Rania was a global idol group and was designed to be the next Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls. Teddy Riley left the Rania project because of a clash in the business and management side with DR Music. It seemed that DR Music has no professional man-management and business direction. From Rania’s debut day in 2011 until the disbandment day in 2019, Rania had gone through numerous line-up changes and transformations. In 2020, DR Music launched Blackswan as the latest formation of Rania. In this article, Channel-Korea will provide you with a detailed rundown of everything about Rania and its transformation. So, stay tuned!
Rania’s Full Profile
Group Name: Rania Debut Date: April 6th, 2011 Disbandment Date: June 26th, 2020 Debut Album: EP Teddy Riley, The First Expansion in Asia Genre: Hip-hop, Pop, Dance Agency: DR Music Distributor: Danal Entertainment Fan Club: A1ST Facebook: drmusicrania Twitter: drmusic_rania Instagram: rania__official YouTube: raniaofficialchannel Daum: cafe.daum.net/1248.
Facts about Rania
“Feel Good,” the title of Rania’s debut single, is similar to a song title by rock band Motley Crue Rania’s members are from Korea, China, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, and Jamaica Rania is the shortened form of Regeneration Idol of Asia Riko, one of Rania’s original members, acted as a killer in the movie Hype Nation. In the movie, she acted alongside rapper Jay Park and Korean American actor Dennis Oh According to a rumor, the partnership between Teddy Riley and Rania didn’t end well Rania’s members are reportedly speaking fluent English, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean
Debut as RANIA
Renowned American music producer Teddy Riley collaborated with DR Music in the formation of Rania. Teddy Riley is a music producer who has extensive experience working with Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Blackstreet, MC Hammer, and other renowned artists. Teddy Riley’s works in hip-hop and R&B earned him accolades and collaboration with top musicians. Teddy Riley helped in composing Rania’s debut single “Dr. Feel Good.” The song was initially made for Lady Gaga but in the end, it was given to Rania. He said that “Dr. Feel Good” is a powerful song with a mix of hip-hop and R&B groove. According to Teddy Riley, he wanted to form a group of Asian girls and raise them into global superstars and the next Spice Girls or Pussycat Dolls. Rania was originally planned to start in 2010. However, due to the problem with member formation, Rania’s debut date was rescheduled for April 2011. Initially, Rania consisted of seven members: Semi, Jui, Riko, Joy, Di, T-ae, and Xia. Joy is originally from Thailand, while Riko is a Korean who spent a lot of time living and studying in Japan. All of the Rania members are fluent in English, Korean, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese. Before introducing Rania, DR Music had already met success by forming the first generation Korean idol group BabyVox. Due to the popularity of the person behind Rania, Rania’s debut was met with huge interest. Rania members temporarily lived in Los Angeles during the production of their debut album. Rania performed their debut showcase on Mnet’ M! Countdown on April 7th, 2011, and later also performed on KBS2TV’s Music Bank and SBS’ Inkigayo. All of the members have good skills in singing and dancing and Rania had the global image in their costume, music, and stage performance. It appeared that all the members had trained for four years before finally debuting in 2011.
Formation Changes
Teddy Riley left his partnership with DR Music due to problems with the agency. He said that DR Music used his name only but was being denied to deal with anything related to Rania. He claimed that DR Music had done shady music and insisted that Rania could be more popular with another label. He supported Rania and would like to work with them if Rania members decide to leave DR Music. From 2013 to 2017, Rania had gone through several line-up changes. Yijo, Saem, and Riko stopped appearing with Rania but there was no official statement from DR Music regarding their status.
From BP Rania To B.S.
DR Music released a teaser image of BP Rania instead of only Rania on December 23rd, 2016. BP Rania stands for Black Pearl Rania. Apparently, due to the recruitment of new member Alexandra Reid who happened to be the new leader, DR Music decided to change Rania to BP Rania. Two other new members, Hyeme and Jieun were also revealed. In 2017, former member Saem rejoined Rania but changed her stage name to Yina. Rania officially relaunched as BP Rania by releasing the EP Start a Fire. Due to collaboration with a global distributor, it was said that Start A Fire was available in more than 60 countries. From 2017 to 2020, BP Rania had gone through several more line-up changes. The leader, Alex, and Yina left the group to pursue an individual career. Fans suspected that Alex’s departure was related to racism. Alex, through her Twitter account, criticized her former label and claimed that the company had taken advantage, manipulated her, and left her. Later, Yumin left the group and she was replaced by Namfon. In November 2018, Ttabo was left out of BP Rania’s activities and fans wondered about her status. Also in November 2018, fans noticed that all members removed BP Rania from their social media account. DR Music also removed BP Rania members from its official website. Fans assumed that it was the end of Rania and thought that DR Music faced bankruptcy. In August 2019, DR Music recruited three new members, Seunghyun, Larissa, and Yongheun, and terminated the contract of Jieun, Zi, U, and Ttabo. In January 2020, Namfon announced her departure from DR Music and BP Rania. BP Rania reformed with new members and debuted as Black Swan. On October 16th, 2020, Black Swan debuted with the EP Album Goodbye Rania. Despite debuting with Goodbye Rania, almost all of the tracks from the album were Rania’s old tracks.
Blackswan’s Debut Album, Goodbye Rania
Blackswan’s debut album, Goodbye Rania was released on October 16th, 2020. It consisted of 14 singles, most of which had been already released or performed by Rania. DR Music gained a lot of criticism for recycling old songs and using them for Blackswan. Many of the tracks in Goodbye Rania were re-released without a lot of alteration or improvement. Aside from using old tracks, DR Music was criticized for changing the group name into Blackswan to accommodate Fatou, the first Senegalese to become an idol. Despite the criticism, fans were excited about Rania’s new formation as Blackswan. That was all the information about Rania and its line-up changes. Find out more information about Rania members and former members in the collection of Channel-Korea articles.
