India on Thursday got its first K-pop star as 18-year-old Sriya Lenka from Odisha was named the fifth member of renowned group Blackswan. Lenka’s journey to Blackswan started in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown, when she started auditioning for several K-pop bands. After a series of auditions, she was finally shortlisted for a training camp in Seoul where she honed her artistic skills in an intense 5-month programme. Apart from Lenka, Brazil’s 19-year-old Gabriela Dalcin was named as the sixth member of the group
Who is Sriya Lenka: The first K-pop star from India
> Sriya Lenka was born in Odisha’s Rourkela district in 2003. Since her childhood, she was interested in the music and arts industry. Lenka’s father, Avinash Lenka, works for a private company in Jharsuguda. He told the media that he was overjoyed after hearing that his daughter would be the first Indian to be a K-pop star.
> Lenka is trained in several dance styles, including Odissi classical form, freestyle, hip-hop and contemporary. She has been building her dancing skills since the age of 12. Sriya Lenka decided to build on her K-pop dream after she watched the video of K-pop hit ‘Growl MV’ by Exo band and tried to copy the members’ moves.
> During the Covid-19 lockdown imposed in 2020, she started auditioning for K-pop groups. She learnt Korean online and watched a lot of Korean dramas to strengthen her grasp of Korean language and culture.
{{/usCountry}}> During the Covid-19 lockdown imposed in 2020, she started auditioning for K-pop groups. She learnt Korean online and watched a lot of Korean dramas to strengthen her grasp of Korean language and culture.
{{/usCountry}}> In December 2021, after months of practising and several auditions, Sriya Lenka was shortlisted for training in Seoul to become a member of the Korean pop band Blackswan, after its oldest member, Hyeme, left the group in November 2020. She was chosen from among 4,000 applicants through a YouTube audition programme.
> In the last five months of her training she was put through an intense process that ranged from standard vocal, rap, dance lessons to personal training, language, and musical instruments.
> As Sriya Lenka successfully completed her training, the Blackswan group announced Thursday that she has been chosen as the fifth member of the group.
About Blackswan K-pop group
Blackswan was started as Rania in 2011. It later became BP Rania before getting its current name in October 2020. It is currently a four-member K-pop girl band consisting of its leader and Korean singer Go Young Heun (Youngheun), Belgium-based Senegalese singer-rapper-model Fatou Samba (Fatou), Korean singer-dancer Kim Da Hye (Judy) and maknae Brazilian-Japanese singer Larissa Ayumi Cartes Sakata (Leia). The group debuted in 2020 with a full album Goodbye Rania, followed by its first single album Close to Me in 2021.