HONG KONG — K-pop might be getting its first-ever Indian idol! Odisha-born, 18-year-old singer Shreya Lenka is one of just two finalists left in DR Music’s global auditions to find the fifth member of idol group Black Swan. Her final challenge now is to beat Brazil’s Gabriela Dalcin — the only person standing between her and making K-pop history.

Making its official debut in 2020, Black Swan is already well known for its foreign members Fatou, the first Senegalese-Belgian K-pop singer, and Brazilian-Japanese Leia. The other members are Young-heun and Judy, plus Hyeme, who left the group at the end of 2020.

Will Lenka make history and win a spot in the group? Here’s what we know about the rising star.

SHE DIDN’T GET HERE WITHOUT SOME SERIOUS HARD WORK

Lenka has been dancing since she was in kindergarten but started training seriously at 12. She studied Odissi, an Indian classical dance that originated in the temples of Odisha and has been learning freestyle, hip-hop and contemporary dance to become “a versatile dancer”, she revealed in an interview with Talk Talk Korea.

She also trains her vocal skills with a Hindustani classical teacher and learns Western songs from tutorial videos online. “I dedicated maximum hours to work on my vocals and expand my vocal range,” she said. “My name was announced after eighteen girls (in the audition’s first round), so I thought I needed to practice night and day to reach the top spot.”

HER FAMILY SUPPORTS HER DREAM

According to Bebak Post, Lenka’s family has always been her support system. They sent her to Odissi class when she first wanted to dance, but she had to quit after a year and a half because of the family’s financial instability. However, after she joined the Black Swan’s audition programme and needed to train her voice, her grandmother looked for a classical music teacher for her.

“They took me under their wing, despite my family’s financial constraints,” she told Bebak Post.

SHE BEAT OVER 4,000 CANDIDATES TO GET THERE

Lenka’s K-idol dream was formed after she watched Exo’s Growl MV and she tried to copy the members’ moves, Talk Talk Korea reported. But it wasn’t an easy dream to realise amid lockdown when no studios were open.

She had to practice on the roof of her house and learn how to make audition videos from YouTube. She recorded the first audition videos in the yoga studio where her aunt teaches but these did not qualify. “Though I received positive and negative comments on my video, the positive ones gave me hope. With each audition, I tried to improve myself by monitoring the videos,” she said.

Her effort was clearly worth it. She became the only Indian finalist selected from more than 4,000 applicants around the world in Black Swan’s audition programme.

SHE BRINGS YOGA INTO HER PERFORMANCES

Lenka’s dances show a lot of flexibility and some unique moves, thanks to yoga. Growing up in a family of yoga lovers, she practices it every morning like a “family routine”. She focuses on yoga asanas which helps improve body language and flexibility, she told Talk Talk Korea, which even helped her win local yoga competitions.

YEP, SHE’S LEARNING KOREAN

As soon as she started auditioning, Lenka learnt Korean online, she also told Bebak Post. She also watches a lot of Korean dramas to learn both the language and culture and ranks Lee Jong-suk and Song Joong-ki as some of her favourite actors.

Now she can read, write and have basic conversations in Korean, she told Talk Talk Korea. She also reads English novels and listens to English songs to improve her vocabulary and pronunciation.

As they say, practice makes perfect. “I have made a timetable to prepare for the finals. My day is divided into yoga sessions, dance practice, vocal training, learning Korean, watching K-dramas, and researching dance and music … Though I am not perfect, I am improving each day,” she said. “I make sure I find time in between replying to messages I receive. I never thought I would have so many people messaging me to congratulate (me) and show their support. It fills me with so much hope.” SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST