NewJeans’ Powerful Stateside Debut at Lollapalooza

NewJeans’ North American debut will likely go down in history as a career defining performance for the group. ROGER HO

Long before NewJeans took the stage at Lollapalooza, their set already felt like a headlining event. 

Over 70,000 fans, many dressed in theme with the group’s fandom Bunnies, streamed into the festival to see Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Hyein, and Haerin perform for the first time in North America. Their set was by far the most anticipated and popular performance of the day. But first, Bunnies needed to go to Bunnyland, an immersive experience curated by Spotfiy where fans could take photos, make bracelets, grab freebies, and take a polaroid. Next to Bunnyland was the band merch tent which housed special NewJeans shirts to commemorate the Lollapalooza performance. The line to get in both was hours long and hundreds of fans deep. 

Once NewJeans began their set at 5 pm, it was clear that they could easily sell out an arena tour. And the girls more than lived up to their hype: Their set was raucous, energetic and surprising. With the addition of a live band, the girls switched up some of their best known hits and added an urgency to the b-sides in their discography.

Roger Ho

NewJeans performed the setlist chronologically, taking fans through each comeback, beginning with their first smash hit “Hype Boy”. Similar to TOMORROW X TOGETHER’S career defining live set at last year’s Lollapalooza, the addition of live music to NewJeans’ set added vibrancy and an insane amount of energy to their solid catalog. 

An early highlight was “Cookie”, which transformed from a mid-tempo pop track to a cutting, punk rock song where the members roared like riot girls, shouting lyrics like “Sugar/ Got some sugar/ Bet ya want some!” that sounded more like high school taunts than a flirtatious message to a boy. The girls didn’t break out full choreography until “Attention”, the first song that listeners were introduced to nearly a year ago. Halfway through the song into the second chorus, the girls leaned in and nailed their iconic hair flips – an almost deserved bit of theatrics.  

A 250 remix of “Hurt” was another unexpected left turn for NewJeans, showing that they can create intimate moments even at a festival. The two songs that perhaps catapulted NewJeans into being more than a K-Pop group also received makeovers. “Ditto” and “OMG”, both winter singles that became viral and simultaneously made it okay for everyone to be a fan of NewJeans, catapulted into festival anthems thanks to the live band.

ROGER HO

Halfway through the performance, the band disappeared and the girls re-emerged as full idols ready to dive into their new EP “GET UP”. They performed the new music in full, too. New songs like “ASAP” and “ETA” both leaned into their weirdness and sounded like even louder bangers in Grant Park. Danielle, who acted as the group’s de-facto hype girl, shouted, “Lolla, let me hear you scream!” 

NewJeans surprised me most because of how unrestrained it was. The girls were given room to be relatable, funny, grateful – but mostly they were seen in the most brilliant way as five teenagers on the cusp of something major. It is almost certain that NewJeans is on their way to making over K-Pop in the same way BlackPink did five years prior. Their performance proved, similarly to BlackPink’s legendary Coachella set, that they are perhaps the best ambassadors to show how prolific and important K-Pop has become. 

Roger Ho

There is something vital happening to K-Pop in 2023 and NewJeans are largely responsible for this. But so is Lollapalooza for stamping their seal of approval in booking the girls. The filmed performance, which was simultaneously broadcast on Hulu and on the gigantic Lolla screens, was cinematically shot. At times, with the downtown Chicago skyline in front of the girls on stage, the performance even seemed moving. The members looked stunned and grateful for the massive amount of support they received. “We are never going to forget this,” Minji, the group’s leader, told fans. 

In videos shared on social media following the performance, the girls huddled together backstage and screamed. Danielle sobbed. They had nailed their first festival debut. Next is the world.