As an RU Next stan, i love the new line up but those Givers were grifters and this was not the first time that guy did something like that. What I dont understand is why the 3 chose to stay with him after what he did to Keena.

Omg! Finally a perfect recap of 50/50 for people like me who only heard it in passing… thank you!

Cupid also charted high in the US because it got massive radio play. I was listening to a top 40 radio station in the mornings and I heard it every day for weeks and weeks. More than any other K-pop song. It was a huge radio it.

I definitely think that a lack of education and knowledge about how contracts, terms and agreements work in the music industry is a really big issue that needs to be resolved ESPECIALLY as the debut age for K-pop idols get younger and younger. While i personally don't think that teenagers should be signing 7 year long contracts to any industry, if they are going to do it, they need to understand what they are signing. The former members of Fifth Harmony have said on a radio show (they were still a group at that time) if any young person is planning on signing to a music company then get a team of lawyers or legal representatives to review and break down the contract before putting a legal signature on any  contract and I agree with that sentiment to this day.

Attrakt did lose the copyright case, but the new fifty fifty line up still perform Cupid sometimes it’s not legally banned from their performance catalog technically

Finallyyyyy something about 50/50

Okay, i LOVE this new setup Han! Its supercool 😆 & i also really love this new series!
I feel like a lot of people (especially Me 😅) are ignorant of past issues that influence the current kpop industry movements. Your discussions and input on various past issues will build a lot of awareness and understanding for outsiders like me so it is easier to understand what's drama/hype and what's actually based on previous history.

Love this! Go you!

They were one of the only groups I got into fully at their debut Higher. And listened to their full discography and have all their songs. I was so sad to watch it crash in real time before they could truly be a set apart group. Especially since they debuted live vocals without backtracks

Unrelated, but I absolutely love the chill purple vibes of your background on these new videos 😌💜

First, Thank you for covering this as most people are too ashamed to cover Fifty Fifty because they picked the wrong side and as time went on they slowly started to realize that maybe they actually helped ruin the ex members lives 😭 so instead of being adults about it and correcting the damage they did, they ignore it which ultimately revictimizes all parties involved. But since it isn't their circus they don't really care. Also the stans were out of pocket to creators, too.

Some things that need correction:
The Givers were the management company for day to day activities, track production, and ACCOUNTING 😭 He was up in there destroying everything to try and poach it.
Warner lawsuit was not in 2023, they were named as one of the tampering forces though in 2023 and officially served in 2024. Tea: Keena's dad recorded all of the poaching meetings 😭 So they can't even run from it. He knew something was off. The poaching meetings were held during the time Attrakt agreed to time off that The Givers requested for the talent because 1 member needed their gallbladder removed - a standard procedure that also got blown out of proportion, we'll get to that.  During the time off that Attrakt gave everyone, they were at Warner Music Korea getting poached and Keena's dad recorded it all and submitted it to the 13 billion won damages suit 😭 These same tapes gave Attrakt the fire power to file to sue Warner Music Korea.

Things to add:
Keena knew something was off at the start and was trying to get them to come back. They blocked her and called her a spy
Keena Copyright was tampered with too and she's currently appealing (he forged her seals). Gangnam PD said that he could forge her seals which opened them up to huge amounts of criticism for honoring the contract of a scammer because there are fail safes for civilians if it happens and they deliberately choose not to pursue those avenues. Keena got PTSD from this incident btw but still moved to appeal Gangnam PD's rejection. Status pending
During the first injunction the medical abuse they claimed that happened, happened under The Givers care and their doctors testified to the treatment that they received. The 3 that split misrepresented their medical to such a degree that the doctors were called in to testify.
ablume by design wasn't ever meant to chase "their dreams", they were designed to chase Keena around and harm her for not giving up and imho, being raised right lol
The above: that's why ablume has been radio silent for months, too. They didn't join a company that would nurture their talents(using that word loosely here) but went to rush a redebut to try and sabotage Keena. It didn't work so all they ended up doing was devaluing the company they joined because the Koreans are absolutely dead serious about boycotting the 3 members and their handler SIAHN. The company they joined parent stocks immediately started plummeting and have stayed that way since their "debut" and has resulted in: actors and actress leaving or forgoing renewing their contracts and ultimately the sell of the parent company
and
SBS YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES

Moral of the story, if somebody tells you not to talk to someone that they said is a problem to you while never being a problem and to "just trust them", don't. It's narcissist triangulation tactics each time. All of the members had a duty to speak with the company they signed exclusive contracts with(Attrakt) about any grievances and the moment they didn't, they were in direct violation that contract. imo the CEO was too nice about but he's an old man with a daughter himself so he didn't want to have to do it to 'em like that. In the end he had to, because the 3 ex members refused to acknowledge the harm they caused by stepping out on the exclusive contracts for basically a nothing burger.

Everyone that's been picked up by Warner Music Korea ended up getting sided line, too. It wouldn't even surprise me if the poaching attempt was from the parent branch to shelve Fifty Fifty for disrupting the billboard charts. Either way that went, the only person who would have made (barely) any money would have been SIAHN and he's so greedy, he wouldn't care if he destroyed the group, he only cares about if he could make a cool million right then and there by selling the group to Warner Music Korea 🍅🍅🍅 . Which is freaked, too, because they were saying all sorts of crazy things about the Attrakt CEO being a creep when the truth of the matter is SIAHN was more than happy to ruin the future of girls by selling them to the highest bidder and those girls would have gotten NOTHING had that Warner Music Korea deal went through. Gross. That disgusting man nearly zero'd out Keena's earninga on Cupid so that was a preview for the slave labor he was going to make that group do to fill his pockets if the poaching was successful. I perish the thought.

The Koreans refer to the 3 ex members as Tongsudol, which is a play on the story of the golden goose and how the couple slit the belly of the goose that laid golden eggs, only to find out the goose was ordinary so now no more golden eggs. It's so SIAHN lol

I love the group that we have now because I've never seen Keena so happy and the music is good as hell! Gravity, SOS, Heartbreak are all so good. They are always singing live, too. We need more groups that get on the mic to hoot and holler and Fifty Fifty are finally that 😍 Oh yeah and their recent B-side Skittlez ended up charting in the US recently, too. They are going to be alright and sometimes alright isn't instant be they'll get there.

Also to your question, I think the issue lies mainly on the parents. Parents with under age kids need to stop allowing their kids to make life altering adult decisions, sign all these documents and then be shocked when they are in massive debt because they aren’t popular, get mistreated (in the form of being overworked), etc. I truly can’t grasp how in this day and age with all the most clear signs of issues with the industry parents aren’t vetting these contracts properly or using their kids as cash cows. If more parents looked and read through these contracts, actively advocated for their child or called in a lawyer ahead of time they could avoid half of these “surprise” problems. The companies aren’t going to stop if there is still accessible “product” which means the people need to ban together and say enough is enough and advocate for themselves as individuals. If my child was so sought after by companies and vital to debuting then the company can spare the basic decency of treatment to my child. Simple, the parents don’t care enough and the companies aren’t never going too because companies job is to generate revenue

Your conclusion that agencies should start educating the idols and parents on contract law is exactly what I've been thinking about for a while, i dont doubt that agencies have taken advantage of people not understanding the contracts but a contract protects both parties and at this point it'll be much more beneficial for the agencies if their idols can't be convinced they can leave for the competition for no reason with no consequence

Love the new video series.

Aw.  This one hurts my heart.  A continued shame on ALL the adults in this one.  I do believe tampering attempts will keep happening.  As an American, exactly zero of the wannabe western business collaborators  are altruistic in their newfound love of kpop.  The minor artists need better contractual and independent legal representation, not just at contract signing, but ongoing.  Thanks for doing this video, Han.  I know it's been requested often.  I especially appreciate your explanation of the realistic earning power of "Cupid.". It makes me a little less angry about the loss of Keena's percentage. (Edited for spelling)

Cupid was one of those songs that I didn’t know was a kpop song until I got fully into kpop but still liked outside of being fully immersed into the genre. I remember me and my guy friends playing it in the car in college. I flipped out when Sabrina Carpenter got on the remix. When I started kpop, I was a big NewJeans fan (still am but I’m not brainwashed like other bunnies), I heard about the Fifty Fifty situation because I was wondering why it took so long for them to put out more music (their debut album was too good, especially Lovin Me). I was shocked to hear about them and now with the whole NewJeans situation, I was hoping to fully understand the FiftyFifty thing because I know the basic stuff like tampering and swindling the members but I also hear about severe health conditions of the members so thanks for posting this.

okay YouTube is tweaking lol

Concuerdo contigo, hay mucha desinformación de derechos de autor y de gestión de los medios, y muchos solo toman un bando sin saber lo que implica un contrato, yo que estuve una temporada en medios de Asia, los contratos si dicen que la empresa se hace cargo de tu imagen en general, cuerpo, cara y persona les pertenece, esclavizante(?) si, pero es parte de lo que aceptan a nivel mundial en la industria, no los engañan y tienen la oportunidad de no aceptar si leen completamente los estatutos de un contrato del entretenimiento, y apenas ganaría dinero a lo grande Attrakt por contratos que le llegaron después de Cupid, pero con la demanda de las chicas, tuvieron perdidas, y hay personas que dicen que Attrakt canceló el vídeo de Barbie, pero fue porque las chicas supuestamente tenían covid, lo sorprendente es que SIAHN estafo no solo a una empresa, si no también a las leyes de Corea, y le salió bien la estafa, pero por la controversia aún siguen congelados los activos por la Conka, y las chicas de Ablume si pierden contra Attrakt que es probable... Tendrán una deuda de por vida, hasta que maduren y sepan que fue una elección errónea lo que hicieron, y yo las apoyo como artistas y lamento su situación, porque quiero más música de ellas.... pero en esta situación no se sabe cuándo volverán y si lo harán, porque con Ablume también tuvieron perdidas económicas...

I’m so excited for this series. I have a few videos to catch up on first though 😅

I believe that the photo you used at the beginning of your video to refer to the CEO of Attrakt is actually a photo of Ahn Sung Il of The Givers

among the costs deducted from the members' earnings, you forgot the 8M USD or something, that were PAID to Tiktok to boost cupid's virality artificially. because ok, the song's catchy, but would it have spreaded that much without those 8M???? we'll never know but i have an idea of the answer 💀

Hey Han!!.
I wanted to know do you see Abulme on broadcasting in Korea? The KMCA said that they would blacklist them. Though the have goo youtube videos. That is not registering as montary success as you said.