Amid controversies regarding FIFTY FIFTY filing a lawsuit against their agency ATTRAKT, the girl group’s dorm draws attention.
It is recently reported that the CEO of FIFTY FIFTY’s company, ATTRAKT, spared no expense in providing the girl group with expensive accommodation using his own money, drawing attention. Curiously, this information arises amid the controversy surrounding the members’ filing for the suspension of their exclusive contract against ATTRAKT.
In particular, on July 4th, Dispatch conducted an interview with the CEO of ATTRAKT, Jeon Hong Joon. During the interview, Jeon revealed that he had spared no effort in supporting the members in various ways and shed tears while expressing his emotions.
Jeon disclosed that he had invested over 1 billion won in producing FIFTY FIFTY’s music videos alone and even sold his Rolex watch and imported car that he had cherished for ten years. He also sighed, mentioning that he provided financial support of up to 90 million won, which his mother had saved throughout her life.
Furthermore, Jeon stated, “Nevertheless, I didn’t want to discourage my artists,” and mentioned that he arranged a residence for the members in the expensive district of Gangnam. According to Jeon, FIFTY FIFTY members’ dorm is an apartment with three rooms and two bathrooms, which costs 2.7 million won (over 2,000 USD) in monthly rental fee.
However, FIFTY FIFTY claimed that ATTRAKT violated their obligation to manage the members’ physical and mental health and lacked the ability to provide human and material resources for their entertainment activities.
The story of FIFTY FIFTY’s “2.7 million won monthly dorm” is bringing attention to the living conditions of rookie girl groups from small agencies among netizens.
GFRIEND revealed on MBC Music’s “GFRIEND’s One Fine Day” that the four members live in a small room with a cramped double-decker bed.
Lovelyz revealed on MBC Every1’s “Shin Dong Yup’s Bachelor Party” that the eight members sleep without beds, only with blankets in one room. Han Sunhwa also introduced the use of aluminum foil on the windows as a substitute for curtains in Secret’s dorm during her appearance on KBS’s “Invincible Youth.”
Even “trending group” NewJeans, who hit the jackpot right after their debut, recently said on tvN’s “You Quiz on the Block” that 5 members are sharing 2 rooms.
In response, netizens are criticizing that FIFTY FIFTY members turned their backs on the agency because they were blinded by sudden success even though they were treated relatively well as a rookie group from a small and medium-sized agency.
Netizens left comments such as “The contracts of idols from small and medium-sized agencies will be tighter because of them”, “I don’t think it’ll be easy for small and medium-sized companies to boldly invest in idols after this incident”…
Meanwhile, FIFTY FIFTY is gaining global popularity by successfully entering Billboard’s main chart “Hot 100” for 12 consecutive weeks with their first single “The Beginning: Cupid” released on February 24th, setting the record of the longest-charting K-pop girl group song in the history of the chart.
Source: Nate
