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On March 18, 2025, EVERGLOW's Yiren revealed on her Bubble account that she and her fellow members had not received any payment from the company throughout their careers. She was talking about the group's 2025 Pulse & Heart Japan Concert in Tokyo, which is scheduled for March 21 and March 22. Notably, her remarks came on the sixth anniversary of the group's debut.
Yiren stated that she loves the stage so much and loves touring with her members, but the fact that they don't get any income through the same becomes a downfall for EVERGLOW. Though she didn't directly call out her agency, Yuehua Entertainment, through her Bubble message, she let the fans know that they've never been settled with money for their work as K-pop idols.
Here's the message Yiren sent on Bubble as translated by Koreaboo:
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"I love the stage very much, but in a sense, i have zero income, but I don't want to give up this career? In reality, we haven't been settled yet, not once. So, the tour is really what we want to show our fans, and we are working hard to prepare."
She continued:
"But, I'm sorry that there are no new songs and performance to show everyone, hahahaha...From debut until now, I'm a worker with 0 salary, hahahahahaha. It's okay, at least I can still see forever, and have the chance to stand on the stage. It's fine."
When this piece of information landed on the internet, many fans and netizens were furious. Given that EVERGLOW has been working under Yuehua Entertainment for more than six years, people felt it was unfair and extreme for the agency to not pay their artists. Here are a few fan reactions that criticized the agency for their alleged actions:
"Yuehua Entertainment needs to be held accountable for exploiting their artists like this"
Many netizens commented on X, with one calling the situation "industry exploitation."
"All that fame, but not a dime? Industry exploitation at its finest," said a fan on X.
"EVERGLOW was playing for quite a while and was the most popular group in the company so as not to pay them, I didn't expect anything from that company and it still disappoints.." added another fan.
"How is this even allowed. They have been WORKING for 6 years and have not seen anything back. This is why we need more idols speaking out against there company and change needs to happen," commented a netizen.
More fans and netizens talked about how they were angered and frustrated to realize the lack of income for EVERGLOW.
"yuehua is literally one of the most rich companies in china, how the hell they couldn’t pay these girls???? this is so irritating," stated a fan.
"they served every comeback and still didn't get paid?? burn that god damn company" added an X user.
"The kpop industry is truly hell on wheels…" said a netizen.
"that company is going to HELL, these girls deserve so much better than this sh*thole." commented another X user.
All you need to know about the K-pop girl group EVERGLOW
EVERGLOW is a K-pop girl group that debuted under Yuehua Entertainment in 2019. The group comprises six members, namely E:U, Sihyeon, Mia, Onda, Aisha, and Yiren. They debuted through their single album, Arrival of Everglow, in March 2019 with the lead track, Bon Bon Chocolat. Soon after their debut, the group was labeled as monster rookies due to their performance quality.
The singles that they released after their debut, like Adios, Dun Dun, La Di Da, etc., also blew up on the internet. While Adios and Dun Dun took the second and third spots on the US World Digital Sales chart, La Di Da was named the best K-pop song of 2020 by Billboard. Some of their other famous tracks include Hush, You Don't Know Me, First, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and more.
The group's last comeback was in June 2024, with the release of their fifth single album, Zombie, which held its lead single under the same name. The album not only debuted at rank nine on the Circle Album Chart, but all three tracks belonging to Zombie entered the Download Chart.
EVERGLOW also kickstarted its Pulse & Heart tour in September 2024. The group is scheduled to roll out a total of 12 stops across the United States and South America. Most recently, the extension of the tour with two additional dates in Japan was revealed.
