In a proud moment for India, 18 years old Shreya Lenka was chosen to be a part of the globally renowned K Pop bandBlack Swan. The 18 year old from Odisha’s Rourkelabecomes India’s first and only K Pop artist ever.

Shreya, who adopted her stage name as Sriya, is the fifth member to join the band with other band mates Youngheun, Fatou, Judy and Leia. Sriya was selected alongwith Brazilian Gabriela Dalcin (or Gabi) being the sixth member of the band, by a programme organised by DR Music (Blackswan’s music label, DR Music) to discover and train budding singers from around the world.

Lenka and Dalcin were selected for the band after participating in the six-month-long global auditions that were announced by DR Music last year. As part of the training, which started in December 2021, both the artists had to work on their Korean language, dancing and vocal skills.

Sriya recalls her tryst with destiny and her big achievement in an interview with Verus Ferreira.

Congratulations Sriya on this great milestone. So tell us, when they announced you’d be part of Black Swan, how did you feel?

I felt really happy when I saw my name in the newspapers. I feel very proud and happy to see my name everywhere. I have achieved something, but I want to continue achieving and progressing. My journey has just started, it’s going to be a long one.

How does it feel on the other hand to be known as India’s first K Pop artist?

First of all, I am so grateful. I am very happy and proud that I have got this title. It means a lot to me and I cannot explain in words how happy I feel.

Sriya you are now a part of the K Pop industry in Seoul. But your love for music was from childhood, from Indian music to K Pop? How did that happen?

It was quite unexpected for me, but I got introduced to K Pop from one of my friends. Over time, my interest in K Pop grew a lot.  I wanted to perform. I wanted to try those things, by watching videos and clips, and my interest grew further. The first group that made me feel like that in the K Pop industry was EXO and BTS. They were the most famous groups at that time, so while watching them I felt so good. From them, it came to be like, I want to be an artist. I want to be a singer. One Indian singer that inspired me was Armaan Malik. So I used to listen to his songs a lot, and also Neha Kakkar. I used to see myself in these artists. I saw their songs being released and I wished I was like them, someday releasing my songs as well. Today, those dreams are the same, but they’re much closer to being realised. I am waiting for that day.

Singing K Pop is very different from the kind of singing you have been doing. Did you have to take a different kind of training to get your pitch right?

When I was in India I used to learn Indian classical music on the harmonium, but here we learn songs on the piano. So at first, I faced difficulties to get my pitch right on the piano. Once I learned Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do… it got a lot better. It helped me a lot and my pitch also improved.

A lot of young people want to know how you made it to Blackswan.

First of all, I would say don’t give up. There are so many things to experience that I have never imagined. So many things will come your way and many opportunities will present themselves to you, so just don’t give up.

But how did you crack the audition? What does someone have to do to get some attention from the judges?

You need to have the willpower and energy, you need to be extraordinarily good but show some serious potential. Your expressions should speak of your determination and will power. And of course you need to be decent at dancing and singing.

What was the training process like? What was the thing that challenged you the most?

Well, believing in myself and my capabilities every step of the way was surely challenging. My entire journey, right from the audition to the training process was difficult but with everyone’s support at every stage this journey became easier for me, as I had people to fall back on.

Your dreams have come true. So what’s like being in Seoul as a trainee and the whole experience in the band with other band mates?

The whole experience for me was like I came here as a Trainee but I found my second home over here and I have my family over here. At first it was very difficult to take training, but everybody supported me and motivated me, they taught me a lot so I improved. So now, I see myself in a different version, I see myself improving a lot, I see myself like how much I’ve changed since before so the whole experience is special for me.

How did you learn Korean? 

I used to take proper Korean classes and take exams in Korean language. I also used to learn and practise my Korean language at night. I was very patient with myself. I used to watch a lot of K-dramas and videos to improve my Korean and lastly when I spoke to other people in Korean it helped me a lot.

Have you got down to the rigours of singing-dancing, workout and dance lessons and with it the life of a K Pop idol?

Our day starts with workout then dance practice, singing practice, then the members do revision and correction of our mistakes, then we practice together again, then we have live dance practice with singing and then we again have dance, then sing. It is quite invigorating and fun.

What do you think of the other members of the band Blackswan?

Individually everyone has a special thing and everybody is very sweet and kind. We are still getting to know each other so we’ll get to know each other better in the future. They buy us food and they take care of us very well. We have a great connection together. 

Who is the artist you want to collaborate with and want to be on the stage with?

I want to be together with stray kids. I want to meet Kai Sunbaenim from EXO and also G – Idle. Actually there are so many. It's a very special thing for me and I am waiting for that day to oh my God I cannot wait.

Will you dye your hair for future comebacks and what will be the colours?

If I dye my hair, the choice of colour will be dark blue, because I really love blue. I really want to dye my hair in stripes

So are you getting your band to India?

It is something that I am looking forward to. If we do get the opportunity in the future I definitely will get them down to India.

What are the future plans? What can we look forward to?

There are a lot of plans and there are a lot of things for you to look forward to and there are a lot of surprises in the future as well. We will also have a comeback very soon and maybe concerts.

Thanks to Twitter Spaces for facilitating the interview.