Netizens pointed out the visible difference.
On December 30, KST, New Jeans, THE SERAPHINSAND YOU everyone participated in the 66th Japanese Recording Award.
This was the first time the three girl groups were spotted at the same event following the fallout between each other MOVES and ex I LOVE IT CEO Min Hee Jinwho accused HYBE of favoritism and plagiarism towards the other two girl groups.
All three girl groups performed live at the event, but netizens noticed that NewJeans were treated differently than the other two. In a viral post on Nate Pannone user pointed out that at the end of the event, when all the artists gathered on stage to close the ceremony, NewJeans were given the central seat. Meanwhile, members of LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT were standing at the very back, almost invisible in the program.
Netizens largely agreed with the OP (original poster), but their opinions on the reason behind it varied slightly. While some believe this reflects NewJeans’ unrivaled popularity in Japan, others pointed out that it may also be a logical decision based on the fact that NewJeans won the Excellence Award for “Supernatural”, making it their second win in the category for two. years in a row.
- “Wow, NewJeans doesn’t even have a Japanese member.”
- “Fans who say their artists are the most popular in Japan must be furious.”
- “NewJeans also won the main prize, the Excellence Award, while ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM received special prizes. So, obviously, the treatment will be different. Additionally, NewJeans has received the award for two consecutive years. They were also the first foreign artists in 60 years to win that award with “Ditto”.
- “If it were the other way around, imagine how much worse it could get, LOL. It seems that Japanese broadcasters don’t care about internal issues.”
