NewJeans Celebrate Fourth Anniversary With New Special Film Series Following Reunion as a Quartet
Four years after NewJeans arrived with “Attention” and promptly received nearly all of it, the K-pop group have marked their anniversary by stepping back into view—this time as a quartet.
ADOR unveiled four short films under the title 2026 Summer of NewJeans, featuring Minji, Hanni, Haerin and Hyein. The clips capture the members roller-skating, sewing, spending time in a park and standing together with the sort of carefully arranged casualness that suggests summer itself has hired an art director. Pitchfork
For fans, Minji’s appearance is particularly significant. Her return had remained undecided as recently as April, while Hanni, Haerin and Hyein were already expected to resume activities. The new photographs and films therefore offer the clearest picture yet of NewJeans’ next formation following Danielle’s departure. Complex
The anniversary arrives after a turbulent stretch involving ADOR, an attempted rebrand as NJZ and the hiatus announced after NewJeans’ March 2025 performance at ComplexCon Hong Kong. Legal proceedings eventually prevented the members from pursuing independent activities, while Danielle’s contract was terminated by ADOR late last year.
Against that complicated history, the new films feel deliberately gentle. There are no dramatic press conferences, courtroom corridors or hastily assembled livestreams—just four young women inhabiting a sunlit visual world where the largest apparent crisis is choosing the correct pair of roller skates.
It recalls the understated appeal that made NewJeans distinctive in 2022. While much of K-pop chased louder choruses, grander concepts and videos with the production budget of a small railway network, the group made nostalgia feel strangely modern. “Attention” and “Hype Boy” carried the glow of turn-of-the-century R&B, while “Ditto” transformed adolescent longing into something resembling a half-remembered camcorder recording. Then Get Up arrived in 2023, bringing “Super Shy” and “ETA” with it and turning the group into an international phenomenon.
ADOR has described the films as commemorative content rather than a formal comeback announcement. The label says specific plans for NewJeans’ future activities will be revealed once discussions are finalised. In other words, the wardrobe has been opened, but nobody has yet confirmed where the new jeans are being worn.
Still, the images matter. In a musical year overflowing with elaborate comeback schedules and countdown clocks, NewJeans have returned through something quieter: four small films, four familiar faces and the suggestion of another summer together. For now, that is not quite a new chapter—but it is the unmistakable sound of a page turning.
