In September 2016, Zach Herron, Daniel Seavey, Jack Avery, Corbyn Besson and Jonah Marais came together to form the boyband Why Don’t We. After five years together and two full-length albums — 8 Letters and The Good Times and the Bad Ones — the boys are taking back control of their music.
“THE WAIT IS OVER,” the group shared via Instagram in September 2021. “WDW IS BACK AND HERE TO STAY. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.”
As of April 2022, the band had to postpone the pre-sale and public on-sale of their 2022 North American tour, per Billboard. “Due to legal complications, we have been forced to postpone the pre-sale and public on-sale of our 2022 North American tour,” a statement for the band reads. “We hope to announce new pre-sale and public on-sale dates as soon as possible.”
The group first rose to fame after appearing in Logan Paul‘s YouTube videos. Since then, WDW has amassed a pretty impressive social media following with over six million followers on the band’s Instagram account. After a brief social media break to kick off 2020, the band dropped some more music before making headlines with a September 2021 social media post claiming that they suffered “mental, emotional and financial abuse” at the hands of a member on their management team.
Their statement came after Billboard reported the news that their managers Randy Phillips and David Loeffler filed opposing lawsuits. Randy, for his part, is seeking to remove David from the managing company while David is suing WDW for breach of contract since they apparently refused to sign an agreement with their record label until Randy is reinstated as their sole manager, Billboard reported.
“This is now playing out on the public stage in a continued attempt to weaponize our love for our music and our fans,” the band shared in their social media statement. “We will no longer be silenced and we look forward to finally closing the chapter on this traumatic stage in our lives.”
While the boys never named the manager in their social media statement, Billboard also reported that the boys petitioned the California Labor Commission to dismiss their contract with Signature Entertainment.
“While our initial instinct was to wait for the storm to pass (as we have been conditioned to do), we have matured to the point where we now realize that suffering in silence is no longer an option, it is not healthy for either us or our fans,” the group also wrote on Instagram.
A statement from WDW’s lawyer to Billboard noted that the group will “support Randy Phillips the same way he has supported us from the start of our careers.” David’s lawyer, meanwhile, alleged that WDW’s comments were “untrue” and “hurtful,” per BBC.
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