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| ▲ This photo, provided by MLD Entertainment, shows LAPILLUS' Chanty. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by DR Music, shows Black Swan's Sriya. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, July 17 (Yonhap) -- With the K-pop market in its prime, like the album sales reaching the best record the first half of this year, the composition of idol groups targeting the global market is also diversifying.
In the past, K-pop groups with foreign members were usually from China, Japan, the United States or Thailand.
However, as K-pop groups began to expand overseas, with their scope of activity expanding from East Asia to the whole world, the nationalities of the idols have also diversified.
We recently interviewed Chanty of LAPILLUS, the “first Filipino and Argentinian” member in K-pop girl group history, and Sriya of Black Swan, the first girl group member from India.
◇ Lapillus’ Chanty, "I challenged myself looking at 2NE1… want to show you the courage to challenge"
Chanty, with a Filipino and Argentine nationality, is a member of Momoland's younger sister group LAPILLUS, which MLD Entertainment formed last month. She is currently busy with their debut song “HIT YA!,” in which Lee Seung-cheol, a senior singer in the music industry, participated in vocal directing.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it as a K-pop singer as a foreigner. I still can’t believe I’m debuting as a singer in Korea. It truly feels like a dream,” Chanty said during the spare time before a rehearsal for a music program. “The schedule is hard, but I still look forward to it every day.”
While she worked in the Philippines media industry first, she achieved her dream of debuting in a K-pop girl group after she got into contact with the current agency and got trained for 9 months.
“The first K-pop song I listened to is 2NE1’s ‘Fire,’” she said. “Back then, 2NE1 used to be so famous in the Philippines that wherever you go, you’d hear ‘Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh-eh’ from ‘Fire.’”
“It was amazing to see (K-pop idols) dance while also singing, and I loved the beat and the melody. Even though I did not understand the lyrics, I liked the song,” she continued. “After I saw the performance of idols including 2NE1, I began to think that I wanted to dance and also sing, which made me think about challenging to become a K-pop idol.”
After that, she mentioned that BTS and BlackPink were the K-pop seniors she was also interested in.
“I think the most important factor in K-pop is the detail and intense practice of the choreography,” Chanty said. “If the flow of emotion is what is important to songs from other countries, K-pop is more detailed and is more strongly structured. It was surprising how one could express themselves like this just because they practiced for years.”
“So, I had my doubts on whether I could be successful, but I continued to work hard,” she said. “After looking at BTS, I got a dream of inspiring myself and the world even though I’m still young.”
“Because I have always admired K-pop, I’m very honored to become a member of Lapillus,” she also said. “I want to be a ‘Power Booster’ who gives hope to those in my home country that ‘I can do it too.’”
However, it is true that she still has many difficulties as her Korean that she learnt alone across the sea, still needs to be improved.
“Although I have improved a lot in Korean, I still have a lot to learn,” Chanty said. “There are times when it’s not easy to explain my thoughts in Korean. At first, all I knew in Korean was ‘water’ and ‘cold.’”
“I learnt a little bit of the Korean culture as I watched Korean dramas, but I never actually had the opportunity to experience it before,” she added. “There was a time when I was leaning on one leg, while my choreography teacher was teaching me. While I thought I was concentrating on the class, I got called out, saying that this action of mine was disrespectful."
“My parents were very worried because I had to start everything from the bottom in Korea while I was taking things step by step in the Philippines,” she mentioned. “But I convinced them that I was going to make it work, and that’s how my parents allowed me to go to Korea.”
“I’m not a very talented person, nor do I have so many talents. All I had was one dream. I want to show that the courage to challenge even though one’s not perfect is so important.”
◇ Black Swan Sriya "My mother didn't know until I came to Korea... Going on a world tour is my dream"
Sriya, who recently joined Black Swan as a new member, is also the first Indian to debut in the history of K-pop. We interviewed Sriya, who was sweating at the DR Music practice room of her agency, somewhere in Seoul.
“K-pop is very popular within the young generation in India,” said Sriya. “Last month, when I went to India for a while, so many fans congratulated me for becoming joining Black Swan.”
"Not only is the music good, but the lyrics have a message, and it motivates young people. It instills hope,” she said, as the secret to K-pop’s popularity. "Even if one doesn't understand Korean, if you look up the lyrics, there are many interesting elements. "
Sriya, who turned 19 this year, fell into K-pop after listening to EXO’s hit song “Growl” years ago. Since then, she grew her dream by following the choreography through YouTube, etc. She then got to achieve her dream after challenging many auditions of various companies online due to COVID-19.
As the first Indian K-pop girl group member was debuting, she even gave an interview to a local TV news station.
“I’m not used to Korean, so it was difficult to understand, but it was exciting,” Sriya said. “Dancing along with K-pop, I became convinced that this is what I wanted to do for my future.”
However, she also said that the process of coming to Korea, thousands of kilometers away from India, was not easy.
"My mother didn't want me to go to Korea alone," said Sriya. "My father knew that this (passing the audition) was a very important opportunity, so he secretly gave me permission to go pursue my dream. I only got to know this after I entered the country.”
“When I got the notification of acceptance, I was at my cousin’s house, and I was so happy to hear the news, I ran around my sister’s bed,” she said.
Sriya, who came to Korea in December last year stayed in Seoul for about 8 months, has improved her Korean and is now able to have any conversation. Black Swan, where she belongs, is a girl group from all over the world, such as Belgium, Germany, and Brazil. She said that she sometimes cooks curry for them.
“I think the most important factor in K-pop is to spend time with the members as a group and set up a great stage,” she said. “Being with the members makes me feel that I'm not alone and it's really always fun. It's really important to understand each other," she said,
Regarding K-pop, she pointed out saying, "There seems to be a big difference in that Indian music uses a lot of (local) traditional instruments, while K-pop is closer to (global) pop."
She chose year-end awards ceremony and world tour as her future goals.
"My goal is to inspire and motivate many young people with my music,” Sriya said. "I want to stand on big stages like year-end awards and MAMA (Mnet Asian Music Awards). If it’s possible I even want to go to the ‘Grammy Awards’.”
“I hope to become a good artist in 10 years and go on a world tour with many fans. I’d love to release many hit songs."
"Black Swan is different from other K-pop girl groups in many ways. Each member has a different nationality and skin color. I think this originality is the uniqueness that can unite K-pop fans."
(END)
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