Hailee Steinfeld just joined the long list of artists who have spoken out about the unfair
treatment of record labels toward their clients after she appeared to throw some major shade
toward Republic Records on social media.
What’s up y’all, it’s Emile Ennis Jr. back here with Clevver News, and we have to
break down this epic shade from Hailee Steinfeld.
Real talk: What’s not to love about Hailee Steinfeld?
She’s talented, gorgeous, down-to-earth, and did I mention she’s seriously TALENTED?
Clearly Republic Records thought so, too, when they signed Hailee back in 2015, but
after one successful album and another album release on the horizon, it seems the tables
have turned and Hailee is less than thrilled with the way she’s been treated, and we
have one Instagram comment to thank for the insight.
But before we get into all the details, don’t forget to subscribe to Clevver News if you
haven’t already, and be sure to ring that notification bell so you never miss a breaking
news update.
Alright, so the year is 2015: Hailee is about to make strides in her career, as she starred
in Pitch Perfect 2 that debuted at No. 1, she supported her good friend Taylor Swift
with a part in her record-breaking “Bad Blood” music video, and she just landed
her first record deal with Republic Records.
Mind you, this label also hosts some of the world’s most A-list musicians, including
Ariana Grande, Drake, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and Post Malone, just to name a few, so yeah,
this was a HUGE deal.
The girl is on fire to put it in simpler terms.
It was then that executive vice president of Republic Records, Charlie Walk gushed over
their new addition in a statement, saying QUOTE, “The moment that we met Hailee we
found her commitment to music inspiring.
She has the vision, natural talent, and dedication to compete at the highest level.
We are thrilled to be part of her musical journey.”
Since then, Hailee released her debut E.P.
Haiz just months after signing in 2015, has been featured on multiple No. 1 hits, including,
“Starving” with Zedd and “Let Me Go” with Alesso and Florida Georgia Line and is
set to release her second E.P Half Written Story in a matter of days.
But it seems that a lack of promotion and support from her label over the years has
caused Hailee to speak out and throw some subtle shade toward Republic Records… and
on the most public platform known to man.
Hailee took to Instagram earlier this week to promote her upcoming E.P. on Instagram
when Republic Records commented with three heart emojis.
Just then, wigs were snatched and fans suddenly prepared for a natural disaster as they noticed
Hailee’s comment back to Republic that read, “@republicrecords you gonna post about it?”
Let’s just say fans’ reactions to Hailee’s comment were something to this extent:
Twitter went off in support of Hailee, and even noted that this happens way too often
between artists and their record labels.
One user wrote, “SNAPPED.
It’s about time we have more artists like her being bold enough to speak up about their
label.
She’s been putting out nothing but bops from her first EP and the standalone singles
after that.
And they are too damn good to not get enough promo as it so rightfully should.”
That same fan also suggested that Hailee do as other artists have done and transfer labels,
saying, “She really should.
In that case she should do what Demi did and go to Island Records or something.
I mean yeah Demi’s still technically under Hollywood but at least she gets better exposure
on a major label like Island.”
And other fans are calling out the label for only promoting their biggest male artists,
like one user who wrote, “Republic Records trash label who only support the male artists
Drake, Post and Abel.
We hate them.”
Fans are clearly fired up about all of this, but I’m curious to hear what you guys thought
about Hailee’s shade -- should more artists be standing up for themselves when it comes
to unfair treatment of their label, or will this get Hailee in trouble?
Be sure to chime in down below in the comments, but it seems Hailee has been doing some self-promoting
in recent weeks, no thanks to her label, and shared her excitement about the upcoming project
in a statement, saying QUOTE, “This project is a collection of songs that are so special
to me and I’m incredibly proud of.”
She went on to add quote, “This is the first body of work I’ve put out since my debut
project in 2016 and I can’t wait for everyone to hear these new songs.”
Hailee also isn’t the only artist in the past year to have stood her ground against
her label.
Last year, Taylor Swift found herself in a very public feud with her former record label
Big Machine Records after Scooter Braun and his company Ithica Holdings had signed a $300
million dollar deal aquiring the rights to all of Taylor’s past master records.
She wrote a scathing Tumblr post outing Scooter, Big Machine label head Scott Borchetta and
even celebs like Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian.
Kesha also recently just lost a legal battle with producer Dr. Luke that has been ongoing
since 2014, when she sued him for physical and sexual abuse, including drugging and raping
her, to which he denied all claims.
We’re hoping Hailee’s issue with Republic doesn’t have to come down to a legal battle,
but in the meantime, let’s all do our part in supporting Hailee and her music by streaming
Half Written Story, which drops next Friday, May 8th.
For even more shocking music news, click right over here to see what song of Billie Eilish’s
was never even meant to be published.
I'm Emile Ennis Jr. with Clevver News, bye guys!