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Youngheun and Judy, two members of the K-Pop group BLACKSWAN, will be leaving the group, it was confirmed on Sunday, July 31.
The girl group originally debuted in 2011 as Rania before changing their name to BLACKSWAN and debuting again with the album Goodbye Rania in October 2020.
Following Youngheun and Judy's departure, BLACKSWAN now consists of four members: Fatou, Leia, Sriya and Gabi.
Why Are Judy and Youngheun Leaving BLACKSWAN?
When the band debuted as BLACKSWAN in 2020 the group was comprised of members Youngheun, Judy, Leia, Fatou, and Hyeme.
Hyeme left the group in November 2020 with the band continuing as a four-piece before adding two new members, Sriya and Gabi, in May 2022.
Sriya hails from India and Gabi is from Brazil, while Fatou is Senegalese-Belgian and Leia is Brazilian-Japanese. Former members Youngheun, Judy, and Hyeme all hailed from South Korea.
DR Music issued a statement to BLACKSWAN's fandom Lumina on Sunday, July 31 on Instagram in which it announced that Judy and Youngheun would be leaving as they had "graduated" from the group.
The record label added that Judy and Youngheun had "decided to take a different path to fulfill their new dreams," and it wished to respect their decision.
Read DR Music's Full Statement About Judy and Youngheun's Exit From BLACKSWAN
DR Music released a lengthy statement regarding Judy and Youngheun's exit from BLACKSWAN on Instagram, which read: "Hello, we're DR Music.
"First of all, we'd like to thank Lumina [BLACKSWAN's fandom] 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 been working 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 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"
About the writer
Roxy Simons is a Newsweek TV and Film Reporter (SEO), based in London, U.K. Her focus is reporting on the ... Read more