Oh my, oh my god! NewJeans has the whole world under its spell [GOLDEN 2023]

K-popNov 24, 2023

Girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

Nicknamed the “Korean Grammys,” the 38th Golden Disc Awards will take place on Jan. 6 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to honor the passion and talent that shone bright in the world of K-pop during the year of 2023.

Organized by the JoongAng Group, the Golden Disc Awards is considered one of the most prestigious awards in Korea with its unique format where dozens of nominees and multiple winners are chosen for three main categories — music, album and rookie of the year.

In this series, Golden 2023, the Korea JoongAng Daily’s entertainment arm Celeb Confirmed looks at K-pop’s biggest and brightest stars who are potential nominees, and their achievements this year.

Oh my, oh my god! Who would have known that a rookie girl group could have the whole world hooked by the charms of their music, despite doing the exact opposite of every other group?

NewJeans has been one of the hottest names in the K-pop scene ever since debuting in July 2022 in a way that no other girl group had ever tried, with a style of music that every other girl group in the 2020s K-pop scene has kept a distance from.

Girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

Rather than “teasing” and drip-feeding the audience with little bits of information until the day of the actual debut, which is the norm these days in K-pop, NewJeans just waited to show it all on the first day: the music, the members, the music video — everything. And its music was a far cry from the girls-rule powerful manifestos that other female acts had been pushing for at the time.

But somehow it all worked.

NewJeans has some of the biggest records under its belt as of 2023, including becoming the fastest K-pop group to make it onto the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200 chart, the first K-pop girl group to surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify, the first K-pop girl group to perform at the Billboard Music Awards and many more.

The girl group released one single, “OMG,” on Jan. 2 and the EP “Get Up” on July 21, both of which broke record after record.

Girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

“OMG” “Get Up,” it’s NewJeans!

NewJeans released its first single “OMG” last January, but presented the B-side track “Ditto” (2022) a month before.

“Ditto” peaked at No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, a record that was beaten by “OMG,” which peaked at No. 74 upon its release. The single sold 1 million copies within a month of its release, of which 20,638 copies were sold in Japan.

In March, they were recognized by the British Guinness World Records for reaching 1 billion streams on Spotify in 219 days, the shortest time ever for a K-pop artist.

“Get Up,” released on July 21, gave the girl group its first million-selling album with 1.2 million copies sold on the first day alone. That number jumped to 1.65 million after a week, a record high for the rookie girl group.

The three lead tracks of “Get Up” — “Super Shy,” “ETA” and “Cool With You” — all surpassed 3 million streams on the day they were released. “Super Shy” gave the girl group its highest score on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at No. 48. NewJeans became the first K-pop female artist to chart three songs at the same time on Billboard's Hot 100.

The band was awarded Top Global K-pop Artist at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) and has been nominated for Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and more at the upcoming 2023 MAMA Awards.

NewJeans “OMG” (Jan. 2, 2023)

First-month album sales of "OMG": 1,027,772

First-day streaming of lead track "OMG" on Spotify: 2,137,908

First-week streaming of single "OMG" on Spotify: 40.3 million

Music video views for “OMG” on YouTube: 187,751,683 (as of No. 24)

Major nominations: 2023 MAMA Awards (Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Worldwide Fans’ Choice, Best Female Group, Best Dance Performance Female Group)