Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Fromis 9 have had a weird news cycle recently. The group haven’t made a comeback since June 5 of last year, and earlier this month member Chaeyoung voiced her concerns about the lack of comeback. She then apologized, but less than a week later Pledis Entertainment revealed they were going to be gearing up for a comeback.
Recently, during a Weverse Live broadcast member Jiwon expressed that she hopes to receive her first salary.
During this broadcast, the members talked about their wishes for 2024. Then, member Park Jiwon said, “For me, to receive my first pay by the end of this year.” The other group members reacted with surprise and silence after hearing this, confusing the fans.
That sparked a lot of debate over what she meant. Since it’s been over six years since Fromis 9 debuted, have seen increasingly good sales, and have been performing at festivals and all that, people (fans included) assumed they had already been getting paid. So while many were concerned by her wish, others figured she just meant first salary of 2024.
Weirdly though, despite answering a question about the comeback from the same outlet, Pledis declined to comment on Fromis 9 being paid despite growing frustration and protests from fans.
Following Park Ji-won’s remarks, fans expressed frustration and protested against the group’s agency. In this regard, My Daily contacted Pledis Entertainment on the 20th. However, the agency refused to comment, saying they had nothing to say about that.
Companies typically loathe talking about the financial situation of their idols, so nothing too unexpected here, but if Jiwon was indeed just talking about her first payment this year instead of ever, it’s odd to not clarify that and take a PR win instead of being cryptic about it.
If Fromis 9 are actually not getting paid, there's something sus going on there one way or another.
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) May 21, 2024
Because as I said on social media, if Fromis 9 really aren’t making money, then something feels off.
After moving to Pledis, their first mini there almost tripled their previous high in sales and they started to chart consistently. Since then they’ve only moved closer to 200k physically, their singles are top 20 songs digitally, they seem to have tours, and are at major festivals (including universities). Most of those measurements seems to be superior to what a group like Dreamcatcher have (it’s who I know, sue me), yet they’ve already renewed their contracts and talk about buying expensive friendship rings and stuff. I only bring that up cause I assumed Fromis 9 would at least be in a similar situation. However, if they aren’t being paid, then it feels like their contract is worth looking into, there’s company financial mismanagement/impropriety, and they aren’t being provided enough activities to be profitable, or some/all of the above.
Honestly hoping this is just a misunderstanding, cause that would make sense at least.
