Exclusive: How K-pop Group Blackswan Filmed their Video for ‘Karma’ in India

Last week K-pop girl group Blackswan made their much anticipated comeback with the EP That Karma and its lead single, “Karma.” The track was accompanied by a vibrant music video filmed in India, the first of its kind in the K-pop industry.

Blackswan’s current roster comprises members from various countries and one of the latest additions to the group is India’s own Sriya Lenka. The 20-year-old singer and dancer hails from Odisha and was declared one of two new members of Blackswan in January 2022 along with Brazil’s Gabi Dalcin. “After Sriya joined our company, I was able to visit India– especially in Odisha– twice in two months. Ever since, I’ve always imagined that it would be great if we could be able to shoot a music video in India because it was really beautiful,” shares Philip YJ Yoon, Managing Director of DR Music, Blackswan’s label.

The music video– which sees Sriya and Gabi join their members Fatou (from Senegal) and NVee (from the U.S.)– was filmed at various locations in and around Bhubaneshwar, the capital city of Odisha. According to Yoon, things fell into place for the shoot soon after Blackswan’s performance at the 2023 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup. “When we got the demo track for ‘Karma,’ we still weren’t sure about the location that we would shoot our MV,” recalls Yoon. “One day, we got a phone call from India and got [the] invitation for the Hockey World Cup [and] everything happened accordingly. We met our music video director and confessed that we would love to shoot this MV in India but slightly afraid of executing it because shooting a K-pop MV in Odisha had never happened before. Then our director started looking for experts opinions from India. She said she found a great local crew and made sure we would be able to get the job done. That is how we started turning this idea into action.”

Sriya behind-the-scenes of “Karma.” Photo exclusively for Rolling Stone India, courtesy of DR Music

The choice to shoot the music video in India came from DR Music and Yoon’s desire to make global audience’s see Odisha’s beauty and appreciate the culture Sriya comes from. To do so, the team chose locations many international viewers might be less familiar with in the hopes that they learn something new about India. “It is not easy to find locations that we covered through this MV in Korea. Dhauli Giri, Lingaraj Temple, streets, old houses, etc., all these heritage locations were so fascinating to all of us,” says Yoon. “So we really wanted to introduce all these to our fans and global audiences. Odisha deserves to be well known universally, in my opinion.”

Blackswan film a choreography sequence for “Karma.” Photo exclusively for Rolling Stone India, courtesy of DR Music

Yoon is also keen to highlight DR Music’s process of working with Indian crews and directors for “Karma,” recalling how smooth the entire shoot was. “Our experience working alongside Indian crews was literally great,” he explains. “All the local crews were very professional and nice. They took care of all of us really well. Also, they had great passion for our music video. That is why we were able to create a MV which showcases beauty of every place that we shot. In addition, Odisha tourism, local police made our job really easy to shoot this MV.”

Locations for filming included the streets of Bhubaneshwar, Dhauli Shanti Stupa and the Lingaraj Temple. Photo exclusively for Rolling Stone India courtesy of DR Music

Despite it being quite a massive international project, Yoon states he was extremely impressed that no information about the video was leaked by the audience that had gathered to watch the shoot, or all the local extras and dancers featured in the music video itself. “All spectators were very cooperative and not even single shot was leaked due to everyone’s kind cooperation. We were very grateful to work with such nice people. Thank you everyone in Odisha who was at the location.”