Q: What’s amazing about the K-pop groups is that I remember when I was watching Japanese music TV programs, one of the major K-pop groups in Japan appeared:  Tohosinki, aka TVXQ. They were singing in Japanese lyrics. What’s amazing about K-pop groups is not just the dancing and singing, but it’s also about learning other languages. Could you take us through the process of what it was like for you ladies to learn another language?

Fatou: For me, I enjoy learning different languages [Fatou speaks 5 languages: Korean, English, French, German, and Dutch] because I can connect with more people, more cultures. It was really fun to learn Korean, so I enjoyed it, and spoke to the fans. It makes you even closer, you know what I mean.

Sriya: Yeah, I agree. It’s fun to learn a new language.

NVee: I think as far as the learning process goes, we all learn at different paces. The learning process has been hard, but also fun because I’m learning so many different phrases and not just sentence structure. I can speak more now. So it’s rewarding to finally be able to communicate.

Q: Your group was initially called RaNia, then you changed it to Blackswan. With different members and different group names, there’s so much reiteration going on here. But I’m curious to know, Fatou, you’re one of the longest members, what was the key essence in holding the members together and  staying positive and just making it global as it is now?

Fatou: We have the same goal, we have the same love, the same passion for music, and also another really important part, our Lumina [Blackswan’s fans] were always there to keep us grounded.

Whenever I feel like I might fall down, I might tumble, I might give up, I always think about my passion for music, Lumina, and I think it’s the glue. And also, because we’re all very close to each other right now, it just clicks. We just work together really well. It’s very fascinating for me, actually.

Really, fascinating. Because I’m not really a people person. lol But they make me a people person, you know what I’m saying? So they keep me grounded. They keep me in a good headspace. I think that’s the reason holding it together.

Q: You ladies belong to DR music. Could you talk about how it’s different from other labels such as Brave Entertainment, Cube Entertainment, Fantasia Music, and all those other labels. What was the difference that stood out for you ladies in belonging to the DR Music label? 

NVee: I think one thing that makes DR Music different from the other K-pop companies is they have that open mindset to try new things outside of Korea in terms of culture and age. Because when I was auditioning for different companies two, three years ago, most companies always had a cutoff age. For me age doesn’t matter, but don’t let that stop you from letting people in.

Because there are so many good artists, talented artists, that are also like 22. I was 22 when I auditioned and I’m like 25 now and there’s so many great potentials whether it be with 20s, 30s, or 16 to 17 year olds, but don’t let that stop you. So for me it was age and diversity to be more open.

©Courtesy of Apple TV+

Q: In this series, a lot of people talk about the influence of K-Pop groups such as Baby Vox [a South Korean K-Pop group formed in 1997] or Monster X [a South Korean boy group formed through the reality survival program No.Mercy under Starship Entertainment]. What’s the most influential K-pop group for you ladies?

Sriya: For me, it was EXO sunbaenim. I used to look up to EXO sunbaenim a lot because they influenced me in various aspects. So I used to look up to them for every single thing. And when I was back in India, I used to be a dancer and I used to give a lot of reality auditions back then too, but it just doesn’t suit me. It doesn’t feel like something.

I wanted to do something different that felt like something that I can be happy with. So that’s why I think when I saw K-pop, when I discovered K-pop, I came across EXO sunbaenim from one of my friends back then and then I got to discover K-pop and then I was like, that is something I really want to do. So that’s how it ended up.

NVee: My inspiration was ONEUS Sunbaenim. I really liked their music and I had their music on repeat. But their performances are what stood out. It made me want to be a performer on the stage performing with them.

Q: Fatou, for you, SHINee stays the same? 

Fatou: Yes, it’s always SHINee for me.

Q : In this series, DR Music had a transitional stage from Mr. Yoon to his son, Phillip. So could you talk about the transitional management of DR Music? 

Fatou: Actually. it’s not really a transition. They’re still working together.

Q:  Oh, yeah? 

Fatou: This company—and they’ve been doing a good job [clapping her hands)] because they’ve actually been adjusting to our demands. They’ve been getting us the help we need and they listen when we say something, so it’s the father and son duo [clapping her hands].

Q:  What’s engaging about K-pop is the relationship between fans and the group. And there are events such as fan-club meetings? So talk about the relationship with the fan base and how those fans have been affecting each of you ladies.

Sriya: For me, I would say that without fans, we are not here. What we make, we want the song to be best so that people can relate their emotions, they can celebrate, they can be sad. People relate to music when they’re feeling something.

So we just wanted to convey the message that they listen to our songs or some songs that they get hooked on, and then they like the artist, and then they relate something–that’s why they start supporting. That’s what keeps us going because we get so much energy back. They give us love, support, and their time. We appreciate their love and support so much.

Fatou: We’re like this, we’re family [crossing two fingers].

Q:  Sriya, could you talk about the Cygnus project, a global audition process? How was the global audition process involved with becoming a member of Blackswan? 

Sriya: Oh, yes. The Cygnus project started when there was a lockdown. I would say the COVID started in 2020–yeah, 2020. At the time I think because of the lockdown, a lot of online auditions were open. And then by giving auditions, I came across their music auditions.

They have auditions, but there were a lot of participants, more than 4, 000 participants, I would say. Then we had to go through so many levels and processes, because on every level, there will be some more people eliminated: 50, let’s say 50 or a hundred, something like this will be eliminated to go to the next round. After that, they got to choose and brought me and Gabi in, then we started to train.

Q:  What’s amazing about the Blackswan was that in some of the music videos, I was really fascinated by the music video of “Roll Up,” with the cowgirls in the Western-looking costumes. I heard that you shot this music video in Dubai. Take us through the shooting process, how much were you involved in making this music video?

NVee: Oh my goodness. For starters, Dubai is a very beautiful county.

Fatou: So beautiful, so clean.

NVee: When shooting for “Roll Up”, I remember the desert scene. It was so hot…

Fatou : 43 °C [109.4 °F].

NVee:  The thing is, when you’re in a desert the sand reflects the light and so it’s hard to see and it’s very windy. So like most of the time, I had to make sure when I was filming, I’d be like, okay, wait, we’re just gonna close our eyes. And then when I hear it, “Action!” Okay, actually, sometimes you’ll catch—

if you look really closely at the one where we’re walking, the four of us together, my eyes are like this big. And so it was really hard to shoot those scenes, but I really loved it that we got to shoot there.

Fatou: Yeah, It was a special experience.

NVee: We got to see some Dubai Lumina, Oh, exactly. It was a very special moment.

Q:  I imagine that the female appearances and the culture have shifted quite a lot in Dubai from decades ago. This group has global success reaching all over the world. So what do you want audiences to take away from this series, because not just your group is in this series, but also other K-pop groups as well?

Fatou: I would love for the audience to watch this Doki series and accept us as human beings and accept that K-pop is not all sugary, happy, cute. It’s harsh. There’s hard times, but obviously happy times too. As long as this is the reality of K-pop, behind the scenes, it’s hard work. And keep on going and just keep yourself grounded. As long as you get that from this series, I think we’ll all be happy.

Sriya: We all can relate to it.

NVee: And one thing to add is when you see the hard work that Blackswan has come to from the debut to now, I hope that people can also take that as like an inspiration to do hard work in their own lives for what they want to do, who they want to be, what job they want, anything. It’ll give them the courage and the inspiration to, oh, if they can do it, then I can do it too. Keep going.

©Courtesy of Apple TV+

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