Odisha girl Shreya Lenka becomes first Indian K-pop star

Bhubaneswar: Pop artiste Shreya Lenka brought laurel for Odisha and the country after she was chosen to be one the new members of ‘Blackswan’, an immensely popular South Korean K-pop girl group.

DR Music, the promoter of Blackswan, announced the names of Shreya Lenka and Gabriela Dalcin to be the 5th and 6th member of the K-pop group on Thursday.

“With their debut, we will be back with Blackswan,” said the group in a post on Instagram.

With the achievement, the 18-year-old pop artiste became the first K-pop star from India.

Along with Brazilian girl Gabriela Dalcin, Shreya emerged as the star creating a special place among youngsters in pop music genre.

Reports said that both Shreya and Gabriela will be in Seoul for next few months for a music album. The duo were in intense training that included standard vocal, rap, dance lessons to personal training, language, and musical instruments in last five months.

Shreya Lenka from Jharsuguda district of Odisha and Brazil’s Gabriela Dalcin were the two finalists in a global competition to become a member of the Korean pop band Blackswan formed by DR Music. The pop artiste was selected for the training in Seoul in December last year to be part of the group after its oldest member Hyeme left the group in November 2020.

Also Read: Odisha’s Shreya Lenka on the verge of becoming 1st Indian K-pop artiste

Shreya (18) and Gabriela (19) were chosen among 4,000 applicants through a YouTube audition programme that began in June 2021.

Out of 4,000 applicants, only 23 contestants, including Shreya, qualified for the second round. She also emerged successful in the second round to reserve a seat in the Top 4.

Daughter of Abinash Lenka and Priya Lenka, Shreya is also a trained Odissi classical dancer. She has won several regional and national dance competitions. Along with classical, she has mastered freestyle, hip-hop and contemporary dance since the age of 12.