NewJeans’ Hanni And Minji Recall The First Times They Got Recognized By Fans In Public

Sharing their firsts with NME magazine, NewJeans‘ Minji and Hanni recalled the first time fans recognized them in public.

For Hanni, the moment happened during Chuseok when her family visited her in Korea for a few days. They decided to spend some time doing a bit of shopping.

As they walked around, Hanni remembered hearing someone call her name. Thinking it was leader Minji, Hanni turned around to see who it was. It happened to be a shy fan who laughed and ran away with their friends.

After that fan drew attention to Hanni, others noticed her as well. While it was “really surreal” for the idol, it was super exciting for her sister.

I remember [it] being really weird. How does everyone already know me? I only debuted like a month ago.

And then I remember my sister getting really excited that people were recognizing me.

— Hanni

Minji’s first time getting recognized was a bit more low-key. Shortly after the release of their debut music video, she rode the bus to school like any typical day. Thinking no one would recognize her, Minji “wasn’t wearing any cap or [disguises].”

But as the bus filled up with students, they began to notice Minji and whispered to each other so loudly that she could hear them through headphones.

NewJeans’ debut was so well-known that their music video wasn’t even up for a few days before the girls got recognized in public.