Something about K-pop always captivated Kiera Grace Madder. The 17-year-old singer has been a fan of the synchronized choreography, fashion-forward outfits and unique sound coming out of South Korea for as long as she could remember.
So in 2022, when she learned JYP Entertainment, one of the biggest K-pop talent agencies, had plans to make a group with North American-based talent, she jumped at the opportunity. She auditioned for a reality show and earned her place in an all-girl group called VCHA, with five other teens.
But last summer, less than a year after officially debuting, the group pulled out of Lollapalooza and nearly went radio silent on social media. In a lawsuit filed last December against JYP USA in L.A. County Superior Court, Madder, who goes by the stage name KG Crown, revealed she had left VCHA and alleged child labor law violations, abuse and exploitation.
“I knew the K-pop system was very hardworking — probably one of the most hardworking systems in the music industry,” Madder told The Times. “I’m a hard worker, so I was willing to put in any hard work, but I did not know about what can go on behind closed doors.”
JYP USA issued a statement on social media when the lawsuit was filed, claiming Madder had made “unilateral public statements containing false and exaggerated claims.”
The agency declined to comment further in response to questions from The Times, citing the “ongoing legal matter.”
Madder, identified as “K.M.” in the court documents, said she signed her contract with JYP at age 15.
VCHA began an intense training regimen, traveling between JYP’s Seoul headquarters and Los Angeles to rehearse. In L.A., the six girls shared a $2.5-million Beverly Hills mansion, where Madder alleges they were under constant surveillance. According to the lawsuit, staying in the home was “optional,” but Madder said she felt pressured to live there by the JYP staff.
In addition to a live-in staffer who monitored the girls, Madder says video cameras watched and recorded their private conversations. The lawsuit claims the company presented the cameras as a part of the “house’s alarm system” when they were installed.
According to Madder’s lawsuit, the surveillance system was a “tool aimed at controlling our eating, movements, and behavior.”
If Madder is able to get released from her contract with JYP, she said, she will come back as a solo artist when she feels “better mentally.”
JYP allegedly maintained full control over the trainees’ schedules, even on days off. In order to leave the home, the group members had to submit their plans ahead of time and get approval, Madder’s suit alleges. She says she even had to ask permission to see her mother on the weekends.
“I honestly felt like it was a prison and the house staff was the prison guard,” Madder said. “I felt like JYP had become my parent, but the strictest parent I ever lived with.”
Madder’s lawsuit alleges the company “controlled [her] diet and pressured [her] to eat less.” Their meals were “restricted to small salads,” she alleged, and their weight was monitored.
“The skinnier you are, the more respected and prettier you’re viewed. It’s ridiculous,” Madder said. “At times, in South Korea, they would tell us, ‘Lose weight or you’re going to regret the way you look on camera.’”
In training for performances, JYP allegedly pushed the VCHA girls to their physical limits. In the lawsuit, Madder recalls being denied meal breaks and water during rehearsal, and alleges she was forced to work long days on little sleep. As recounted in the lawsuit, Madder’s days would typically begin at 7 a.m. with a few hours of school, followed by rehearsals that started at 10:30 a.m. and went into the late hours of the night.
Madder alleges there were several instances in which she had to continue training after suffering injuries. The lawsuit describes a dance instructor who “singled” Madder out, making her repeat a move more than a hundred times without stopping for a break, which allegedly caused a tendon tear in her shoulder.
“I had tears in my eyes and was very stressed,” she recalled. “It’s one of those situations where you don’t have to escalate it to the point of abuse.”
She was also forced to rehearse despite suffering injuries to her hip and leg, her lawsuit claims. The court filings include photos of her in hospital gowns and receipts for medical treatments, along with images of bruises that she said she sustained during dance training. Screenshots of text messages included in the lawsuit show that Madder described being forced to “dance thru the pain.”
In another text conversation from last May included in the suit, she wrote, “Honestly I feel like I don’t [have] a personality anymore or am my own person. They changed me and I lost all my good.”
According to the lawsuit, Madder started to miss school as the stress from training piled up. She says other members of the group developed eating disorders, engaged in self-harm and, in February of last year, one of them attempted suicide.
Madder said she has not spoken to fellow VCHA members since her departure from the group in May 2024.
Madder accuses JYP of underpaying her and failing to deliver promised royalties and a share of the revenue from the group. The lawsuit alleges she received $500 during weeks in which she worked over 12-hour days, which falls below California’s minimum wage.
Madder’s lawsuit also says she is saddled with more than $500,000 in debt to JYP for “company expenses.”
She alleges in her lawsuit that she was “forced to sign contracts while being given only a few minutes to review them,” including ones that were written in Korean, a language Madder doesn’t speak.
Her mother, Tracey Madder, said in a statement to The Times that filing the lawsuit “was 100 percent KG’s decision, which I fully support due to the circumstances she experienced.”
“I am hopeful for the best possible outcome for all parties involved,” she said.
The younger Madder said she hasn’t been able to work, release music or post on social media since leaving VCHA.
When she first got home after leaving the JYP mansion, she says, she felt “brainwashed” and like she “would never be able to make it in the music industry again.”
The next court hearing in her lawsuit is set for June 20.
“I’m praying that the judge can see the light in the situation and let me go,” Madder said. “I don’t want clout. I don’t want attention. I want to be free. That’s what I want — freedom.”
Content shared from www.latimes.com.