BLACKSWAN Member Sriya’s Hairstyling Comes Under Scrutiny For Cultural Appropriation
BLACKSWAN, a multi-cultural K-Pop group, recently faced criticism after their appearance on SBS M’s The Show on May 30.
Though the group debuted in 2020, it underwent several lineup changes in the following years due to its admission and graduation concept. The group’s current members include Fatou, NVee, Gabi, and Sriya. These four, as BLACKSWAN, made a comeback pretty recently with the single “Karma,” which has been slowly rising in popularity.
The group has appeared on multiple Korean music shows, earning praise for their impressive live singing and performance skills. However, on May 30, Sriya, the Indian member of the group, appeared to be sporting cornrows while performing on The Show. Fans immediately called out the agency and the stylist involved in this choice.
Cornrows, one of the many Black hairstyles that originated in colonial America, hold socio-political significance beyond just any other hairstyle. The style was named after the plantation fields where many enslaved people worked and are said to have been used to map escape routes by them. To this day, Black people face discrimination for wearing their hair in typically Black hairstyles. So, it is usually seen as a sign of disrespect and cultural appropriation when non-Black people don cornrows or other similar Black hairdos.
For this very reason, people were upset that Sriya was styled with cornrows for the show, despite there being several occasions of K-Pop idols coming under fire for similar cultural appropriations. Many fans also wondered why Fatou or NVee, the two Black members of the group, were not styled with cornrows instead.
sriya wearing cornrows when.. there’s two black members in the group?? pic.twitter.com/fQNPidThcs
— nasa (@nyeonyns) May 31, 2023
Ok this is annoying because BLACKSWANS hairstylist can put cornrows on sriya but when Luminas have been asking for them to put braids on nvee and or fatou it’s been crickets? What the hell is this man?? I’m so tired.
— kia2727 ⪩ ⪨ (@iwishauwould) May 30, 2023
The BLACKSWAN stylist is out of mind 💀.
Why did they gave Sriya the Cornrow style. Why didn't they give that to Fatou or NVee 💀💀💀— 𝐫𝐞𝐞🍂 (@reeusn) May 31, 2023
DR Music, the agency of BLACKSWAN, posted an apology on Instagram, admitting their mistake.
Sriya also apologized to fans once she was made aware of the situation. She took to the fan communication platform Veeper to offer her apology.
Sriya heard us loud and clear!! She apologized 🫶🏼#BLACKSWAN pic.twitter.com/AaoaQMFTOb
— ZAYARA ⪩ ⪨ (@ZAYARA_WXRLD) May 30, 2023
Fans are happy that the company and the idol both took accountability on this matter and hope that such incidents won’t repeat in the future.
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