melanin monroe

I see people saying, "But MHJ was the CEO. She was the one who allowed this to happen." Allowed what to happen, exactly? The contract? That was a standard idol contract drafted by HYBE for its labels. It wasn't some special contract that MHJ independently created for NewJeans. The girls were essentially presented with the standard terms: sign the contract if you want to pursue an idol career under that system, or don't. But I think there's a much bigger question people keep overlooking: What was the actual working and living environment of the girls when MHJ was the CEO of ADOR? NewJeans was successful in every sense of the word. The girls were paid well. They had proper accommodations. They weren't pushed into exhausting schedules. They were given time to go home, spend time with their families, study, travel and experience life outside of "idol" work. They were allowed to grow up while pursuing their dreams, rather than having every waking moment revolve around being idols. More importantly, they were surrounded by people who genuinely cared about them, looked after them and created an environment where they could enjoy what they were doing. They were given room to develop not just as artists, but as young people. Remember how K-pop stans used to call them spoiled because of how well OG ADOR treated them? How people would point out how differently they were managed compared to other idols? That didn't happen by accident. It was part of the environment OG ADOR built for them. Now, does that mean the original contract was okay? No. Does it mean MHJ was personally responsible for every contractual provision or that OG ADOR had no management shortcomings? Also no. Those are separate questions that deserve to be examined on their own merits. But if we're going to discuss MHJ's responsibility as CEO, then we should look at the actual conditions she helped create, not just reduce the entire discussion to the fact that she was CEO when the girls signed a standard HYBE contract. You cannot ignore the lived experience of the girls under OG ADOR and then pretend that the only thing that matters is the piece of paper they signed. A contract defines the legal relationship. But the environment in which the artists actually work, grow and live also matters. And that is precisely what made OG ADOR different.