WION Exclusive: K-pop band 'Blackswan' on their trip to India, future plans and more

South Korea has fully emerged as a major hub for drama, filmmaking and pop music production. K-pop, which has steadily built its power through its deeply connected fan base, has unleashed an aesthetic that's changing tastes, pop-culture-based activism, and even tie-in products for children. Last week, WION got the opportunity to interact with the young K-Pop band Blackswan, who shared with us their ideas and joys of being a part of popular culture.

WION sat down for a chat in a video-based interaction, after their performance at the Hockey World Cup in India's Odisha last week.

My first question is to all of you... How was your trip to India? I also want to know about your performance at the hockey world cup. Were you nervous?

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Gabi: We were really tired coming to India during the travel but at the time we stepped in we were like, ohmy god, wewill do everything. Our energy came back, we were like pretty excited about the performance. Yes, it was really good.

Fatou: For me, I was really really excited to come to India as Sriya has been telling us soo much great stuff about India. and I can tell you at this point, when she told us,the food, the concert - was amazing, the energy.We were a bit nervous but the moment we saw the crowd, it was so welcoming, so warm.

Nvee: I was especially nervous because I had just debuted as a member of the group and was training for like two months, before al this had happened. At first, I was like ah na, I got this, it's no problem and once we got there and we were about to go on stage, I was like ahhhh (shivering). But I think once we reached there and the music started I wasn't worried about anything else.

Fatou: She did great

Nvee: Thank you, it was really good the travel, the travel was good for me I don't know about you guys. I ate and slept, that's all that matters. India was sobeautiful, the architecture and the colours.

My next question is for Sriya... You've interacted with WION earlier (And told us you learnt Odissi for five years.)Now you are very popular in K-pop. What difference do you feel between Indian culture and K-pop culture?

Sriya: First of all I would say that K-pop is more like western and our Indian culture is more about classical so they are two different things. So it is kinda hard to do western when you learn singing in Indian classical form. It's really a big change but everyone had me over here, I practised a lot, oh my god,it took me one year to catch up. Not one year but almost 6 months of training and then finally I could do both, but I am still not that good but I triedmy best to do that. Yes, it's different but both are good in their own ways.

Coming to Gabi now... You and Sriya made news last year when you joined Blackswan. You are from Brazil, what inspiration have you personally taken from your native place? Has that helped you in your journey as a K-pop star?

Gabi: So my biggest inspiration for sure is singer Anita, not sure where she came from ------ a really small place and everyone always told her, oh your dream is too big and you can't achieve it and now she is really famous and like an international singer and almost everyone knows her. So she is for sure, my biggest inspiration from brazil and she helped me, without knowing, she helped me achieve this.

My next question is for Fatou. It's a question I have to ask... What explains the popularity and the huge fan following of K-pop?

Fatou: For me, I feel like in the last few years the quality of the music has gone way higher in stake and also a lot more cultures involved in K-pop so lot more styles and now a lot more reach worldwide so this year almost, totally popular, music jars have grown more, like this year. Afrobeat was really popular in the K-pop community, so K-pop reached countries that love Afro beats

Watch |Exclusive: K-pop band Blackswan on WION

Nvee... You come from the U.S., a place where there has been a rise of k-pop... Why do you think it has become such a popular form of entertainment?

Nvee: Like Fatou said it has so many different cultures and aspects that are thrown into the K-pop music industry so the kit can really reach so many people and so many different types of sounds that people will like, but personally each person who is a fan of K-pop has their own style and group that they love from their heart and the idols who they support. They give something to reach for, something to hope for, something to be happy for, and it's just touching to see all that.

For somebody who might loveBTS, Blackpink, Stray Kids or Shinee,there is always that one group that is always out there for that one person. And I think that's how things trend, oh my gosh... u like this group and I love this group too and it gets around.

Last but not least... What are your future plans? Like the famous K-pop bands BTS and Blackpink, do you see yourself on the top charts in the years to come?

Fatou: Our future plans are actually putting out a lot of music and just letting the world know who Blackswan is in our own way, in our own unique way, put out a lot of music and be ready for that we hope for a big world war top charts and I feel like we have pretty big goals, we will reach those, we have been practising a lot and watching the fans, they are connecting with us and we are connecting with them. It gives us the energy to perform more and it gives us the energy to work harder and we don't want to leave them, it is the biggest thing that inspires us.

Gabi: And literally our next step now for sure is to achieve the highest position possible on the charts with the new song and release more and more cute music for our Lumina fans and one step at a time but we have really big dreams.

Fatou: For me, this year would be to connect more with Lumina, Blackswan's fandom,because they have been with us, and they keep supporting us and I really want to be more closer to them. And also we will release awesome music and perform.I want to meet every single Lumina out there this year.

Nvee: I think for me again with the charts and meeting with the lumina, but personally I just want to practise more, because there is so much that I have yet to learn to perfect and nothing ever is gonna be perfect but at least I always strive to do my best whether it's perfect or not but make sure that its at least up to par. Because when I dreamed of being an idol, I dreamtof delivering ajaw-dropping performance on stage.

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