The History of RANIA & BLACKSWAN 

TIMESTAMPS: 1:55 - Pre-debut/history of DR Music & Baby V.O.X 5:36 - 2011-2012: Debut, comebacks, first signs of trouble 13:53 - 2014-2016: Sasaeng, Ingenio Media, mystery members & more 30:38 - 2018-2020: The group falls apart, the disbandment 41:11 - 2020-2021: Goodbye RaNia, Hello Blackswan 1:04:27 - The mistreatment, racism and discrimination of Alex 1:18:33 - Where are the RaNia members now?

The fact that RaNia's first "studio" album is called 'Goodbye's the new hello', while BlackSwans first studio album is called 'Goodbye RaNia' always seemed really funny to me.

I think it’s quite insidious that Leia/Lisa/Larisa and her fans went after specifically Fatou in her seemingly false allegations, definitely some nasty racial undertones to it all

the whole leia and fatou situation seems very suspicious to me. and by suspicious i mean racially motivated. and the fact that it was a leia fan account who made the initial allegations against fatou… very weird. i’d already seen ploopy’s videos going into this and i didn’t expect things to get messier, but i was proven wrong lmao.

I remember when someone told me that the group name Blady stood for "Black Lady" and I like totally believed them... when in actuality it stood for "A lady with the blood type B" and not all the members even had blood type B, they just lied in their profiles and they even had a full song dedicated to how much of a 'Blood type B girl' they all are. I think about it a lot, it's pretty iconic if u ask me.

I still remember when Ploopy678 (Evangaline) had an interview with a few members of them (The one I can remember is the one with Namfon.) This shows how evil their company is.

Man, Rania's history is so wild, kinda depressing, too. I feel so sorry for alex, imagine being lost in a foreign country and no one to guide you through anything, and on top of that she had to deal with the difficult treatment. She seems really strong though and I hope that didn’t affect her deeply, she’s awesome! And um.. what’s wrong with the CEO? like seriously was there any single sane person in that company? aside from the ridiculous management, late announcements, and weird decisions like asking former members to comeback while neglecting members when they’re there.. they clearly didn’t care about the girls, like holy shit. Not paying for namphon's flights, brushing off the creepy stalker messages and not taking actions(???), not providing translator for alex, the whole larissa thing was handled weirdly.. wth. This was a great great video!! thank you so much for all the effort you put into your videos, i really really enjoy them and i always get happy seeing a notification of a new vid from you.

I am rooting for the girl from India I have seen her RU-vid channel and her cover dance videos and that girl knows how to dance. Very athletic with her dancing. And on top of that she’s beautiful.

Dr. Feelgood still is an amazing song, it was way before it's time

If you didn't count how many members left I got you :') 1. Yiyo 2. Joy 3. Riko 4. Saem/ Yina 5. Jooyi 6. Di 7. T-ae 8. Xia 9. Alex 10. Yumin 11. Ttabo 12. Zi.u / Seulji 13. Jieun 14. Namfon 15. Seunghyun 16. Hyeme Damn that was alot

Random info I just wanted to add! : 1) Leia’s relative also claimed that Youngheun had also bullied her (Leia). 2) The claim that even dr’s staffs were fed up w Leia was (semi) corroborated when their executive director, Phillip Yoon, liked a comment left under one of dr’s trainee introduction posts condemning Leia. 3) The American (ex)trainee, Kellie, liked a bunch of tweets in support of Fatou. She left recently and stated that she wouldn’t reveal why to avoid conflict. I don’t know if this has anything to do with the Leia, since she wasn’t too fond of the whole “new member” thing. I wouldn’t bet on it though since this is dr music we’re talking about; I’m sure she dropped out for other reasons too😭😭 4) Leia’s been noticeably distancing herself from the group. She removed ‘blackswan’ from her tiktok bio and has stopped using the hashtag (or any hashtag in relation to bs in general). That and the fact that neither her or the members interact with one another’s posts anymore. Some recent info: • Apparently Leia had commented on fatou’s bday post on Instagram. It was a positive comment thought I don’t fully remember what she’d said cause I haven’t seen the screenshot I’m a while. Though ik it’s somewhere on Twitter. She deleted her comment shortly after. • Then there’s this recent livestream from Leia: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1nwdks6NoV4.html which is, I believe, the first time she’s publicly acknowledged the tensions (It keeps stacking😭) •Leia has been recently caught liking and interacting w an anti black and anti fatou page🤕🤕🤕 there’s proof provided in @/fatouedits most recent videos on tiktok (Another one😭) •Leia and Fatou made a tiktok together. It was on Leia’s tiktok story. It’s somewhere on Twitter tho if you look hard enough.

