{"id":17615,"date":"2022-06-04T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T01:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/?post_type=story&#038;p=17615"},"modified":"2022-06-02T14:23:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T08:53:39","slug":"shreya-lenka-meet-indias-first-k-pop-star","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/shreya-lenka-meet-indias-first-k-pop-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Shreya Lenka: Meet India&#8217;s first K-pop star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><strong>(June 4, 2022)<\/strong> Remember when Psy&#8217;s foot-tapping number <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Gangnam Style<\/i><\/a> opened up the doors to K-pop across the world? India, too, wasn&#8217;t far behind in lapping up the craze, which soon snowballed into the Korean wave. Now a decade later, a teenager from Odhisa has scripted history by becoming the first-ever K-pop star from India. Meet Shreya Lenka, the 18-year-old who has grabbed a spot in the Korean girl band Blackswan, and will soon brush shoulders with band members Youngheun, Fatou, Judy, and Leia. The Rourkela-born dancer and yoga practitioner beat thousands in auditions and trained for six months under DR Music to gain the top spot. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Global Indian<\/em><\/a> turns the spotlight on this Indian artist who is set to become a global icon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Her journey with arts began in Rourkela when she started training in Odissi at an early age. However, financial constraints put a sudden halt to her plans after a year-and-a-half of grounding. But that didn&#8217;t deter her love for dance, instead, it pushed her to diversify into freestyle, hip-hop, and contemporary under the tutelage of renowned choreographer Madan Mohan Purthy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17628\" style=\"width: 532px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17628\" class=\"wp-image-17628 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/shreya-card-1.jpg\" alt=\"Indian artist | Shreya Lenka | Global Indian\" width=\"522\" height=\"653\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 522px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 522\/653;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17628\" class=\" wp-image-17628\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/shreya-card-1.jpg\" alt=\"Indian artist | Shreya Lenka | Global Indian\" width=\"522\" height=\"653\" \/><\/noscript><p id=\"caption-attachment-17628\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shreya Lenka is now a part of Blackswan<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">It was the boy band EXO that opened up the world of K-pop to Shreya, who instantly fell in love with Korean music, and soon found herself \u2018fangirling\u2019 for K-pop bands like BTS, Stray Kids, and The Boyz. This love for K-pop nudged her to apply for auditions online after one team member of Blackswan quit the band in 2020. Having chanced upon her golden ticket to the K-pop world, Shreya started preparing for the big opportunity. From practicing dance on her roof to starting a YouTube channel to learning Korean, the teenager did everything to get into the skin of a K-pop star. &#8220;I fell in love with K-pop when a friend showed Exo&#8217;s Growl to me. It was so unique that I started copying their moves. Then, I researched and came to know about PSY, Rania, BTS, Blackpink, and I dreamed of performing like them,&#8221; the Indian artist, who goes by the stage name Sriya, said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">But getting her first K-pop audition right was a mammoth task, especially with the world under lockdown. With no studios available to shoot her audition video, she knocked on the door of a yoga studio owner who agreed at the behest of Shreya\u2019s aunt, who teaches yoga. &#8220;Qualifying in the first round of DR Music&#8217;s audition was an achievement as I was the only one from India to be selected from more than 4000 applicants around the world,&#8221; said the pop star who sent a dance and song video for the first round, and a dancer cover of Blackswan&#8217;s<i> Tonight<\/i> for the second round.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17630\" style=\"width: 693px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17630\" class=\"wp-image-17630 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/lenka.jpg\" alt=\"Indian artist | Shreya Lenka | Global Indian\" width=\"683\" height=\"412\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 683px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 683\/412;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17630\" class=\" wp-image-17630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/lenka.jpg\" alt=\"Indian artist | Shreya Lenka | Global Indian\" width=\"683\" height=\"412\" \/><\/noscript><p id=\"caption-attachment-17630\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shreya Lenka joins K-pop band Blackswan<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">While dance is her strength, the Indian artist had to work on her vocals. But she often found it hard to find a coach owing to her deep voice. That&#8217;s when her grandmom chipped in and found a Hindustani classical music teacher for her. She trained with him once a week and watched online tutorial videos to expand her vocal range. This fool proof preparation helped earn her a spot in Blackswan, something that she calls nothing short of a &#8220;dream.&#8221; &#8220;Being from a small town with fewer resources, facing difficulties is a part of my life, but I am determined to create a mark in the creative field,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Follow Shreya Lenka on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/shreya.lenka\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(June 4, 2022) Remember when Psy&#8217;s foot-tapping number Gangnam Style opened up the doors to K-pop across the world? India, too, wasn&#8217;t far behind in lapping up the craze, which soon snowballed into the Korean wave. Now a decade later, a teenager from Odhisa has scripted history by becoming the first-ever K-pop star from India. Meet Shreya Lenka, the 18-year-old who has grabbed a spot in the Korean girl band Blackswan, and will soon brush shoulders with band members Youngheun, Fatou, Judy, and Leia. The Rourkela-born dancer and yoga practitioner beat thousands in auditions and trained for six months under [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":17622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","story-category":[215,3054],"story-tag":[3656,14,3657,3655,3654,3660,3661,3663,3662,3659,3658],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shreya Lenka: Meet India&#039;s first K-pop star<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Indian artist Shreya Lenka has become the first K-pop star after grabbing a spot in Korean girl band Blackswan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/shreya-lenka-meet-indias-first-k-pop-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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