After a slew of one-hit-wonders, U.S. audiences may be hesitant to embrace another Asian artist, let alone a five-woman, pan-Asian group brought together by an Asian reality TV show. So what sets Alisha Budhrani, Natsuko Danjo, Angeli Flores, Victoria Chan and Ji Hae Lee apart? Could be their raw talent, harmonious tunes or the fact that they reeled in Snoop Dogg for their newest single, Undivided, now available on iTunes. We get the scoop.
ISSUE: Fall 2011
DEPT: Plugged In
HED: Blush
STORY: Shirley Lau
Audrey Magazine: Blush is the product of the reality TV show, Project Lotus. What was that experience like?
Angeli: FarWest [Entertainment] found me via Facebook and so my dad and I didn’t think it would be so big or real, but then once we went to the auditions, it was clear how serious Project Lotus was.
Ji Hae: Project Lotus was my first time to perform — I had only practiced and auditioned [before]. It was also my first time [making] foreign friends. It was only my second time outside of South Korea, my first time in Hong Kong, and I had very rarely used any English until Project Lotus. AM: How do you feel about being the only pan-Asian girl group in the U.S. right now?
Victoria: It’s really exciting because we are representing so many people and we want to do a good job. We hope Blush will inspire others to connect with their own culture.
AM: Who would you like to collaborate with?
Natsuko: Pink — she rocks! Victoria: Justin Timberlake ‘cause he’s hot!
Angeli: Bruno Mars. He is so talented and part Filipino!
Ji Hae: Karina Pasian. She has a beautiful voice.
Alisha: A.R. Rahman because he creates beautiful music.
Details Blushband.com.
— Shirley Lau
More stories from Audrey Magazine’s Archives here.
The young starlets of the Korean girl band, GIRLS GENERATION, or SNSD, or more precisely, 소녀시대, have been my recent motivation to lose weight, look cute, and …lose weight.
SNSD's legs got me on the ellipticals
My mantra is hanging in bold print next to my bed – “Dianne, You will achieve the SNSD Body!” Has it been working? No, but that’s another story for another time.
While on my old stationary bike one day, I was typing away on my laptop (who said anything about actually cycling on a bike?) -and I learned that these girls would get to strut their stuff –in LA!
I had to go!
On Saturday, September 5th at the Staples Center, the SMTOWN LIVE ’10 World Tour Concert was a major success with k-pop lovers, Korean American and moreover Asian American teens and families! The SMTOWN LIVE ‘10 Concert is presented by one of South Korea’s most prominent artist’s management agencies, SM Entertainment. The LA concert is a part of SM Entertainment’s world tour project which will begin in Seoul, then continue to LA, Tokyo, Shanghai, and other major Asian cities.
SM has been attempting to bring Asia’s best performers to the global stage, and moreover the United States for many years now. The concert has already been imprinted as Asia’s leading concert brand thanks to their successful tour in 2008. Singers like multilingual star, BoA, have grown to become a legendary icon all over Southeast and East Asia due to her popularity at SMLIVE. Her single, “I Did it For Love” even aired on American radio, but unfortunately died after a couple of months. In fact, many artists represented by SM are multilingual, if not bilingual. The company has been and is working towards creating “global” artists who can represent Asia as a whole. SM Entertainment has been highly successful in creating popular girl and boy bands during the last twenty years and continues to hold great power over the Korean and Asian music industries.
The four hour-long concert was a fun event for the whole family to enjoy. I attended the event with my sister and cousin and had the time of my life. The line-up included all of SM’s greatest including my favorites: SHINee (a young teeny-bopper boy band), SuperJunior (the sexy boy band), Lee Yeon Hee (actress turned singer), my new favorite- TRAX (a Korean rock-and-roll hottie), f(X) (SM’s newest debuting girl artist- shout out to my girl Luna!), the romantic KangTa (lovely rhythm and blues/ ballad singer), Zhang Li Yin (another lovely KangTa-look-alike-ballad singer), of course SNSD (the barbies of Korea) and many other SM artists.
The concert definitely drew out diehard K-pop fans in America and proved to be worth the ticket price. The lighting was spectacular and the performances were full of energy and what looked like countless hours of practice. The show also was a treat for fans as the artists attempted to speak to them! The celebrities had all practiced a few English phrases, I’m assuming by the same la ghetto coach, because they repeated, “WHATSSS UPPPP LAAAAA!” only about….100 times. And sprinkled some “Yo’s” and a few “Yep’s” here and there.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of non-Korean fans. Many of these fans were Vietnamese and Chinese Americans. The crowd ranged from all different ethnicities, and in a way, it was refreshing to see that the white girl next to me wanted to be desperately Korean.
Cool.
Many of the performances were led by the two most popular pop groups, SuperJunior and SNSD. The diverse crowds waved light sticks, signs, and screamed whenever they pranced on stage. But perhaps the most anticipated performer of the night was BoA. BoA, who told the audience that this year marks her already 10 year anniversary with SM Entertainment, showcased a very mature yet outrageously Lady Gaga-esque performance.
SMLIVE was personally, such a great journey down memory lane for me as I got to see all of the musicians I loved and listened to during my 14 months of studying abroad in Korea in person. Every song reminded me of a memory I created and shared in Seoul and it was marvelous to see others rock out to those tunes as well. Overall, the event was a relaxing and upbeat show for the whole family but unfortunately not enough to showcase Asia’s greatest in hopes to be picked up by mainstream American music producers and the glitz of Hollywood. But luckily, they will always have the support of Asian Americans, Asian expats, and k-pop lovers around the world as well as boundless opportunities to sink their teeths into American pop culture as we enter in this globalized era. And while we wait for those golden opportunities, I will be practicing those SNSD dance moves.
And this time, it won’t even be entirely to lose weight.
