FIFTY FIFTY will continue on as a group with “three new members”, their agency Attrakt has shared.
Yesterday (November 2), K-pop agency Attrakt announced that it would be adding three new members to K-pop girl group. The news follows a months-long legal battle with original former members Saena, Sio and Aran, whose contracts with the agency have since been terminated.
“We plan to reorganize FIFTY FIFTY centring around Keena, who recently returned [to the agency]. We will recruit three new members and form a four-member group,” said the agency per Newsen, as translated by Soompi.
At the time of publishing, the agency did not specify when it plans to re-introduce the group.
FIFTY FIFTY first debuted with the line-up of Saena, Sio, Keena and Aran in November 2022 with their mini-album ‘The Fifty’. The quartet made a comeback in February 2023 with their single ‘Cupid’, which later became viral on TikTok, propelling the group to international fame.
In June 2023, all four members filed to suspend their exclusive contracts with Attrakt, claiming that the agency had violated terms of their contract. During this time, Attrakt released several statements claiming that ‘Cupid’ producers The Givers, led by producer Ahn Sung-il, had been attempting to poach the group.
According to reports from Korea JoongAng Daily earlier this week, Ahn has sued Attrakt CEO Oscar Chun for defamation, alleging that Chun “continuously made defamatory allegations without evidence against Ahn Sung-il […] through various media outlets since the dispute”.
The group’s request to suspend their contracts was denied by the Seoul central district court in August, though they immediately appealed the decision. Last month, rapper Keena withdrew her appeal and returned to the agency.
Attrakt later announced that it had terminated its contracts with Saena, Sio and Aran alleging that the trio had “show[n] o sign of remorse for violating their contract”, and shared that it would be “re-organising” the group with Keena.