BLACKSWAN is a multinational K-pop girl group under DR Music. The group initially debuted in 2011 as RANIA and again in 2016 as BP RANIA. Over the years, the group has gone through multiple lineup changes.
In June 2022, DR Music announced the addition of two new members, Sriya from India and Gabi from Brazil, to the already existing four-membered lineup. The fans were happy and looking forward to what the six of them had to offer. But to everyone’s surprise, the agency soon confirmed the departure of two members from the group.
On July 31, 2022, DR Music released a statement declaring the graduation of BLACKSWAN’s main vocalist and dancer, and the only two Korean members, Youngheun and Judy, from the group. They also clarified that this was the reason for adding two new members to the group.
The statement read:
“Hello, we’re DR Music.
First of all, we’d like to thank Lumina for always supporting BLACKSWAN’s Youngheun and Judy, who have been members of BLACKSWAN since their debut, are graduating from BLACKSWAN today.
Since it’s such a heartbreaking decision, it is difficult for all the staff of DR Music to deliver such a message to you.
We had several discussions with Youngheun and Judy about the future over the past few months, but Youngheun and Judy decided to take a different path to fulfill their new dreams, and we also decided to respect their moves.
They debuted as BLACKSWAN in 2020 and have worked diligently from the beginning until now for the past two years, and now they are returning as Koh Young Heun and Kim Da Hye.
BLACKSWAN has been operating by introduction and graduation system from the initial planning stage. That’s how Gabi and Sriya from the first generation of Cygnus Project recently joined the group. We are happy to continue presenting various talented people from the globe to you through these projects.
BLACKSWAN will be participating [in their] schedules with four existing members for a while.
Since it’s an important issue, we sincerely apologize for the delay in updating to make a careful decision and for causing concern to the fans. Lastly, please support the BLACKSWAN members and Youngheun and Judy who graduated.
Thank you.
DR Music”
BLACKSWAN currently consists of Fatou, Leia, Gabi, and Sriya.
RANIA (now BLACKSWAN) was initially set to debut in mid-2010 as the third generation of Baby V.O.X. However, DR Music decided to rebrand and debut them as a new eight-membered girl group.
Already been through many lineup changes, RANIA rebranded as BP RANIA (Black Pearl RANIA – referring to a member, Alex’s dark skin tone) in 2016.
In June 2020, then member, Heyem revealed the group was going through another change and would soon come back as B.S, later changed to BLACKSWAN, with two new members – Fatou and Judy. Member Youngheun wrote a letter to her fans on Instagram in July 2020, thanking them for their support and wonderful news. She announced that she would also join BLACKSWAN with Hyemi and other new members. On July 3, Lisa (Larissa) uploaded a letter confirming her participation in the group under the alias Leia.
The group was appointed as ambassadors of Pyeongchang-gun, alongside K-TIGERS ZERO, to promote the country.
Heyem eventually left the group in November 2020 following her scandal, making BLACKSWAN a four-membered group.
We wish BLACKSWAN the best of luck for all their future endeavors with the addition of Sriya and Gabi to the group.
Stay tuned for more updates.