Girl group Blackswan is the focus of Apple TV+’s latest documentary series K-Pop Idols.

The eight-part series, which is set to be released on August 30th on the streamer, follows three K-pop artists: Blackswan, the boy group Cravity and the soloist Jessi.

The girl group’s story begins in late 2021 with members Youngheun, Fatou, Judy, and Leia. Yoon Deung-ryeong – the founder of DR Music Entertainment, the group’s entertainment agency – explains that Blackswan was founded as a K-pop group with a global reach, with members hailing from several different countries.

Throughout the series, the four-member group (currently consisting of active members Fatou, Gabi, Sriya, and Nvee) offers viewers a rare glimpse into the interpersonal dynamics of a K-pop group. Their journey includes lineup changes, arguments among themselves, and what happens when someone wants to leave a group.

For Fatou, the group’s current leader, the documentary offers a moment to look back and see how far she has come. “Watching the documentary series is going to be really fun because I can see how I have developed personally,” says the 29-year-old rapper The Hollywood Reporter“I can see when I was at my weakest and how strong I am now.”

In an exclusive clip shared with THRthe actress explains the expectations of her leadership role. “I freak out because the members are not reprimanded by the CEO when they do something wrong,” Fatou says in the clip. “I’m the one who gets reprimanded because I’m the leader.”

Fatou and fellow former member Leia play a big role in the group’s history, as a moment during a concert tour to Brussels, where Fatou grew up and her family lives, leads to a very public and seemingly months-long argument between the two women. Leia, although technically still signed to DR Music Entertainment, is no longer an active member of the group.

The documentary and Blackswan don’t shy away from looking at the realities of the work, despite things like arguments among themselves and being immersed in a new environment. “When I came to Korea, they were already filming the documentary,” explains Gabi. The 21-year-old and her group member Sriya are initially introduced in the series as interns earning a place at Blackswan.

“I think I was also very vulnerable, especially at that time in my life,” says Gabi. The Brazilian-born singer says that the combination of not wanting to hide the truth and the time of life she was in during filming led her to be more honest. She says: “It allowed me to honestly show what I was feeling.”

Fatou shares Gabi’s opinion. “Personally, I felt like the lid… It was just… We were just too full. We just needed a place to spread everything out,” she says of the group’s decision to be so honest with viewers.

At the time of this interview, Blackswan had only seen trailers of the docuseries, but the group is excited to see it in full. “We’re really excited to see what we went through,” says Sriya. “The camera was basically our therapist, but it also shows that there is a door between our reality and our expectations.”

The 20-year-old explains that Blackswan puts a lot of effort into developing as a performer, often putting pressure on herself in the process, which can be seen in the documentary. “In that moment, I saw the situation in a certain way, and now when I watch the trailers, I think, ‘Oh, I acted like that,'” Gabi chimes in. “It’s a third way of looking at it… Especially, what, two years later? I think, ‘Oh my God, did they react like that? I couldn’t remember.'”

Seeing these moments in a new way seems to be a common theme for the women, even if this is only based on the trailers. “When I saw the trailer where you were crying, I thought back to our rehearsals,” Fatou adds. “I was so hard on everyone.” Gabi immediately supports her group leader: “At the time, we didn’t know. We just lived.”

Blackswan has high hopes for how her fans, known collectively as Lumina, will react to the docuseries. “Our Lumina is going to have a lot of fun watching,” says Nvee. The 25-year-old only appears briefly in the docuseries, but her introduction to the group shows how she fits into place like a missing puzzle piece. “I think our fans are going to really enjoy getting a behind-the-scenes look at Blackswan because they’ve been there since the beginning,” she continues, noting that she hopes the series also serves as inspiration for fans who may want to become artists.

The group, who excitedly refer to their current lineup as the “Dream Team,” know how they want viewers to react after watching the docuseries. “I just hope they watch and think, ‘Oh, they’re only human.’ ‘Oh, I went through that too.’ ‘Oh, I understand how they felt back then,'” Fatou says.

“As long as they understand us as people, I’m really, really, really happy because we’re not just characters behind the screen,” she continues. “We go through the same things you do. We have good sides and bad sides.”

“This documentary literally shows that nothing is perfect in this idol life,” adds Gabi. “We are also, as (Fatou) said, people behind the image we show through the camera.”