finalized in March 2022 under ADOR (All Doors One Room), a subsidiary record label of Hybe Corporation. The group was created under the direction of Min Hee-jin, a former visual director at SM Entertainment at chief brand officer (CBO) at Hybe's predecessor, Big Hit Entertainment. On July 22, 2022, "Attention" and its music video were released without prior announcements regarding the group's lineup. The single was followed by the announcement of their debut self-titled extended play (EP), which contains four tracks and two of which would be released as further singles.

Pre-orders for the EP opened on July 25. "Hype Boy" was released as the second single on July 23, with a 50-second clip revealing the members and four additional music videos customized for each member being released on the same day. Two days later, a music video for the track "Hurt" was released. On August 1, the group released the final music video the third single, "Cookie", following the digital release of the EP on the same day. The EP was distributed physically on August 8. Min explained that having three singles for a four-track EP was because of how "confident" she was in the music and how "it's such a pity how it's the lead singles that get all the attention".

Musical styles

New Jeans incorporates musical styles of the 1990s and 2000s decades, predominantly pop and R&B. Kim Do-heon, a music critic writing for the Korean Dispatch, characterized the EP as a coalition of synth-pop and hip hop/R&B. The songs are instrumented by mellow beats and atmospheric synthesizers. "Attention" has a minimal 2000s R&B instrumentation with key changes between major and minor chords. "Hype Boy" is an upbeat future bass song with elements of 1990s R&B and moombahton in its rhythms. "Cookie" is a pop-R&B track with pulsing synthesizers, a fluttering bassline, and faint 808 kicks; its bridge incorporates Jersey club elements. The closing song, "Hurt", is a mellow R&B track backed by groovy drums.

Critical reception

Carmen Chin of NME gave three out of five stars, stating that "with their musical ability and the label's bold artistic vision, NewJeans have managed to lay some solid groundwork for a bright future as trailblazers". Joshua Minsoo Kim of Pitchfork wrote, "NewJeans' launch has been the most elaborate campaign in K-pop this year", stating that the EP is "a plush and stylish collection of '90s and '00s-indebted R&B production". In December 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it as number 46 in their list of best 100 albums of 2022, describing the EP as "a unique sound and fresh visual component, leaning heavily into a Nineties pop aesthetic that suits this band well and guarantees replays".

Awards and nominations

Commercial performance

On July 28, it was announced that pre-orders of New Jeans exceeded 444,000 copies, breaking the record for the highest number of stock pre-orders for any Korean girl group debut album in history. After the release of New Jeans, all tracks immediately ranked high on major South Korean domestic music charts such as Melon, Genie, Bugs!, and Vibe. On the first day of its release, the EP achieved 2.06 million streams on Spotify Korea, the most for any K-pop girl group that debuted in 2022. Singles "Attention" and "Hype Boy" placed in the top two of Korean Spotify's Daily Top Songs chart for two consecutive days, while "Cookie" ranked third on the second day of release. Overseas, the three singles managed to enter the real-time charts of Line Music, Japan's largest music site. On the first day of release alone, New Jeans sold over 262,800 combined copies, breaking the record set by labelmate Le Sserafim's Fearless, which recorded 175,000 first-day album sales in May earlier same year.

Promotion

Following the release of New Jeans, NewJeans held a live countdown on YouTube on the same day to introduce the extended play and communicate with their fans. On August 4, they held their debut stage on Mnet's M Countdown, where they performed all three lead singles. The promotions continued through Music Bank on August 5, where they performed "Attention", and Inkigayo on August 7, where the quintet performed "Attention" and "Cookie". A pop-up store on The Hyundai, Seoul to commemorate the release of New Jeans is scheduled to open from August 11 to 31 and sell official merchandise of New Jeans and ADOR.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes