Girl group NewJeans recently announced their rebrand into NJZ, unveiling a completely new logo, name, and concept.
Additionally, although Hanni admitted that the group hasn’t quite moved on from their old name, they will be giving up the old “girl next door” image and turn to something “a lot more sharp, a lot more bold,” which can be seen through newly-published images on their Instagram.
However, this new image of NJZ (NewJeans), which included a logo using a liquid-like font, alongside chromatic metal elements, have led to accusations of NewJeans copying aespa – a girl group known for their metallic logo and chromatic graphics.
In particular, on the topic announcing NewJeans’ new name and concept on the Korean forum “theqoo”, there were comments such as, “It reminds me of aespa” and “Isn’t this copying aespa?”
Nevertheless, it seems that netizens were mostly on NewJeans’ side, pointing out that aespa’s concept is heavily influenced by Futurism and Cyberpunk with Y2K elements – aesthetics that have been popular nowadays.
“Are all chromatic logos copying aespa? Just where is the part that reminds you guys of aespa? I love both groups, and they have such different vibes” a netizen said, while another wrote, “It’s just a popular grunge and metallic in style, doesn’t mean it’s copying aespa”.
Overall, it is impressive that aespa has managed to cement their concept in a memorable manner, but it isn’t fair to accuse anyone using the same aesthetics to be their copycats.