Haven't finished but what I'm getting is that DR can't let go of the past

please don’t roast me too hard on how I pronounce stuff. I try my hardest ❤️ I also spelled some stuff wrong plz don’t hate me

I didn’t realize Cosmic Girl was an ex-Rania member, good for her, her music is great 😄

Alex actually had visa problems so she had to go back to the US every few months to renew it and work in Korea again. They used her as a gimmick to draw attention back to the group again and they revived the group from that point then dropped Alex after she put her foot down on how she was being treated. Alex was growing exhausted with still being new to South Korea & the learning the language on the spot, plus she also wrote & made songs for Rania as well so imagine how bad she felt being excluded from a group she was supposed to lead. I really feel for Alex cause had DR Music worked with her to get a Korean teacher & translator, allowed her to join in full performances, she definitely would’ve lasted longer in the industry and could’ve been a dope rapper like Fatou is now. The only people in the group that seemed to really like Alex and even help her was Hyeme & Zi.u/Seulgi It always baffles me how Ttabo was able to pick up Korean faster than Alex, seemingly having more access to being taught Korean or either she learned before she came to Korea. That frustrated me even back then cause how come Ttabo was allowed to easily assimilate to the group but they didn’t let Alex & she was supposed to be their leader? It made no sense how quickly Ttabo improved with her Korean AND the group choreography unless she had help from the members & company yet Alex was left to fend for herself. I do wish you looked for more clips of Alex talking about her experiences cause there’s quite a few on RU-vid but I can imagine this video would’ve been longer but overall another great video!!!!

I haven’t watched the part about Candy Johnson (is that actually her name?) but she is a terminally online racist woman in her 30’s with no sense of boundaries whatsoever, I’m under the impression that staff have learnt to use her and that’s the reason they haven’t sued her again despite allegedly defaming, stalking and harassing past and current members, although much of the information she has on the members is seemingly a product of her stalking, i remember that during alex’s time on the group, Candy constantly acted as if the staff talked shit about Alex to her and when Alex left, Candy fully took credit for it, in hindsight it’s clear Alex was dumped because Dr. didn’t need her anymore and Alex was done with the racism but my theory is that Dr. spoon fed information to Candy so that she is under the impression it was all her doing and unknowingly takes the blame, that way the company saves face as people talk about the evil stalker and not the company with racist employees. Edit 1: Candy’s current whereabouts: Still a social recluse, mostly posts on allkpop, she’s tried to post hit pieces on them but it hasn’t worked out. Edit 1.5 (i remembered this before posting the first edit lol): Candy also knew about Hyeme’s alleged sugar daddy way before news broke out, even though Dr. Ent. Worded everything as a burden on the group, this affects Hyeme almost exclusively, and news break out just as she is about to leave and start looking for employment. Many fans thought the timing was odd.

Just come clarification about Rania/Baby Vox 3's pre-debut lineup. 2009 - Tae, Riko, Sori (Baby Vox Re.V member), Data (Thai member), and Kyung Sook (never debuted) At this point, DR Music announced Baby Vox 3, and held an audition in Thailand to find a new member. Data won the audition, and Joy was the runner up. Late 2009 - Tae, Riko, Sori, Data, Sarah (with Xia, Di, Min Hee, and Su Hwa) The group went to China to audition new members and do minor activities. During interviews and performances, other trainees appeared to take turns replacing Kyung Sook, such as Xia, Di, Min Hee, and Su Hwa. From the Chinese audition, Sarah was chosen as the new member, and Xia was made an official member as well. 2010 - Riko, Tae, Sori, Data, Xia The group performed on Thai television with this line up and announced their continuing auditions. Soon afterwards, Sori left the group when she entered a relationship with a Cube Entertainment manager, who she later married. Late 2010 - Riko, Tae, Xia, Sarah, Di, Saem, Jooyi, Joy Data left the group, and we replaced by Joy, who was the runner up in the Thai audition. Saem was referred to the group to replace Sori. Plans for a Japanese audition didn't work out, and so Di was added to the group as well. Jooyi was a YG trainee who had missed out on a spot in 2ne1. DR music scouted her and added her to the group. DR announced the group had changed names to RaNia, and was planning on debuting the group in the coming months. However, the group's debut was delayed due to appearing in Jay Park's movie, Hype Nation. Tae had a supporting role in the film, Saem and Riko had minor roles, and the rest were used as dancers. Due to the delay, Sarah experienced visa issues and left the group. 2011 - Riko, Tae, Xia, Di, Joy Saem, Jooyi, Yi Jo The group travels to the US and meets Teddy Reily. They do some promos, and announce that they will debut simultaneously in the US and Korea. Yi Jo is chosen to replace Sarah, but never debuts for unknown reasons. After this, the group officially debuts, and the craziness happens. I was a huge fan of Baby Vox, and was following the group as they formed Baby Vox 3. It was a really confusing time, but I remember seeing the group in its earliest stages thinking "Wow! These girls are so talented and will be the next big thing!" Damn it, DR....

