Hoping to make world blush

The pan-Asian girl band Blush have been around for only a year but already have a track record more established groups might envy — a single that hit No 3 on the US dance music charts and rapper Snoop Dogg in one of their songs.

Late last year, the English-singing group, whose members hail from Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Korea and India, will open for the Black Eyed Peas at their Manila concert. They appeared at a Justin Bieber concert in Hong Kong earlier in 2011.

"The goal for Blush is to become really the first Asian singers to make it big in the West," said John Niermann, a former president of Walt Disney Co's Asia-Pacific unit, who brought the band together last year after a broad talent search.

"The idea started several years ago when I was curious why an Asian singer had not really made it to the top of the charts in America," he said.

The group is made up of Japan's Natsuko Danjo, Victoria Chan from Hong Kong, Korea's Ji Hae Lee, Alisha Budhrani from India and Angeli Flores from the Philippines.

Ranging in age from 19 to 28, most of the stylishly-slender group members sang and danced from childhood, dreaming of stardom, according to the group's website. But the 26-year-old Lee only began singing seriously after graduating from Korea's Hoseo University — with a degree in law.

"Manufactured" pop groups have been around for over 20 years. But Blush are the first to be made up entirely of singers from across Asia who perform in English, in an attempt to broaden their global appeal. Blush are also unusual among Asian performers in the sense that they hope to make it big in the United States before becoming popular in their home region.

Gain a following

To help the Hong Kong-based group gain a following, Niermann hired songwriters and producers who worked on tracks by artists such as Bon Jovi and the Spice Girls.

Their first single, Undivided, which featured American rapper Snoop Dogg in both song and video, made it to No 3 on the Billboard Dance Club chart.

Niermann has also tried to popularise Blush through music videos and TV appearances as well as toys and computer games, tapping contacts made during his time at Disney and Electronic Arts Inc, another former employer.

"These days you monetise through live appearances like concerts, merchandise, sponsorship and endorsements. These are the key areas," he said.

Fans at recent Singapore events praised the group for their friendliness and style.

"Lots of energy and great vocals," said Andrew Teo, the event manager at The Butter Factory, a Singapore dance club where the group performed.

The group, though, spend much of their time in North America, targeting cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Vancouver where there are large ethnic Asian communities in hopes of building the fan base essential for success.

"Blush are wholesome enough to work with Disney yet at the same time are edgy enough to draw a crowd that might prefer to listen to Snoop Dogg or Black Eyed Peas," Niermann said. But the group may find broad success hard, experts said.

"The difficulty about breaking into Western markets is the mindset... Westerners do not bother about singers outside their country because they do not identify with them," said Dean Augustine, head of artistes and repertoire at Sense Music, a Japanese-Singaporean management and production house.

"When an artiste has a following, fans will comment on YouTube and this gives the media something to write about."

Why K-pop wins 

That South Korean Pop, or K-pop as it has come to be known, is a global phenomenon is officially indisputable. How else do you explain the presence of two currently hot singers on our shores performing, in Korean, on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November last year?

Yes, singer Seo In Young and Nine Muses are just two in a growing list of Korean artists, known for their young and bubblegum fresh appeal, taking over the world. While girl bands such as Girls' Generation have performed to sold-out venues in London and Paris, others like Wonder Girls have debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 list in the US. Then there are bands such as 2NE1, Kara and Brown Eyed Girls, along with a bevy of solo artists such as BoA, Lee Hyori, Younha and Jang Nara who have their own dedicated following.

Of course, success is not limited to the girls. While male singers like Rain continue to reign over much of Asia (even in non Korean-speaking markets), boy bands such as SHINee, Super Junior, TVXQ/DBSK, 2AM, 2PM and Big Bang have dedicated followers around the world, thanks mostly to the internet and aggressive marketing by their respective talent agencies.

On a Friday in early November last year, about 100 UAE fans gathered for a K-pop-inspired flash mob. A modest number it may seem, but not really, considering the phenomenon has come all this way.

 David Tusing, Deputy tabloid! Editor