Blackswan: The K-pop girl group with no Korean members

Donning sari-inspired covering and intricate jewellery, 4 young women are seen dancing energetically astatine a temple. Then, gulal, a colourful pulverization utilized successful accepted rituals, is dispersed crossed the entity and onto their faces.

This is not a Bollywood movie but the latest euphony video of K-pop miss radical Blackswan.

Blackswan is presently the lone K-pop miss radical without immoderate Korean members that made its debut successful South Korea. In 2017, an all-American K-pop lad band, Exp Edition, debuted successful South Korea but they are nary longer active.

It is not antithetic for K-pop groups to person overseas members, typically from different Asian countries - 1 of K-pop's biggest miss radical Blackpink, has a subordinate from Thailand.

But isolated from Blackswan subordinate Sriya who hails from India, nary of the different set members are from Asia. Fatou grew up successful Senegal and Belgium, Gabi is Brazilian-German and NVee comes from the US.

As the genre continues to globalise, the miss radical has go portion of a increasing speech astir the explanation of K-pop - and whether they autumn wrong those lines.

"They are affiliated with a Korean amusement company, debuted successful South Korea, and sing successful Korean," said 1 commenter, suggesting they should beryllium defined arsenic K-pop.

However, different Korean fans are little positive. "Without [them really being] Korean, they are conscionable a popular group."

But its members are unfazed by specified comments, saying that they place themselves arsenic K-pop group, successful summation to singing successful Korean - frankincense making them a K-pop group.

And arsenic the authorities plans to motorboat a two-year "K-culture grooming visa", enabling foreigners to acquisition K-pop training, its an statement that is apt going to proceed to beryllium divisive.

Blackswan's atypical line-up was not by plan initially and reflects the trajectory of the improvement of K-pop. Its predecessor is Rania, which launched successful 2011. It was made up of six Koreans and a Thai - though its rank experienced important changes implicit the years.

In 2020, euphony institution DR Music decided to rebrand Rania into Blackswan - with Fatou being the lone 1 from its archetypal line-up.

"Some radical mightiness find it unusual and adjacent dislike the radical for not having immoderate Korean members. However, we saw the accidental successful the expanding K-pop market," Philip YJ Yoon, managing manager astatine DR Music, told the BBC.

But this enlargement isn't without its challenges.

Language is the archetypal barrier, arsenic K-pop idols are expected to talk and execute successful Korean. Korean has antithetic code forms, depending connected the listeners' age, societal status, level of intimacy and occasions. Honorifics are cardinal to the language.

"You shouldn't usage the sanction of a idiosyncratic oregon accidental 'you' successful Korean. But successful Portuguese and English, you ever usage it successful a sentence. So, it was truly hard for my encephalon to process," says Gabi.

To this date, immoderate members inactive conflict with Korean.

But its creation practices they each find the hardest - with grooming typically taking up each day.

"When they perpetually say, 'No, it's wrong. Do it again.' It was frustrating," says Nvee, who studied philharmonic theatre and acting.

Gabi performed successful a screen creation radical backmost location successful Brazil - truthful she thought dancing would travel easy.

"When I came here, ohio my god, [I realised] I didn't cognize thing astir dance," she says.

Trainees besides unrecorded unneurotic successful a dorm and are restricted from going retired and dating. They are besides told to suffer value and request to look perfect. Any benignant of scandals are not permissible - arsenic the Korean nationalist clasp celebrities to precocious motivation standards.

Freelance casting manager In Ji-woong, who has spent 8 years arsenic a choreographer for K-pop groups, says helium has heard of overseas trainees escaping from their shared location to spell clubbing. Their managers were "urgently deployed" to bring them back.

Mr Yoon admits it is simply a situation to enactment with planetary trainees: "They often question the rules and are precise straightforward."

The rigidity of grooming and the hyper-competitiveness person besides led to a intelligence wellness situation successful the K-pop industry.

In April, fans were shocked by the abrupt decease of Moonbin, a subordinate of lad set Astro. He was recovered unresponsive successful his level successful the Gangnam neighbourhood of Seoul. In 2019, K-pop stars Sulli and her adjacent person Goo Hara passed distant successful a period - some suspected suicides.

"Dealing with intelligence accent was the astir challenging portion for me," says Fatou, who has suffered from slump symptoms since a young age.

She says determination are times erstwhile she asks herself: "I can't dance, I can't rap, I can't sing. What [am I] doing?"

Fatou is seeing a psychiatrist and has been connected medicine since February. This is the archetypal clip she's ever sought aesculapian assistance for her symptoms, and her bureau is paying for it. Still, she says K-pop is what brings her the astir joy.

An expanding fig of amusement companies present connection trainees and idols much idiosyncratic time. Some of the rules are made much lenient, too.

As for Blackswan, its members are assured that they correspond the aboriginal of K-pop.

"K-pop volition go much globalised, truthful that determination are much planetary groups being trained and making debut successful the planetary market," Gabi says.

Sriya has enactment it successful simpler terms: "Everybody tin bash it… due to the fact that tegument colours don't specify anything."