Hello, Blackswan. We would like to thank all of you for the opportunity to interview you. We believe that in this way we can bring a better approach to the Brazilian fans who support you girls so much. Now, let’s begin talking about Brazil! In September, you will do an on-line fanmeeting with your Brazilian fans through Highway Meet. How are the expectations to meet your fans from Brazil? Are you girls excited?

Young Heun: The Brazilian fans always demonstrate so much love for us, but I became sad for not returning the same… I’m happy to meet you guys!

Fatou: I am very excited to meet and talk with our Brazilian Luminas! I think it will be super fun (a little bit chaotic) and with a huge positive vibe.

Judy: Most of our fans are Brazilians, so I’m very excited! I cannot wait to meet you!

Leia: I’m very excited. Finally, I will be meeting the Brazilian fans. I’m a little bit sad because it will be on-line, but I’m still super hyped!

Following some of your lives, it’s remarkable that you seem to be very friendly and close. What do you think contributed to this union? Did you girls get along well early on while you were still trainees?

Fatou: When we were trainees, since we also were the only foreigners, I think that we naturally were getting closer and trying to give support for each other as best as we possibly could. But now us 4 have an unbreakable bond.

Leia: I love how we are right now. We have great teamwork. When we met for the first time, we would get a little weird with each other and we weren’t that close. We became much closer while living together.

Blackswan is composed of two South Koreans, one Senegalese and one Brazilian. How is it for you to share your cultural differences?

Youngheun: Everyday is fun. It was uncomfortable at the beginning, but I got used to it, so I like this cultural atmosphere.

Fatou: At first it was a little bit hard and confusing, since we came from different parts of the world. But while we trained together, lived together and passed a very big period of time together, we learned to deal well with each other even though there are some differences here and there. 

Judy: It’s amazing how each country has their own culture, especially the interest that Fatou has for Korean culture. Sometimes I still get surprised by how things that are so obvious for me can’t be so obvious for others.

Leia: The local cultures are very different in Korea, Brazil and Senegal. However the older members help a lot with one another. I feel better now, because I’m learning. Nowadays, we are at a stage of understanding our differences and caring for each other.

Can you girls tell us what you learned from each other and what you came to know precisely through contact with other cultures?

Youngheun: I learned that different cultures doesn’t mean that we are different, but that different cultures can mix up well.

Fatou: Personally, I learned to be more patient, because of our cultural differences I, sometimes, just hoped the members would understand what I wanted to say correctly here and there, but then I realized that that was not the case. So I became a lot more patient as a person.

Judy: I learned more linguistically, and I started to understand more about good manners in other countries.

Leia: I learned a lot of titles and good manners that are used here in Korea. For example, when you eat with adults, you can’t hold the spoon first.

Now, we want to ask a question for each one of the members and let’s start with you, Fatou. Before you became a K-Idol, you were a model in South Korea. What gave you motivation to work with music? It was something that you always wanted to do on your journey while a singer was happening naturally?

Fatou: For modeling, actually, I never really thought of wanting to become a model. It was just a good opportunity that I had the luck to experience. My last goal has always been music since I was a kid. So, I’m very happy that I got to do what I always wanted and that I can live each day working with music.

Youngheun, what do you believe being your differential as Blackswan’s leader? We believe that you must carry a great responsibility in fulfilling this role. When you were chosen to fulfill it, how did you react? Did you have any fear or insecurity? By the way, is there any K-Pop leader you look up to?

Youngheun: Unlike other groups, Blackswan have two Korean members and two foreign members, with different nationalities and cultures. Because of this, we need to coordinate in the midst of the cultural differences of the foreigners and the foreign members need to coordinate with our culture.

If there’s a culture or anything else that’s different, we need to make sure we understand it, and understand that each one of us also has a strong personality. I think the best way is to have a conversation and lead according to the characteristics of each person.

When I said for the first time that I was the leader, honestly I felt desperate and was not confident at all. I consider myself a little bit egoist. I was worried about the possibility of failing in leading and doing a good job as a team. I used to be the leader in another team when I was younger and I felt horrible as a leader. 

