HYBE’s subsidiary label ADOR released a lengthy statement on Saturday denying allegations of inappropriate lyrics in NewJeans’ girl group Cookie.
The new song appears on NewJeans debut EP which was published on August 1.
With girl group members between the international ages of 14 and 18 — minors under Korean law — “Cookie” drew backlash for its lyrics that, when translated into English, include lines such as “Made a little cookie, baked it just for you but you know it’s not free, make a little cookie, it’s so soft, you can’t stop thinking about it, “You like it, don’t you?, no dinner, dinner, you’re hungry anyway , no water, water, you’re thirsty anyway” and “Looking at my cookie, do you ever smell different? Taste it, what’s with one bite, isn’t it enough?”
Netizens and critics have noted that the word “cookie” is sometimes used as slang for genitalia among English speakers.
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Ahead of the song’s release, the five-member group took to TikTok to explain that “Cookie” is meant to be a fan song.
“‘Cookie’ is a fan song we made for all of you. … We wanted to find a cute way to show how much we appreciate our fans,” they say in their TikTok video.
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ADOR echoed this sentiment in a last statementsaying, “We released the latest ‘Cookie’ because, as the girls explained in a video beforehand, the song was made especially for all the fans who have been patiently waiting for NewJeans to debut and because it shows how much faith we have in the musical. the direction the group is taking.”
“The song revolves around the paired idea of burning CDs and baking cookies, which share the same conceptual verb in Korean,” ADOR added. “Lyrically, dinner and water are synonymous with staple foods and, in the context of our song, they just represent whole moves. When you reach for dessert instead, you’re looking for something more exciting than an everyday meal that goes beyond just filling you up and tastes great, too.”
The label provided an in-depth overview of their perspective on the song and the NewJeans EP as a whole, stating, “The underlying message of the song is the value of NewJeans’ effort to make new and original music. That’s why, even though we produce NewJeans music and all related content for everyone to enjoy, it’s ‘not free’ and can only be found in our house, ADOR…”
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“The ADOR team took no issue with the lyrics of ‘Cookie’ when we were making the album because our vision for original and wholesome music was clear to us,” they added. “Slang terms aren’t taught in school. and not everyone is familiar with them. It’s impossible for people to be familiar with every idiom and offensive term out there, and predicting their reception around the world is an even more challenging task.”
Furthermore, ADOR claimed that they “consulted with English professors, professional translators, interpreters and native speakers” who all concluded that an offensive rendering would be unusual but “that any listener could get the word [cookie] it means something different depending on their personal experience and exposure to certain meanings of the slang.” ADOR noted that after conducting research, they discovered that words such as “cake”, “biscuit”, “strawberry” and “melon” also have “extremely different and unexpected meanings”.
While some listeners allegedly speculated that “Cookie” was written by a man, ADOR claimed in their statement that the song was written by two English speakers: a Korean woman and a Swedish woman who are both in their 30s. . They also addressed the growing outrage over the group members’ ages, noting that other girl and boy groups have debuted with members of similar ages. For example, Leeseo of girl group IVE, Jongseob of boy group P1Harmony, Jian of girl group Lightsum, and Niki of boy group Enhypen all debuted at the age of 14.
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ADOR concluded their statement by saying that “context is key” and that it is “heartbreaking” to be accused of “faking something or having a ‘hidden agenda'”.
“We think this is a weak argument because we can’t get anything good out of it,” they said. “It is necessary to ask who benefits from the growing accusations that our label has an ulterior motive. The members of NewJeans sing “Attention is what I want,” but that’s in no way the kind of attention the band wants, or ADOR, or even their adoring fans, and these baseless rumors have really taken their toll. everyone involved in the project.”
Earlier this month, the label announced that they would be taking legal action against “malicious activities” targeting NewJeans. This is another recent controversy for a girl group HYBE after the debut of THE SERAPHYMS AND termination of the contract of one of its members, the 16-year-old Kim Gar-amfinished allegations of harassment.
Featured image via HYBE tags