The Dark Side of K-Pop’s Global Success... NewJeans Lawsuits and Internal Fractures Amidst a Creative Stagnation

In 2025, K-Pop solidified its position as a global mainstream culture, yet the domestic industry faced severe growth pains. The court ruled in favor of ADOR in the first-instance judgment issued in October, but the conflict intensified afterward when ADOR notified Danielle of the termination of her exclusive contract and filed a lawsuit for damages. Fans have since begun criticizing the agency. This situation poses a heavy burden on both business and artistic aspects, . Meanwhile, it was pointed out that over the past 30 years, K-Pop has grown through a top-down structure controlled by a few large entertainment agencies, making it nearly impossible for groups with original identities to continue their activities within such a system. There were also concerns that the K-Pop industry had entered a “creative stagnation,” as groups affiliated with major agencies achieved commercial success but failed to break away from conventional musical frameworks. Management-related crises were equally severe. Hybe’s chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, is under investigation for suspected fraudulent trading violations under the Capital Market Act, with prosecutors, police, the Financial Services Commission, and the National Tax Service all involved in the probe. This exposed the problems that arose during the growth phase of these large agencies, which had grown by colluding with massive capital. On the positive side, Stray Kids set a global record by debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 for eight consecutive weeks in 2025, drawing over 500,000 fans across three North American world tours and accumulating a total of over 2.22 million attendees. However, the South Korean domestic market showed signs of fatigue. According to Circle Chart, physical album sales in South Korea declined by 7.5% in 2025 compared to the previous year, with sales by female artists dropping by nearly 20%. The total sales volume of the top 400 albums was approximately 90.9 million units, making it increasingly difficult to return to the symbolic threshold of 100 million units. Nevertheless, there is hope. The source viewed the bold attempts by young Korean artists operating outside agencies such as Effie and the Deep, the global girl group “KATSEYE” formed through a partnership between Hybe and Geffen Records in the United States, and the success of Rosé’s collaboration song “Apartment” with Bruno Mars as “natural phenomena that occur as K-Pop establishes itself as a mainstream genre.” It was analyzed that while the industry endured internal fatigue and uncertainty, it managed to create “new sounds capable of overturning the status quo.” Ultimately, 2025 was a pivotal year for K-Pop, marked by simultaneous global expansion and domestic crisis.