Blackswan: Can an International K-Pop Group Work?

It’s been twelve years since singer Psy released his song, “Gangnam Style,” rocketing into worldwide popularity and fame. My childhood is filled with memories of playing that music video on repeat and singing at the top of my lungs, not even faltering when it came to the Korean parts I didn’t understand. Even the dance is still being done today, often played for a dumb joke. While “Gangnam Style” temporarily took the world by storm, not many people realized it was the final crack in the wall stopping an obsession from leaving Korea’s borders.

This was the beginning of K-Pop’s sensational breakthrough into the Western world. The genre has become inescapable, especially with more artists producing songs in English. Even those who completely deny K-Pop’s reputation have hummed along to BTS’ “Butter.” K-Pop isn’t simply music; it’s Korea’s gateway into sharing their culture with the world, and in that sense, it’s become sacred to Koreans.

Which is why the thought of anyone else being part of this sensation is strange. Yes, the industry has let in idols who aren’t Korean, but only those still from East Asia. It’s very clear that Korean pop, as the name says, is solely for Koreans.

Or, that’s what I thought.

K-Pop Without the K?

Last May, I was scrolling through my YouTube recommended page when I noticed something odd. The recommended video was a live performance on “Inkigayo,” a popular Korean music show often featuring K-Pop idols. This wasn’t anything new, except for the fact that there was a black woman in the thumbnail. 

My attention, and confusion, were immediately piqued. Was this real? Could there really be a black Korean idol?

I clicked on the video and immediately got my answer. All four people on stage were singing and rapping in Korean, but none of them were Korean. Plus, three of them were brown people, something that shocked and delighted me as a mixed-race Black person. 

Even once the shock wore off, I found myself greatly enjoying the video. The dancing was fun, the song, “Karma,” was catchy and a lot of the vocals were live, which I’ve noticed isn’t always common in K-Pop performances. 

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had this video pop up on my recommended page, because soon it racked up a million views (it now has over two million). The comments were filled with awe and positivity, all sharing my surprise of this international, multi-racial K-Pop group. Blackswan is the group’s name, and everyone wanted to know who the members were and where they came from.

Who is Blackswan?

Despite the group’s more recent debut, Blackswan has technically been around since 2011. Originally, the group was called RaNia, owned by DR music. The lineup of members has changed many times over the years, but it’s this lineup that’s gained so much international popularity. 

The leader of the group, and the member who’s been around the longest, is Fatou, K-Pop’s first African idol. She’s who I saw on the video’s thumbnail and who blew me away with her rapping and rich voice. Fatou is Senegalese and has spent much of her life in Belgium, so Korean is one of many languages she’s learned to speak. She was a model before joining the K-Pop industry, inspired by music videos of SHINee she watched when she was younger. With her talent and amazing stage presence, it’s no wonder she’s become the most popular member of the group. In fact, it was Fatou’s career that inspired another member to join: Nvee. 

Nvee is the newest member of the group and the only American. She’s mixed-race, and when I first saw her, I thought to myself, “I never thought I’d see someone who looked like me in a K-Pop group.” She used to be just another K-Pop fan who loved many popular groups like BTS, ENHYPEN and EXO. But when she saw a video of Fatou performing, she decided to travel to Korea and try to become an international idol. I wonder if she ever thought she’d be working alongside her source of inspiration. She says still has a long way to go in terms of learning Korean fluently, but watching K-Dramas has helped her a lot. Anyway, she definitely makes up for it with her classically trained voice.

Gabi is another member who started out as a K-Pop fan. She’s Brazilian-German, growing up in Brazil until being greatly inspired by the girl group TWICE, leading her to moving to Korea. For months before joining Blackswan, she was a trainee. But she was also part of the well-known Korean dance studio 1MILLION, which has gone viral for videos covering famous song choreography. Of course, many of their most popular videos are dances performed to K-Pop songs. Gabi specialized in urban dancing, and she took those skills with her to Blackswan, naturally becoming their lead dancer.

