Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Throughout the entire ongoing FIFTY FIFTY saga with ATTRAKT, Warner Music Korea, and The Givers duking it out in the press, what I’ve wanted the most is to know where the FIFTY FIFTY members themselves stood. Well now they’ve made that clear, filing a lawsuit against ATTRAKT to suspend their contracts.
Through their legal representative, the four members filed an application for provisional disposition suspending the validity of their exclusive contracts to the Seoul Central District Court on June 19, and the trial is currently underway. This is due to the fact that ATTRAKT violated contract terms and took actions that resulted in the destruction of a relationship based on trust.
The members have not responded as the trial is underway. The legal representative pointed out several problems that have occurred until now and sent a correspondence requesting correction, but ATTRAKT is discrediting the members through continuous media coverage without attempting to explain regarding the requests, so we released this statement.
Despite our young age, the four members have tried our best to think and behave independently. After sufficient discussion with our parents, we came to raise the issue with the help of our legal representative.
Essentially, they say that ATTRAKT did not listen to the opinions of the members, but instead constantly blamed their concerns on outside interference. Most relevantly, they state that there was no financial transparency and they were forcing the group to promote despite health issues (also that they revealed the cause of a member’s surgery without discussing it with her), which makes ATTRAKT’s mention of prioritizing health in their initial statement seem a lot more like a cynical attempt to get out in front of stuff.
Nevertheless, ATTRAKT is not listening to the voices of the members, saying that it was an attempt to extort the members by an external force and arbitrarily disclosing the reason for a member’s surgery without consulting with her while they are unable to clearly explain their breach of contract. The members were highly disappointed and frustrated seeing this situation.
The members raised issues about various circumstances in which ATTRAKT did not fulfill contractual obligations, such as non-transparent settlement and the unilateral attempt to enforce [scheduled activities] despite [the members] conveying their poor health conditions. We would like to make it clear that this is an independent decision by the four members in unison without any intervention of a third party.
The members are well aware of how important this period is and are aware of the concern of many people around them. When we first started training, we were determined to become artists who could make a positive influence. We, the four members, did not go along with or maintain silence about wrongdoings. Without falsehood and without external pressure, we made this decision just to take the high road of our own.
Honestly, I don’t care as much about the corporate shenanigans here, as I’m mostly concerned about the group members and their careers. While this could potentially be a setback, if they were being mistreated behind the scenes, then I’m glad they came forward and hopefully this doesn’t become a protracted mess that kills their momentum.
Realistically though, it’s going to be a difficult road ahead if they don’t have a clear path to not only a win, but a quick win. While the status quo of idols toughing it out when they have minimal leverage at the start of their careers isn’t a good thing, there’s also very real incentives for them to do that, and I do hope FIFTY FIFTY have weighed the situation correctly.
