Little one stardom has all the time had a darkish facet. The studio pressured a teenage Judy Garland to observe a strict food regimen to maintain her skinny, and her mother plied her with drugs to maintain her working. The Nickelodeon star Drake Bell was abused by a dialogue coach who was later convicted. We have a tendency to consider tales like these as tragic anachronisms.
However in some elements of the world, they aren’t.
Final week we printed an investigation into NewJeans, the blockbuster Ok-pop woman group that left its label after years of mistreatment. We obtained their contracts, which managed nearly each side of their lives, together with their sleep, their romances, their public statements and even their “perspective.” However, a court docket mentioned in March 2025 that they couldn’t strike out on their very own and ordered them again to Hybe, the leisure firm behind the supergroup BTS.
World wide, younger individuals (and their dad and mom) nonetheless chase fame and fortune as they all the time have. Social media has made it really feel inside attain: A lady in Australia can audition for a Korean present, carry out for followers in actual time and reshape herself with filters, surgical procedure or synthetic intelligence — till fantasy and actuality blur. The dream now begins youthful, and it may possibly come at a bodily, psychological and monetary value.
For NewJeans, it was all three.
Signed away at 14
Right here’s a take a look at how Hybe’s contracts handled the younger stars.
Little one welfare protections. The contract stripped out commonplace South Korean authorities clauses guaranteeing relaxation, psychological well being and schooling for minors. The teenage members rehearsed till 2 a.m. underneath fixed digital camera surveillance. 4 of the 5 dropped out of faculty.
Take-it-or-leave-it signings. As an alternative of going to high school, the kids had spent years dwelling in dorms and coaching for a shot at fame with the label. When one dad or mum frightened in regards to the onerous contract phrases, the label mentioned it might settle for no significant alterations. She signed.
Morality clauses. The agreements barred subjective offenses like an “insincere perspective,” “neglect of self-management” or “inappropriate romantic relationships.” That gave the label license to assert breach — and probably sue — each time a member did one thing the bosses didn’t like.
Silence. The offers banned public statements containing “true or false information” that would tarnish the corporate’s status. This made it tougher for the women to blow the whistle on mistreatment.
A leaden parachute. The contract let the label cost exit charges even when it terminated the deal itself. It booted one member over what it described as unauthorized solo initiatives and picture shoots — and sued her for roughly $22 million. Her lawyer referred to as it a warning shot to the remainder of the roster.
Perpetual possession. The label retains indefinite post-deal rights to the members’ names, likenesses and A.I.-reproduced voices whereas slashing future earnings. Even after they go away the corporate, it may possibly construct chatbots primarily based on their personalities and avatars primarily based on their faces.
The trade-off
In america, performers are exempt from federal youngster labor legal guidelines, so states have stepped in. California, as an example, requires that 15 p.c of a minor’s gross earnings go right into a belief till maturity. Many states cap work hours and require on-set tutors. Illinois and some different states now require household influencers to put aside earnings for youngsters who seem of their movies.
However abuses nonetheless occur. The previous Nickelodeon star Jennette McCurdy says that when her present ended, the community provided her $300,000 to maintain quiet about her reminiscences of pressured underage ingesting and unsolicited touching from a boss. (When her memoir got here out, Nickelodeon declined to remark to The Occasions.) And even when employers observe the foundations, habit and different psychological troubles can hang-out teen stars for years. Actresses like Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan have spoken publicly about their troublesome transition to maturity.
In Korea, individuals greeted our report in regards to the NewJeans contracts with shock. Some followers referred to as it a “slave contract,” reviving the label critics pinned on Ok-pop offers within the late 2000s. However the idol pipeline is thought to be grueling. Hybe says that its contracts are lawful and that it negotiated in good religion.
And whereas among the provisions — significantly those about mental property and A.I. — could are available for scrutiny, a Korean court docket has upheld NewJeans’ deal. For aspiring Ok-pop stars, as you’ll be able to learn in our investigation, that is the value of entry.
THE LATEST NEWS
Politics
Israel
Oklahoma highschool soccer: A midnight coin flip within the car parking zone of a catfish restaurant determined two spots for the playoffs.
Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League: Kansas Metropolis superior to the semifinals after a late penalty that Angel Metropolis’s interim head coach referred to as “tremendously low-cost.”
BOOK OF THE WEEK
“Abandoning a Cat,” by Haruki Murakami
This slim greatest vendor packs a wallop of household historical past and stress into 80 pages. Murakami, the worldwide literary icon recognized for his dreamlike fiction, delves into his very actual relationship along with his father in an essay that opens with a visit to the seaside to eliminate an older feminine cat. When the pair returned to their home, Murakami writes, the beast they’d simply deserted was on the entrance door, “greeting us with a pleasant meow, its tail standing tall. It had overwhelmed us house.” He continues, “The 2 of us stood there for some time, at a complete loss for phrases.” Along with his trademark restraint, Murakami considers the circumstances that led to this unusual expertise and a uncommon second of solidarity between father and son.
For extra on Murakami, go right here. For the most recent and biggest in science fiction, go right here.
THE INTERVIEW
“I get up as a Black girl daily, so I didn’t really feel the necessity to lead with that. It speaks for itself.”
— Keisha Lance Bottoms, whose election on Tuesday in Georgia will make her the primary Black feminine governor in america. Watch her dialog with Lulu Garcia-Navarro on “The Interview.”