desi-seoul

For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums. 

Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years. 

Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.

This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it. 

When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever. 

Thankfully, I am now signed to a label that believes I should own anything I create. Thankfully, I left my past in Scott’s hands and not my future. And hopefully, young artists or kids with musical dreams will read this and learn about how to better protect themselves in a negotiation. You deserve to own the art you make.

I will always be proud of my past work. But for a healthier option, Lover will be out August 23. 

Sad and grossed out,

💔

You’re right

Thanking @withdrawn-from-society for the marvellous idea ♡

Suzy, holding list: so is everyone here?

Sunmi, sipping tea: think so

Suzy: didn’t you count?

Sunmi: did you forget I failed math

Jihyo, storming around with megaphone: CHOU TZUYU WHEREVER YOU ARE PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND SURRENDER

Chan, panicking: has anyone seen Jeongin?

Sana, Jeongin and Wonpil, holding an armful of plushies: the store had a sale

Sungjin: guys I’m missing Jae and Brian

Wonpil: leave it to me *yodels*

Jae and Brian, from across waiting area: FUCKING SNAKE

JB: and I’m missing Yugyeom and Bambam where are they

Mark: *points at two distant figures yelling* there

Youngjae: I let them buy coffee, probably made a bad decision

Chan and Woojin, walking around: we’re missing Changbin, Felix and Jisung

Changbin: I’m here, you just don’t see me because I match the seats

Chan: what about Felix and Jisung

Jackson: they probably locked themselves in the washrooms but they’ll be out

Momo, sitting on seat: why do you look so dead

Mina: I have to deal with Minho and Nayeon fighting over who people stared at the most today. I’d like to snap their fancy sunglasses and go home

Dahyun, screeching in distance: DOWOON YOU CANNOT BRING YOUR DRUM SET ON A PLANE

Dowoon: fuck you bitch I do what I want *ba dum tiss*

Wooyoung, holding suitcases: why am I here I should be at home

Lia: oh right, we haven’t debuted yet and Yuna and Yeji haven’t drunk their milk yet so CHAERYOUNG RYUJIN WE’RE LEAVING

Y'all we need to catch YG’s attention and the best way possible is by commenting on his ig :] here are some stuff you can comment under his posts (make sure they’re YGTB related). This is really our last chance, let’s at least try our best one last time :(

지훈, 병곤, 현석, 승훈, 도영이 데뷔를 하게 해주세요!

Let Jihoon, Byounggon, Hyunsuk, Seunghun, and Doyoung debut!

다시는 재능 있는 연습생을 잃지 마세요! A팀과 지훈이가 함께 데뷔하게 해주세요!

Do not lose talented trainees again! Let Team A and Jihoon debut together!

승훈, 병곤, 현석, 도영, 지훈이 데뷔 팀에 합류할 자격이 있어요! 데뷔하게 해주세요!

Seunghun, Byounggon, Hyunsuk, Doyoung and Jihoon deserves a spot on the debut team! Let them debut.

1위 30만 표 무시하실 건가요? A팀과 지훈이 데뷔하게 해주세요!!

Are you just going to ignore the 300,000 votes that Rank 1 got? Let Team A and Jihoon debut!!

A팀과 지훈이의 엄청난 팬 층과 팀워크도 무시할 건가요?

Are you also going to ignore Team A and Jihoon’s huge fan base and teamwork?

팀 A와 지훈을 데뷔하십시오. 그들은 이미 그룹입니다, 당신은 그것을 보지 못합니까?

Debut Team A and Jihoon. They are already a group, do not you see it?

팀A 지훈은 아주 좋은 화학을 가지고 있는데 왜 데뷔하지 않습니까?

양사장님, 우리는 그 쇼를 정말 좋아하고 YG보석함가 끝나가고 있어 슬퍼. 그런데 7명 이상 데뷔해주시겠습니까? 데뷔 팀

멤버를 더 갖고 싶은데. 21명의 연습생들을 한꺼번에 잃는 것은 낭비다 그리고 우리 실버보이즈를 병곤, 현석, 승훈, 지훈,

도영. 우리는 그들이 한 팀으로 데뷔하기를 원한다. 실버보이즈를 함께 데뷔해야 하는 이유 중 하나는 그들의 팀워크다.

