Those who watch the music industry closely have already followed a few cases of scandals involving artists’ career management. Many artists have spoken out openly about the abusive contract clauses that people face when trying to live out their dream at the beginning of their careers – and the most recent episode involves the American boyband Why Don’t We, which spawned the #FreeWDW movement.
On August 27, Billboard published a story saying that the Why Don’t We crew (Randy Phillips and David Loeffler) had split up and that the band was fighting a lawsuit against David because of psychological abuse they had suffered since the beginning of WDW.
In the lawsuit, Randy Phillips accuses David Loeffler of engaging in “torturous behavior” towards the band members, with degrading psychological abuse. According to reports, David aggressively yelled at the artists, forced them to share two small rooms with one spare bedroom in the house, controlled their diets, and prevented them from having visitors. David even set an alarm in the house, which the band did not know the code for, to make sure they would not leave.
As part of the evidence, an audio has surfaced where you can hear David Loeffler’s voice allegedly getting very angry with Zach Herron, the youngest member of the band, over a salad. In the audio, Randy Philips, Jack Avery and Jonah Marais try to calm Loeffler down while Herron cries.
In addition to fans, friends and family of the members of Why Don’t We have already spoken out about the situation, posting #FreeWDW or, as in the case of Jeffrey Seavey (Daniel’s father), speaking openly about how the boys have suffered and want to get rid of the previous management.
Jeffrey talked on his Twitter about David keeping the boys hungry, making them work harder than they should and how he didn’t want Daniel Seavey to get production credit on the band’s second album “The Good Times and The Bad Ones”, which was produced by Daniel in his own home studio.
After this story was released, fans began to find some videos of the boys commenting about not eating right, sleeping and overworking began to be shared as part of the evidence against David.
Another factor of attention to fans was the fact that the artists had their social networks controlled, often being forbidden to post about moments related to their personal lives, such as when Jack Avery became a father. The child’s mother, Gabriela Gonzalez, complained on her social networks that she was forced to hide her pregnancy and was not free to decide when she would announce her own child, probably because of Jack’s career management.
Also according to the publication, Corbyn Besson, Daniel Seavey, Jack Avery, Jonah Marais and Zach Herron, members of Why Don’t We, are refusing to show up to band engagements until Randy Philips is placed as the sole manager of the group, which led David to file a lawsuit against all five for breach of contract.
Now Jack Avery, Corbyn Besson, Zach Herron, Jonah Marais and Daniel Seavey have decided to speak out on the matter, so they have posted a statement on their social networks. In the text the boys say that they suffered mental, emotional and financial abuse.
Due to this process with their management, the boys had to postpone the release of their new single ‘Love Back’. But even though they couldn’t release the song in the summer like they originally wanted, they still gave us a taste of it, and in July of this year, all the members posted a video on TikTok with a snippet of the song that opened the group’s new era.
On September 17, the boys posted on their Instagram that they could finally start releasing music again, which hinted that they had won the lawsuit.
After months of waiting, on October 6th (1 year since the single ‘Taking You’) Why Don’t We released their newest single Love Back. The track features catchy electronic beats while the lyric video features scenes of the group enjoying a day at the beach. In addition, the lyrics deal with trying to overcome an old relationship, where they ask the person to return the love they gave.
And to celebrate the release of Love Back, Why Don’t We organized a secret show in Los Angeles at the El Rey Theater that only a few fans got tickets for!
The article above was edited by Giullia Cartaxo.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Cásper Líbero home page for more!