Blush (Voltaire Domingo, NPPA Images)
You've heard various Asian all-girl groups make it big in the region. But the global stage is something these Asian acts have yet to conquer. This is the goal of a new Pan-Asian all-female singing group Blush.
Blush is composed of five girls from different Asian countries―Angeli Flores from the Philippines, Natsuko Danjo from Japan, Alisha Budhrani from India, Victoria Chan from China and Lee Ji-hae from South Korea. The girls are also set to promote globally so they all speak English and will sing primarily in English. In the press conference held on Wednesday, April 6, at Tosca in Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, Blush sampled their music and gamely answered the press' questions.
Project Lotus
Blush was formed from a talent search called Project Lotus, spearheaded by Jon Niermann, former Walt Disney Asia Pacific President and Eliot Kennedy, a Grammy-winning songwriter and music producer who has worked with Celine Dion, Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls among others. The producers scouted Philippines, China, Japan, India and South Korea to find girls who would comprise Blush. From a thousand of hopefuls, girls were narrowed down to twenty-five, where eliminations were held each week until ten girls made it to the final round last November 29, 2010 in Hitec, Hong Kong. The final round named the five girls who were chosen for their vocal ability, uniqueness, stage presence and dancing―Project Lotus' set of qualifications. Project Lotus, a documented footage of the talent search held since June 2010, is set to be shown across Asia in May.
Having worked with Asian talents for many years now, Jon wanted to form a group that would represent Asia globally. "We start wondering why Asian talents haven't made it big in the West and that was really the inspiration of finding a way to bridge the Asian singers with the West. And we thought a girl group was a good way to do it and we thought to represent Asia, they need to be from different countries," Jon shared.
Singing skills
At the press conference, Jon stressed the qualifications of Blush members, with being the good singer as the main key. "We're not interested in miming our songs or auto-tuning our singers. Girls have to represent Asia in the world stage, so the number one criterion is they have to sing," Jon said. Since Blush is a pop group, they're also set to sing upbeat songs where they get to dance. Blush members are also expected to represent their countries very well. "They have to be a cultural ambassador for their countries," Jon specified.
Stacey Niermann, Blush's manager, is confident of the girls' talents, having survived the rigorous training and auditions in Project Lotus. "They are world-class and of course, the Philippines specifically. We knew that this country would give us the most talented singers of all the countries we're going to. Angeli's voice is unbelievable, as all the other girls are as well. Each brought their own personality and individual talent to the group. We wouldn't be taking them to the world if they're not world-class," Stacey said.
What makes Blush interesting aside from their different nationalities are their various backgrounds and different personalities that the girls can especially relate to. Two of the members were former contestants of a talent search in their respective countries, Angeli joined GMA-7's "Pinoy Idol" and Ji-hae was a former contestant of Superstar K in Korea. "It was a great experience joining 'Pinoy Idol' and I grew up listening to Regine Velasquez's shows," Angeli said. If Ji-hae had not been a singer, she would have been a lawyer as she majored in Law in college.
Alisha, on the other hand, was once a back-up dancer of Coco Lee and Eason Chan. "When I was Eason's back-up dancer, I was only fifteen so it was a pretty experience because it taught me how to grow up, it taught me about showbiz a little bit," Alisha shared. Natsuko, the feisty-looking girl among the group had a dance crew in Japan and has been dancing for 17 years already. Victoria was a former gymnast and has attended junior music choir program at the Hong Kong Performing Arts.
Diversity
Because of the increasing popularity of girl groups in Asia alone who have been making their name, the girls were asked what their edge is over the other singers. "We have diversity in our group, representing different countries, different walks of lives and different cultures. We like to inspire them with our music," Victoria told Yahoo! OMG Philippines. Alisha also agreed, "We can inspire people in the world, no matter where they live and who they are."
As early as now, the girls are already compared to the likes of Spice Girls for being able to work with award-winning music producers and composers. "We feel so blessed to be put in that category. We're gonna take it day by day, we're gonna learn a lot and make sure that we work very hard," Victoria said. The girls are also set to sing original songs, bring their own flavors to represent their roots. "If there are some of our songs that would sound good in our respective languages, we hope to come up with a release, like for example. A Tagalong version of our song," Victoria told Yahoo! OMG! Philippines. If most bands have their own leaders, Blush doesn't have one as everyone has the capability to be lead singers according to their managers. They have their own share in each song where everyone can shine.
Yahoo! OMG! Philippines also asked the girls how they would describe each other, having been able to work with each other since last year. The girls gave funny answers which also fit their images. Jihae is a tiger for having an innocent look but with a crazy personality; Angeli as a food machine; Victoria as a mom; Natsuko as the free-spirited; and Alisha as the resident joker. As Angeli is the current host being in the country with the team, she let the other members and the production team try Filipino street food like balut, isaw and "adidas (roasted chicken feet)."
Blush is just about to debut and the girls are already excited to let the world hear their music and share their bright personalities and different cultures. Aside from their talents, the girls also rely on their teamwork for them to make it big globally. "We are all together and we believe that togetherness and unity is the key. Because if we just go on our separate ways, then we'll just fall apart. We want to stick together," Victoria told Yahoo! OMG Philippines.
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