update: Youngheun & Judy now "graduated" from the group 🙃

"Insanity is doing the same thing OVER AND OVER and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein (Pun fully intended)

but the fact that rania had surprisingly good music despite all of this!

Something about the claims from the Leia fan account that her family member went to them- a fan account- for help with unfair treatment. Of all the people to go to for help bringing attention to serious stuff, the last place will be a fan account. All of this is blatantly based in racism. They love Fatou when it benefits them for profit but when it comes to her as a human being they don't care.

I can't even imagine how much work went into this 1,5 HOUR long video - keep up the good work! ❤️

Line up changes are still crazy! Youngheun and Judy “graduated” and have left BLACKSWAN

Dr. Feel Good was such a bop and one of the English songs that got me into K-pop. I actually got to meet Alex a few years ago - this was either during or after she'd just left and I had not kept up with Rania's since 2015, so I didn't know she had joined, nor all the racism and nonsense she dealt with while in the group. I felt so silly once I found out, I really had no idea. She's a very sweet and down to earth person and deserved so much better treatment. I really wonder how DR music is even in business, they have so many shady practices and should've been shut down. Thank you for a really excellent video as always! :)

Alex ran so Fatou could soar.

Update on the original members of Rania: - Joy debuted in 2019 in a Thai duo THE GIRLZ alongside a Thai singer Oopifz. Unfortunately it seems as if they have disbanded as the duo and the company have been silent since 2020. - Riko has left the entertainment industry. - Yina/Saem seems to not be active in the entertainment industry anymore. - Jooyi has had her latest work in KARDs new title track "Ring The Alarm" & Purple Kiss' "Oh My Gosh" from their "memeM" album. Her last solo comeback was in 2021 with the song "Dilemma" that was a collaboration with CR KIM. - Di is not a public figure anymore. - T-ae is a fashion model. She got married in April of this year to F.CUZ' Yejun. Xia, Di, Jooyi & Yina attended her wedding. She is really close to Xia and the two frequently share photos together on their social media accounts. - Xia is not in the entertainment industry anymore but she is active on Instagram. Stream Just Go for clear skin

I absolutely love your video but I could not get over the serious faces of the people in the background as the girls were dancing. The people in the back looked incredibly uncomfortable. 43:18 😂🤣😭

It’s so crazy bc I want the best for Blackswan and Baby V.O.X is one of my all time favorite groups but they both come from this messy shady ass dog water company held together with duct tape. That has a rancid freak stalking them. And yet the music is amazing. This is the most exhausted I’ve ever been stanning a group 😩😭

I wish a voice note feature was on here lmao, but I just wanted to say thank you for all your content. I enjoy watching/listening(????) to you because 1. You’re a small youtuber and I’m more drawn to channels like this rather than Kookielit for example 2. You talk about groups that no one hardly talks about 3. It feels like a friend is having a chat with me/I enjoy your voice 4. I can’t believe it’s been almost I year since I bumped into your channel lmao, I remember watching your vids in my car as I wanted to be away from the ward to rest for a bit and find some distraction during my break time lol 💙 🥺

Yep when Alex joined they were called Black Pearl Rania for a short time until Alex left . Again DR has always disappointed me.

They should have kicked Leia out of the group.