그것뿐만 아니라 승훈이 보컬과 댄스를 맡을 수 있다. 이병곤이 리더 겸 래퍼. 최현석은 춤과 랩에 자신 있다. 준규와 예담은

보컬. 예능과 춤의 지훈. 도영이가 춤도 추고. 그들은 이미 완벽한 팀이야, 어떻게 이 훈련생들을 보내줄 수 있어? 그들은

모두 안무를 짜고, 그들 자신의 노래를 작곡할 수 있다. 연습생 때 많이 쓴 줄 알았는데? 앞으로 또 후회하게 될 행동을 왜

하는 거야? 당신은 이미 서로를 보완하는 완벽한 그룹이 있다. 이미 강력한 팬 층을 가지고 있는 그룹이다. 왜 모든 것을

포기하는가? 부디 우리의 의견을 들어주시고 우리측을 매우 친절하게 재고해 주십시요. A팀이 A팀인 데는 이유가 있다.

seunghun:

He has been a trainee since 4th grade, doing the exact same thing for nine years now. He has danced and sang for hours, until his own body and voice give up, probably. People like Suho and Jihyo have expressed before how hard it is to train for so long and how exhausting it can get, both physically and emotionally. Just start to imagine everything this boy has been through.

After a while of being in YG (he joined in 2015), he got into Team A and spent his time along ten other trainees who were like his own brothers. At the end of 2017, he performed with some of them in the survival “Stray Kids”, which earned him a compliment from JYP himself, stating how he couldn’t find a single fault in Seunghun, how he caught his attention first and that he was very good. (You can watch the clip here).

He had to see three of his friends leave the company (Midam, Noa and Jeonwoong), one choose a different path than being an idol (Raesung) and another one, who had been his friend since high school, being separated from his teammates (Jihoon). 

Then, after the last monthly evaluation with Team A, YG chose Seunghun to be part of Treasure 10 because he did very well. Sadly, he still didn’t make it to the first Treasure team (which consisted of seven members) because he wasn’t picked, the difference being of just one vote. 

In the video assessment for the trainees to get another chance to enter Treasure 7, Blackpink’s members had to choose 5 out of 21 boys to perform. While practicing the songs, the trainees were amazed at how good Seunghun’s singing was. Seokhwa, Asahi and Yeongue were literally mesmerized; Jyunhao said Seunghun was remarkable and even questioned why he wasn’t a part of the Treasure team; Inhong and Yedam mentioned his strengths and the latter, along with Junkyu and Mashiho, wished they didn’t get picked by him for the 1:1 battle. (This was on ep.5, starting from minute 19:52).

Eventually, Lisa chose him and he got to sing D(Half Moon) which won the audience’s heart. I must also mention how, even though everyone knew how well the song Beautiful suited his voice, he didn’t perform it because he didn’t want to go against Junkyu, let alone his other teammate, Yedam. Seunghun couldn’t make it into the treasure team once again because YG didn’t pick him even though he worked extremely hard and all he wanted was a compliment from the man, yet all he got was a negative review. We also got to see how after two years and a half of training at the company, all of his teammates had gotten compliments yet he hadn’t received a single one.

Seunghun already had two chances to make it. He was almost there every single time, making him even more frustrated about the whole situation. Yet, he didn’t give up nor got discouraged and instead tried his best; he worked even harder than before.

Another chance came up: WINNER chose him and Byounggon for the 2:2 performance battle. (Take note that they were the first unit to get chosen, this can be seen in ep.7 starting from minute 4:25). Jinwoo said they were good, Seungyoon mentioned they were smart to choose a song that suited them, Seunghoon said choosing the right song was also a talent and Mino agreed saying that’s the most important part. After listening to the song GonHun were going to perform, Yeongue and Yoonbin were afraid of losing their positions, the latter saying the song fitted Seunghun so well it was scary. Finally, they got to perform I’m not sorry and won against the other team since they received the most votes from the fans. This meant Seunghun had finally made it into the treasure team, regretfully though, because YG wasn’t satisfied with his performance.

The semi-finals came and along the rest of Treasure 5, Seunghun pulled a great performance finally earning him the so wanted compliment from YG. However, his team didn’t win first place which meant that two members had to get eliminated, one of them being him.

The way Doyoung, Hyunsuk and Jihoon were sobbing around Seunghun was devastating. They were hurt. They promised each other they’d meet at the end yet their dreams were cut short by an old man, just imagine the pain. 

He has only one chance left. We won’t find out until Wednesday, but hopefully he’s one of the two trainees that were brought back to compete in the final.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but this is one of the most heartbreaking situations I’ve seen in my life. He deserves that debut.