BELIFT LAB Under Fire For Allegedly Mistreating Fans At Recent ENHYPEN Fansign

ENHYPEN‘s label BELIFT LAB is currently under fire for allegedly mistreating fans that attended a fansign for the group’s latest album.

ENHYPEN | BELIFT LAB

Not long ago, ENHYPEN came back with their new album Dark Blood. Fans highly anticipated this as the group’s last Korean album came out in July 2022, making it nearly a year since their comeback.

When groups release a new album, they often hold special events like showcases, pop-up shops, and fansigns. Fansigns allow fans to meet the group up close and personal, chatting with their favorite artists as they sign an album for them.

To enter a fansign, fans much purchase albums from a specific store, with each album purchased counting as a raffle ticket. Fans can spend thousands of dollars for the chance to talk to their favorite group.

BTS’s Jimin at a fansign.

ENHYPEN announced several fansigns before their comeback and have been completing them over the last few days. Unfortunately, some fans had terrible experiences due to the actions of BELIFT LAB.

On June 3, fan accounts from the group’s Aladin shop fansign were shared online, describing their experience at the event. One fan stated that the label forced them to get the Weverse version of the album signed instead of one of the standard editions.

Weverse albums are much smaller and usually only contain photo cards.

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픈팬싸 사인받는앨범은 인덱스부터 이름까지 싹 다 음반사에서준비해주고있어서 팬이 자기원하는 버전에다가 사인못받게하는데
근데tq 아무래도 위버스버전으로 응모해버려도 그냥 그걸로주면 어떡해 사전에 연락해서 다른버전이라도 준비해오라고 아님 추금받고 레귤러버전 하나 드려야지
7명 다… pic.twitter.com/B2f0nURP1J

— ༘ (@g_md_ri) June 3, 2023

For ENHYPEN’s fansign, the record label prepares everything—from index to name—so the fans cannot choose which version of the album they get the members to sign. Even so… It makes no sense for them to force the fans to get the signatures on the Weverse version album. They should’ve let the fans know and allowed them to prepare a different album. Or they could’ve even charged extra and prepared a regular version for them, too. How are all seven members supposed to sign this palm-sized piece of wrapping paper? How does this make any sense? They are so stubborn and have zero flexibility. What a bunch of douches.

— Fan

According to the official rules for this fansign, fans were given albums to be signed by the label instead of bringing their own, making this situation almost impossible to avoid without prior announcement.

Several members also seemed confused about why they were signing such a small item.

2번째멤버 사인하다가 도저히 이게말이안된거같아서 직원부름ㄱ- 엔진분 자리떠나처리하러나가는거 계속지켜봄 pic.twitter.com/XYibTcmz6N

— ༘ (@g_md_ri) June 3, 2023

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This was not the only problem created at the fansign by the label — fans were not allowed to use pre-written scripts to make their communications with the idols easier. Fans that aren’t fluent in Korean, and many that need notes to help them overcome their nerves, were left at a considerable disadvantage with no apparent explanation.

https://t.co/Jn8SILT4Ud pic.twitter.com/LI0fJY06Sa

— ♱파♱ (@pshpha) June 3, 2023

Hello. I’m using a translator so it might be difficult to understand. But I was denied bringing a script to the Aladdin fansign. I don’t speak Korean that well, so I ended up not being able to communicate with the members at all.

Portion of @pshpha’s recounting of the fansign

There was also no mention of this not being allowed in the rules originally posted for the fansign event.

Fans online are outraged with BELIFT LAB for their inconsiderate behavior towards those who attended this event.

to @BELIFTLAB why are you doing this to the fans?! Enhypen is a global group, they want to hear & know their fans from across the globe who are even willing to travel to meet them!! you’re literally sabotaging your only group! can’t even provide subs to mostly of their contents!!

— 달 (@nksunbaem) June 3, 2023

belift can’t do one thing right… this will definitely influence their sells and in a bad way cuz how many people (even intl-fans) purchase thousands of albums just to get into those fansigns?? this is so stupid and not strategic at all istg https://t.co/AGKv4mcum3

— ⨾ ariᴱᴺ⁻ (@sunkissest) June 3, 2023

if belift is this strict when it comes to offline fansign event, they should put the same energy when it comes to fancalls to then. where were they when some fans were disrespectful during fancalls?

— van (@prodshn) June 3, 2023

Korean netizens were surprised to see this happen and expressed dismay with the company.

• Why even host a fansign, then? The company clearly wants to boost sales, but that’s it. They don’t care about the fans—their customers. Fan signs are for fans; So as long as the fans aren’t harming the artists, they should be able to do what they want. I don’t understand why the company is being so aggressive toward the fans. What’s wrong with having scripts? Why ban them? Shouldn’t the company be grateful for these fans, and the fact that they want to communicate with the members? This company is such a sh*t show.
• I used to stan this group, and I’ve been to their offline events. I quit because the management literally hated the group’s fans, and I realized I didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. Haha. It sounds like things got even worse. The members work really hard and are amazing. But the management is trolling them. F*ck you, BELIFT LAB. Get your hands off the entertainment business. As*holes. LMAO.
•  How is this acceptable? I know the company used to be a game production company. Is that why it has zero understanding of the K-Pop industry? It’s as if they don’t want to be running the business… Sigh. They don’t even have the least amount of decency to treat their customers right. Like, these fans are VIPs. It takes a lot of money for them to attend these events. The company should not be doing the fans this dirty. The Weverse album is clearly too small. How difficult is it to offer another option? Stop being so stubborn. It’s frustrating.
• Doesn’t know how K-Pop fans work, huh? The company is SO clueless that it makes me wonder if they’re even meant to be in the entertainment business.
• At the fansign, fans are battling against time limits and feeling nervous in front of all the members. So they usually bring a script, outlining what they want to say. But right before this fansign, the management banned those. Not only did this make the Korean fans panic… International fans who don’t speak Korean also struggled because they couldn’t communicate at all. From what I heard, there were 20 Korean fans and 30 international fans. What a mess…

The company has previously come under fire for allegedly mistreating the group members, which you can read about below.

BELIFT LAB Staff Comes Under Fire For Allegedly Hitting ENHYPEN’s Sunoo