In conclusion: DR Music is sketchy 10/10 do not recommend

dr music needs to go down asap they're and always have been such a horrible company

It seems like DR'S vision was always to create an international or global group. However, they don't have the tools to make the groups a success or manage them properly. Teddy Riley even said, after he stopped working with Rania, that the company was always the issue and not the girls. DR was making slow strides with the additions of Fatou and Leia, and treating them better and as actual members of the group (rather than a glorified feature artist - poor Alex 😔), but look how thar turned out. 🤦🏽‍♀️ The content they're pumping out for Shreya and Gabi is promising, but I'm still skeptical. The ideal outcome is that this is the last lineup change and everything starts working out better for Blackswan, but based on history, I'm not going to hold my breathe.

We all know DR will never learn!!

I’m miss Rania original/ close to the original line up so much, there music was so good.. Is still listen to it all the time.

DR is the first company that created one of the greatest first generational girl groups. I find it sad that they have only gone downhill since their disbandment. I genuinely hope they can dump their old business strategies and handle Black Swan or any future groups with more care so they can bring back that success they once had.

Style is such a nostalgic song for me lol I had no clue YG produced it

Lollipop is the only consistent variable throughout the journey of Rania.

lol and now its a completely foreign cute style type group. what a switch up fr

The video that midnight recently made on Baby Vox is really good!! I think it’s stupid a girl had to lie about her age!!

They really dont care when a member leave? Like wtf

UPDATE: Leia is currently on hiatus and Blackswan released a Christmas promotional single, and at the same time they revealed a new member, Alena Smith (American, born in 1999) who will go under the stage name NVee

Omg how did I never know that Cosmic Girl was in Rania! :O I adore her songs, especially the ones she's done for Oneus, they're so e of my absolute favourites. On another note, I simply cannot believe how incompetent that company is... I really hope Black Swan will be alright

Ela8te (a group three RANIA members joined) disbanded due to the lollipop saesang

The Romania concert was such a mess. The 1st line-up of the concert included completely different groups, including CLC. CLC didn't receive participation confirmation from CUBE Ent. which caused everyone to think the whole concert was a scam. Then the line-up changed, that's when Rania was included. Most people thought Rania was disbanded or there were people familiar with the members situation who were questioning who would perform, this was accentuated by the visa problem. This increased suspicion and not a lot of tickets were sold, most sold tickets were for the back of the venue and since there weren't a lot of people in there, everyone ended up by the stage, essentially getting the same experience as the madlads who bought first row tickets.

Your videos are so we'll reared and really great! I just hope Black Swan get to settle as a 4 or 6 member group and just gets a less bumpy career, btw Fatou is a host on Arirang radio and she's so cool!! She's gorgeous and really helps the playful environment I'm so rooting for them all, DR music needs to step up though

i hope one day blackswan finally debut in USA for Dr music realize the dream to debut in América

Man... I feel sorry for the members in blackswan/rania

Idk… i feel like the whole blackswan Fatou and Leia issue feels like a publicity stunt that got out of hand. I don’t know it just feels so sus and brushed under the rug…

DR Music. End of video.

God DR Music is such a mess... I can only imagine how much work had to go into going over all of their antics. 😓

The messiest K-Pop group to ever exist! I clicked on 'cause of BLACKSWAN and I am surprised about how these girls were shitty treated while having such good songs

The timeline of Rania would fuck with the heads of my friends who aren't into kpop.

your work is always so admirable. you put EVERYTHING into what you do and provide REAL RESEARCH. you deserve all the subscribers ever. thank you for being a reliable source and a caring kpop fan 💙 your hard work is appreciated!!

So....Jihoons Carat, you not only have the most unique accent I have ever had the pleasure to hear. You also reside in the safest country in the world ! Congrats :) Peace to all..Especially to Eastern Europe

help the goodbye rania photobook is so funny to me

In short- A HOT MESS!

This deserves a Juno award for best documentary! 😂

I usually dont interact in yt videos but after seeing all the research you did for this video I think u rightfully deserve all the likes in the world! Love your amazing work

I love how well researched and informational your videos are! I had no idea that Rania and Black Swan were related

Impressive they didn't go bankrupt

The group is going to have 1 last line up change with an addition of 2 members sriya from India and Gabriela German and Brazilian, I really like BLACKSWAN they give us sexy concept and many different nationalities members 💕 support them guys

No wonder style sounded like it could be from 2ne1 cuz uhm 11:02

Update: 22(!) girls have now left the group, including Leia, Judy and Youngheun, and the 3 girls in the predebut era (Sarah, who left, then they tried to replace her with Minhee and Daera but that didn't work, so they replaced her with Yijo, who left very quickly after debut)

