NewJeans know a thing or two about seasonal bops. Last year, they gave us song of the winter (“Dittoâ€) and song of the summer (“Super Shyâ€). And now, they’re submitting prerelease track “Bubble Gum†for consideration. Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein dropped their latest music video on April 26 after a nine-month hiatus, giving fans the opportunity to preview the sugar rush before it hits streaming services. The video is reminiscent of a warm day spent ditching class and blowing off steam at the beach, shot by your BFF who documents every little thing on her camcorder. We see the five-piece teach us how to blow bubbles (both soap and gum), frolic in the waves, and play around at home. It’s all soundtracked by sweet, bouncy pop, their trademark sing-rapping, and high-pitched vocals. “Sweet like bubble gum, so smooth, soft like a hug,†goes the English and Korean chorus. “Fly me further, let’s go far away.â€
While NewJeans prepare for a candy-coated double comeback with single albums How Sweet on May 24 and Supernatural on June 21, the mood behind the scenes is sour. The girl group is produced by Min Hee-jin, the CEO of their label, Ador, which answers to parent company Hybe. Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, the man who formed BTS and Hybe, and his CEO Park Ji-won accused Min of breach of trust and other related allegations over claims she plotted to take control of Ador earlier this week. As its stocks tumbled 15 percent over the course of the drama, the company went as far as to request a shareholders meeting to dismiss the Ador chief. Min denied the claims in a teary press conference on April 25, where she argued she and NewJeans suffered mistreatment after previously alleging Hybe’s new group ILLIT copied NewJeans’ whole flow, word for word, bar for bar. Min said she wanted to sue Hybe for damages in turn. While the legal battle is ongoing, both parties confirmed NewJeans will continue to release music. We’ll still have our “song of the summer†contenders.