The dark side of K-pop.

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According to Gemini, K-Pop's global audience runs about 150 million active fans trending towards Gen Z and Millennials (mostly female). The viewing audience spans Asia, American and Latin American.

The dark side of K-pop

by Sarah Hurtes and Jin Yu Young, The NY Times

Nov 8, 2026

We talked to dozens of former K-pop idols, producers and lawyers about what really happens behind the glitter.

Child stardom has always had a dark side. The studio pressured a teenage Judy Garland to follow a strict diet to keep her thin, and her mom plied her with pills to keep her working. The Nickelodeon star Drake Bell was abused by a dialogue coach who was later convicted. We tend to think of stories like those as tragic anachronisms.

But in some parts of the world, they are not.

Last week we published an investigation into NewJeans, the blockbuster K-pop girl group that left its label after years of mistreatment. We obtained their contracts, which controlled almost every aspect of their lives, including their sleep, their romances, their public statements and even their “attitude.” Nevertheless, a court said in March 2025 that they couldn’t strike out on their own and ordered them back to Hybe, the entertainment company behind the supergroup BTS.

Around the world, young people (and their parents) still chase fame and fortune as they always have. Social media has made it feel within reach: A girl in Australia can audition for a Korean show, perform for fans in real time and reshape herself with filters, surgery or artificial intelligence — until fantasy and reality blur. The dream now starts younger, and it can come at a physical, mental and financial cost.

For NewJeans, it was all three.

Child welfare protections. The contract stripped out standard South Korean government clauses guaranteeing rest, mental health and education for minors. The teenage members rehearsed until 2 a.m. under constant camera surveillance. Four of the five dropped out of school.

Take-it-or-leave-it signings. Instead of going to school, the teens had spent years living in dorms and training for a shot at fame with the label. When one parent worried about the onerous contract terms, the label said it would accept no meaningful alterations. She signed.

Morality clauses. The agreements barred subjective offenses like an “insincere attitude,” “neglect of self-management” or “inappropriate romantic relationships.” That gave the label license to claim breach — and potentially sue — whenever a member did something the bosses didn’t like.

Silence. The deals banned public statements containing “true or false facts” that could tarnish the company’s reputation. This made it more difficult for the girls to blow the whistle on mistreatment.

A leaden parachute. The contract let the label charge exit fees even when it terminated the deal itself. It booted one member over what it described as unauthorized solo projects and photo shoots — and sued her for roughly $22 million. Her lawyer called it a warning shot to the rest of the roster.

Perpetual ownership. The label keeps indefinite post-deal rights to the members’ names, likenesses and A.I.-reproduced voices while slashing future earnings. Even after they leave the company, it can build chatbots based on their personalities and avatars based on their faces.

The trade-off

In the United States, performers are exempt from federal child labor laws, so states have stepped in. California, for instance, requires that 15 percent of a minor’s gross earnings go into a trust until adulthood. Many states cap work hours and require on-set tutors. Illinois and a few other states now require family influencers to set aside earnings for children who appear in their videos.

But abuses still happen. The former Nickelodeon star Jennette McCurdy says that when her show ended, the network offered her $300,000 to keep quiet about her memories of forced underage drinking and unsolicited touching from a boss. (When her memoir came out, Nickelodeon declined to comment to The Times.) And even when employers follow the rules, addiction and other psychological troubles can haunt teen stars for years. Actresses like Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan have spoken publicly about their difficult transition to adulthood.

In Korea, people greeted our report about the NewJeans contracts with shock. Some fans called it a “slave contract,” reviving the label critics pinned on K-pop deals in the late 2000s. But the idol pipeline is known to be grueling. Hybe says that its contracts are lawful and that it negotiated in good faith.

And while some of the provisions — particularly the ones about intellectual property and A.I. — may come in for scrutiny, a Korean court has upheld NewJeans’ deal. For aspiring K-pop stars, as you can read in our investigation, this is the price of entry.