The whole member lineup changes makes my brain go 🤯

About Yijo, back in2014 there were some news about her having been arrested involving drugs along with Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan's son). But I don't know how this situation turned out

I think DR music might be the *worst* entertainment company for sure. Jeez. They can’t be honest no matter what they tell their fans,

thank you for going so in depth on everything !

this came out as soon as I walked in the door after walking home :D glad to see another amazing video

Rania/blackswan has the messiest line up change I've ever seen so far

Thank you! I saw Ploopy's video about them and i follow her channel but i saw the bulliyng scandal with leia and fatou and i was surprised when the agency add 2 others members a black woman and a brazilian member, i wonder if the agency wants to replace leia and fatou to kick them out or leia and fatou will stay or leia will be kick out i really don't understand their choice

Idk if I remember this well but I remember a video long time ago when blackswan first debuted I'm pretty sure I watched a video about a guy explaining the sasaeng about how they worked for the company as a fan but then they betrayed them and they tried to contact the company and stuff so then they resorted to attacking and hating on rania and blackswan cause dr music keeps making mistakes and the groups are flopping cause no one is buying albums and they wanted to teach dr music a lesson idk if that video is still out there but I remember it and I remember the sasaeng commenting that it was true

Fun fact, Alex was best friends with bobby kristina (whitney houston and bobby brown’s (from new edition) child)

I have a full RaNia/BlackSwan album collection ( - the promo for "Refresh 7th")

Amazing docu video! it looks like you really put a lot of work into it.

Omg already a year and we all know they’ll definitely and still never learn

RANIA were just one of those groups where you can't replace a member(s). The original lineup was perfect.

and I thought brave girls had the most lineup changes😵‍💫😭

What a tour de force, m’lady. You did a lot of research as this group is so freaking complicated.

A damn documentary. This should be something on Netflix 😆

I am actually so happy with their latest comeback! it was so good! I also I'm rotting for both the new girls! as a brazilian, I am happy that we already have a brazilian kpop idol, and I just hope they both enter! they both seem genuinely good! I feel like the new lineup have a lot of potential!

Banger of a video. You did such an incredible job

This video is so good! It took me 3 days to finish but I had fun doing so 😂

2:43...and here I thought kaachi were the originators of that....rip me

They really treated Alex like the token black character in a horror movie, yikes. I also have always felt like Blackswan's whole "look at us, we have black members" thing is so obviously exploitative of those members. I get that kpop is all about concepts, but having black members should not be a fckn concept.

1:04:00 Oh no. Not again! Is the Rania curse going to happen again?

Omg, I've been looking all over for Shreya's updates in terms of auditioning for the company. I'm glad she got in and is training currently, but I'm sad so much was happening during Close To Me promotions, and I hope things honestly get better and more inclusive.

this video is very impressive!! I was able to keep track of the members thanks to your photo system so thank you for that :) fascinating video as always, I can't wait to see what you do next!

hello! thank you so much for the content and I hope you are doing good 😊

I saw ploopy's videos before and now with your video, Jihoons I have an even more complete picture of the whole mess of DR music, Rania and BlackSwan. Awesome video 😎👍

I’m superseded this doesn’t have many likes yet! Thank you so much for researching all this and making a great video!

The whole story surrounding these girls and their poorly treatment gives me such panic attacks

Now knowing everything behind the scenes in the documentary, I applaud Youngheun and Judy for trying to protect Fatou from Leia's racism and bullying, even leaving the group due to Leia's disrespect of Fatou. Blackswan now has the perfect lineup

that baby vox compilation 🤟😩

Really hope they didn't audition for new girls because someone is leaving like it happened all those previous times

I would LOVE too see a feature with Alex and the new group

Wow you actually made it!! I'm so prpud of you!! Please rest now for some time cause it's sooo good and you're probably tired! I love your channel so much!! ❤🌟

about the whole scandal with leia and fatou, they might have had their disagreements, but as seen with the mina and jimin ordeal, we do not know what happen between themselves. Leia might have had a attitude problem or whatever,but I do think that everyone deserves forgiveness and another chance. we need to see how they will act in the future. I truly hope that whatever happened between them, they were able to resolve it and be good friends.

too bad for their company ,Rania seems a really interesting girl group