The fourth and final member is Sriya, who shook the K-Pop world by becoming the first Indian idol in the industry. That’s right, two of Blackswan’s members are industry firsts. Even though she’s the youngest member, Sriya has been training since 2017, joining the industry because of her love of contemporary dance. She was actually part of the same trainee program as Gabi before joining Blackswan. 

Because of Sriya, the music video for “Karma” was filmed in India, and the members all wore Indian clothing. The video has over 8 million views on Youtube, many garnered through the popularity of the viral Inkigayo performance.

Now we know all the members, but how do we know if they can fit into an industry as cutthroat as K-Pop?

Korea and Their Relationship With Perfection

In recent years, it’s been made publicly known that the conditions K-Pop idols and trainees endure are often ruthless. Everyone must follow strict diets and exercise regimens, and they spend most of their time doing endless practices. Essentially, every part of their life is chosen and controlled for them.

The 2020 Netflix documentary, “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” actually reveals some of the intense training Blackpink faces. There are many clips of the group’s members talking about how they can never mess up, and that they’re taught to always put on performances that are better than perfect. Though this is something they somewhat brush off, explaining that the mindset has made them better performers, it’s hard to justify putting anyone under that much stress, especially at the young age trainees often start at.

But the standards of the K-Pop industry align with Korea’s culture, centered around being respectful and flawless. It’s especially seen in Korea’s beauty standards, which praise women for being skinny and having more Caucasian features like double-eyelids, often obtained through plastic surgery. 

Blackswan had to do unimaginable amounts of work just to fit into the industry. They had to learn a new language, become accustomed to a new place, and meet every high standard of the industry. Members have expressed how difficult it is to begin training from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep. The kind of choreography they’re expected to do has even made resident dancer Gabi doubt her skills. 

And it’s no surprise that they’ll never look Korean, which already alienates them. Colorism also plays a large factor because, like most of the world, Korea has an affinity for those with lighter skin tones. 

Which is why I didn’t expect Fatou and Sriya, the members with the darkest skin tones, to be the most popular members. I’ve seen people praising them the most for their skills, and on Instagram, they both have over 500,000 followers, while Nvee and Gabi have 97,000 and 195,000 followers respectively.

But What Does Everyone Really Think?

Global reaction to Blackswan hasn’t been perfect, with many critics saying the group doesn’t even count as K-Pop. It’s understandable that people would be upset about non-Koreans trying so hard to be part of something so important to their country’s culture. While I’m not Korean and have no authority to speak on the subject, I think Blackswan has been very respectful of the culture by making the effort to learn the customs and language, singing in both Korean and English like all other idols do.

Astonishingly, I wasn’t the only one to think this way. Most reactions to Blackswan have been positive, including those of Koreans. People appreciated that the members came all the way to Korea to take on such a challenge. Another commenter said that Blacksawn could be “the future of K-Pop.”

No, they haven’t reached such fame like BTS, who ironically have a song called “Black Swan,” but they’ve garnered a very supportive fanbase. Through their Youtube channel, which has over 800,000 subscribers, I found their official website where the members themselves make social media-like posts for their fans. There’s also a page on the website for fans to make public comments and interact with each other, and the worst I’ve seen on the page is impatience about Blackswan’s delayed comeback. 

What’s Next for Blackswan and the Industry?

As it stands, Blackswan’s only two released songs are “Karma” and “Cat and Mouse,” which fans are playing on repeat until their upcoming comeback. The group had a few recent performances, one being in Dubai, and it seems their fanbase is slowly growing. With this popularity will undoubtedly come more international K-Pop groups, or at least more tolerance for it.

In fact, as I was writing this article, girl group KATSEYE released their debut single, “Debut.” The group has six members, only one of them Korean, and all of them are women of color. It seems we’re starting to see a large shift in the K-Pop industry.

Some may see this as being an invasion into the world of K-Pop, a way for people to insert themselves into Korean culture just because it’s “trendy.” However, it could be a way to open doors for people who genuinely love and enjoy the genre but have never met the expectations of what a K-Pop fan should be.

Music is a way for people to find connections, and that isn’t something that should be taken away. I’ll be keeping an eye out for new Blackswan songs and for whatever other surprises the industry has in store.