Fifty Fifty dropped the compilation album “The Beginning” on Friday amid legal disputes among the girl group, agency and its producers.

“The Beginning” contains 11 tracks, including three re-recorded “Live Studio” versions of “Cupid,” “Lovin’ Me” and “Tell Me,” alongside “Cupid – Twin Ver. (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)” which released in August. The album also includes four tracks from the group’s 2022 debut EP “The Fifty,” two tracks from single “The Beginning: Cupid” and a “Sped. Up” version of “Cupid – Twin Ver.”

“The ‘Live Studio’ version was recorded back in late April before Aran was injured [and before the legal battles began in June],” Attrakt’s CEO Oscar Chun told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Monday.
“We didn’t release the album ‘out of the blue,’ it was all planned from the start; no new songs were recorded [after April],” he added.

Physical copies of the compilation album were also released in the U.S. market, priced around $35. The physical albums are receiving backlash from its fans due to the album’s lacking content and monotone album art, resulting in fans starting a boycott against Attrakt online, asking others to not buy the album.

The four members of Fifty Fifty filed an injunction to suspend their exclusive contracts with Attrakt in June, saying they had been treated unfairly by the company and their income had not been properly distributed despite the enormous success of “Cupid.”

The Seoul Central District Court sided with the agency, rejecting the members’ request for an injunction. The quartet challenged the decision shortly after.

Attrakt, on the other hand, said that “an outside party” was trying to poach the members. Chun alleged that the outside party was Warner Music Korea and that the quartet’s producer Ahn Sung-il collaborated with the company behind Chun’s back.

Ahn is the CEO of The Givers, the production company that was in charge of Fifty Fifty’s music and management. Attrakt sued Ahn and three others at The Givers for breach of trust on June 27, and Fifty Fifty’s members announced the next day that they filed for an injunction to the court.

A court ruled Monday for a provisional attachment on Ahn’s royalty earnings, following Attrakt’s request in June.

Attrakt announced in early September that it will air an audition program to debut a new girl group within the first half of next year.

To find out more about Fifty Fifty, visit Celeb Confirmed! 

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]