If the other people are tired of practicing, they should lead. I don’t know. I’m just trying to be good at my leadership on Blackswan, but now that I did this, I gained a lot of social experience and became more mature, so I changed my mind. Of course, the members helped me a lot. They are really helping me to lead the group well.

Do you feel sorry and reflect on your past?

I feel more responsible, I try harder, but more than ever I feel that something is missing, so I have to try even more harder. And the leader that I respect… it’s not from a girl group, but is Leeteuk from Super Junior! I saw what Super Junior said about him and thought that he was a true leader.

Instead of putting members in first place and saying: “I’m the leader, follow me wherever I go”, I think it is something to learn how to support the members and encourage them. And there are so many members!

Is because of that that I consider him a good leader.

Judy, you have a brand that has a partnership with your sister, the Meet Me (미트미). Tell us, how is it for you to balance your time between rehearsals, you schedule as an idol and your entrepreneurship?

Judy: I really trusted my sister to deal with the shopping business when I got into DR Music, so I started to concentrate on my debut schedule in Blackswan.

After reading or listening to reports from several idols, it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that life as a trainee or as K-Idol is not as easy as it sounds. Recently, we have received many messages from people, sometimes children, through audios because they are not literate, asking if we know artists personally, because they want to talk to them or move to South Korea to become an idol. Leia, could you tell us something positive and negative about this reality of moving to a country completely different from yours to follow your dream.

Leia: Well, the negative point is that I have to live far away from my family and I never can meet them when I want to. When I was dreaming of becoming an idol, I never thought about my family, because I was too little. I also feel that, sometimes, I’m not good enough… However, the good part is that I am getting better while I do my best everyday and I feel that I’m close to reaching my dreams. That makes me very happy.

It is unavoidable not to talk about the new coronavirus pandemic, especially since it has directly hit the K-Pop industry. You even debuted, as well as other groups, in an unprecedented setting for many people. Was it weird to debut without any heat from the fans?

Youngheun: I was worried, because the debut happened in a bad situation. It’s true that the rookies are influenced when it has more interest and, in our case, it didn’t have public for our musical programs, but I think it is inevitable in the situation that we are and we cannot ignore.

Fatou: It was a bit strange, wanting to work with music for me was, more importantly, because of the performance that you have the capacity to give the public. The energy and the vibe is amazing if you perform in front of an audience. So, seeing that we were not capable of doing that was very disappointing, but we could do a performance for Lumina. That itself was incredible.

Judy: Definitely, a lot of things that were unfortunate like we couldn’t meet our fans because of the coronavirus, but I was grateful that our fans continued to applaud us and give us love throughout social media and other on-line websites! Thanks to our fans, I realized that I had indeed debuted. 

Leia: At the beginning was weird, because we didn’t have fans and I didn’t know that it was really like this that a debuted was, but now I know that we have many fans, so I’m trying to show you guys a better side of mine!

The new coronavirus pandemic has directly hit the K-Pop industry. Concerts and fan meetings were canceled last year and in 2021, some groups started to come back with some events, following biosafety protocols, but due to the high number of cases, they had to be canceled as well. Are you anxious about any possibility of being able to return to the stage with the audience? When face-to-face fan events can return for good, what’s the first thing you want to do?

Youngheun: I would like to have a fansign and a fan meeting. I would also like to meet each one of our fans in person. Veterans who debuted before us had that experience, whereas we only had fansigns online. I confess I’m a little jealous. There is a big difference between online audiences and face-to-face audiences. I want to show them our performance on stage.

Fatou: I believe that we will be able to make this soon. When we get to be face to face with our fans, we will love so much to make a performance and do a fan meeting to get to know them better.

Judy: We can perform in front of the public while the Covid-19 is getting worse? It’s in this that I think. Unfortunately I can’t do anything to help… But when Covid-19 calms down and stabilizes, I would like to do a mini concert with our Lumina!

Leia: I think that I will get very nervous when I finally meet the fans, but I love the energy and their support. I want to perform in front of our fans and communicate with them.