EXCLUSIVE: X:IN’s Aria is Not Afraid to Hustle

It’s a typical summer morning here in India. In Seoul however, it’s a whole different story. While I’m weary from the blazing heat, X:IN’s Aria is full of energy and grace. Dressed in a pearly white blouse, the young singer has the left side of her hair cascading down her shoulders while the right portion is tucked neatly behind her ear. The contrast between her wardrobe and background instantly demands your attention. It’s one of the first things you notice when speaking with a K-pop idol; everything is near perfection. She warmly greets me and lets me in on the week gone by before we battle the inevitable when hosting a virtual interview: technical difficulties. 

Despite being new to the system and having just a couple of months of experience learning the Korean language, Aria swiftly takes charge of the conversation, translating the exchanges. She’s gentle and cautious in her delivery, ensuring she conveys the solution efficiently. For those wondering what’s so special about a K-pop idol conversing in Korean, the language is known to be one of the most difficult languages to master and Aria has been learning the language professionally for a few months. 

Born in Kerala, 20-year-old is India’s second K-pop idol after Blackswan’s Sriya. While the internet is engrossed in debating whether she’s the first or second Indian K-pop idol, it seems like Aria is happy to acknowledge those who’ve ventured into the competitive K-pop industry from India before her. “I knew this was a hard decision because there were no known K-pop idols from India at that time,” the singer explains her train of thoughts before making the big move to South Korea. “I was really hesitant and scared. I was like, ‘I want to do this’, but I wasn’t sure if I’d make it.”

Named Gauthami at birth, Aria is no stranger to the camera. From a young age, the Kerala-born, Mumbai-raised singer has acted in various projects ranging from films, TV shows, documentaries, and more. In fact, she’s participated in so many projects that she can barely recall them. “I don’t remember the names,” she sheepishly responds. However, her debut Malayalam-language film Melvilasom (where she played the role of Ammu) will always remain close to her heart. 

With someone attuned to facing the camera in the film and television space, you’d expect them to follow the same path. Aria is different and instead chose to step out of her comfort zone— thanks to a BTS music video. “It was ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears,” Aria discloses the music video that got her hooked on K-pop. Like many others (including yours truly), BTS’ 2016 single “Blood, Sweat and Tears” acted as a stepping stone into the world of K-pop. “I went home [from school] and was watching TV when the music came on. It was something I had never really seen before.” Aria continues, “The song was obviously very good but so was the dance. I really like dancing. I enjoy dancing and watching dance [videos]. It fascinated me and got me hooked. I was like ‘Wow, that’s so cool. I wish I could do that.’ Also, the visuals and production looked amazing. It got me curious. I looked it up and got interested in K-pop.” 

With a laser-sharp focus, Aria dedicated at least two hours of her life every single day to train herself. She would watch videos of her favorite songs and mirror the choreographed routines. To polish her Korean, Aria relied on K-dramas and picked up a few phrases and nuances of the language from there. This went on for a year before she left for Seoul to join Escrow Entertainment’s girl group X:IN. 

In a typical scenario, K-pop trainees (both domestic and international) are trained by industry professionals in vocals, rap, dance, media training, and languages such as Korean, Japanese, English, etc. The training camp is intense but necessary. After all, that’s what gives the K-pop idols the precision to put out well-choreographed and performed live stages. It’s the system that makes K-pop unique. 

Training boot camps can go on for months to as long as a decade. In Aria’s case, she had six months to learn everything about becoming a K-pop idol. “When I landed, I thought I was going to get time to train and improve. But as soon as I got here, I was added to the debut lineup,” Aria says, her eyes growing wider with every statement. “I was mind-blown and scared. I mean, of course, I was happy but I was really scared. I was like, ‘Do you really want me to do this?’ Aria was given the news every trainee dreams of in October of last year. “From there, I had to pick up on everything very fast.”

On March 13, X:IN members Roa, Chi.u, E.sha, Nova, and Aria released their pre-debut performance music video “Who Am.” This was shortly followed by their debut single “Keeping The Fire” on April 11th. “We had our first recording section [for “Keeping The Fire”] exactly a month after I arrived in Korea. Since it was a very short period of time, we talked to the producer and he asked us if we were okay with it and whether we’ll be able to do it.,” Aria explains. “I was okay with a small number of lines because I don’t want to be like, ‘I want to take the huge responsibility of many lines.’ After training a little bit more and developing my skills, I could take on more lines.” 

When the news of another Indian marking their spot in the K-pop industry broke the internet, Indian K-pop fans and non-K-pop listeners were proud. But so were people from China and South Korea. Soon, Aria became the first-ever Indian K-pop idol to perform on local music shows such as Show! Music Core and Inkigayo. Aria also appeared at the fourth-ranking on Weibo’s hottest search trends with over 43 million views.

In this exclusive conversation with Rolling Stone India, Aria unravels her journey into the K-pop industry, meeting X:IN members for the first time and her favorite BTS, Seventeen, and Stray Kids songs. 

Watch below