Recently, at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, famous singer Chappell Roan, who won “Best New Artist”, delivered a speech that casted light on various industry malpractice on artists and advocated for better benefits and wages.
The full speech is as follows:
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists.
Because I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance. It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have healthcare. And if my label would have prioritized artists’ health I would have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to. So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
This speech was later shared on NewJeans’ new Instagram account @jeanzforfree by Hanni, drawing massive attention.
As a result, many suspected that Hanni was sharing Chappell Roan’s message about artist mistreatment to reflect on her own similar experience. In fact, Hanni was extremely vocal about this matter, even attending a National Assembly hearing to voice her thoughts and recount alleged mistreatment that NewJeans suffered from under HYBE. However, Hanni’s claims were dismissed as not workplace bullying, as Korean idols were not considered workers under Korean law.
So far, some netizens have shown support for Hanni, pointing out the similarities between Chappell Roan and NewJeans’ circumstances.
However, many others criticized Hanni, stating that the female idol (and NewJeans) as a whole was a lot more “privileged” when compared to Chappell Roan.
These people pointed out the various benefits that HYBE gave its employees and NewJeans, with one saying, “No trainee debt, a penthouse, high budget, full freedom for their creative team, regular vacations and 3M a year since debut… Chappell isn’t even asking for all that, just a livable wage.”
