Russian idol LANA debuts with “Take The Wheel” + controversy over her place in K-pop

Late last year, it was revealed that Russian idol trainee Eugina Svetlana signed a contract with a Korean company and would be debuting in a K-pop group. Now that time has come, but she’s changed her name to LANA and is making a solo debut with “Take The Wheel“.

There’s been a lot of backlash on social media because she’s not Asian ethnically, but unlike a lot of other non-Asian forays into K-pop, at least she tries it in Korean. If she’s gonna put effort into it like that then it’s hard for me to see the issue with her in K-pop compared to other foreigners already in it, and at least she’s not the result of somebody’s thesis project.

So that said, aside from the novelty, it’s obviously gonna be a long road ahead in terms of coming from a nugu company and her seemingly not having a ton of recognition herself. Perhaps the target is the international audience? But that’s where most of the controversy is coming from to begin with. More than anything, for me, she’s being held back by a fine but relatively forgettable debut song.

LANA has also been uploading content to her YouTube channel, and it seems that will be the primary way she connects with fans.