Project Lotus – Finalists begin intense 6 week training in Hong Kong

The search for Asia’s answer to the Spice Girls is getting close to the end. Project Lotus announced and posted up photos of the lucky finalists, whom are currently in Hong Kong for the final stages of the competition.

There were so many talented girls that there are actually 27 finalists from 5 countries. Originally they wanted 5 girls from each country and every week they would eliminate girls from each country until 5 girls are left. I’ve posted up the photos of the finalists up on Facebook, congrats to all the girls! What an incredible opportunity they have to work with Grammy award winning producers, songwriters, get a recording contract and be launched worldwide!

Every part of this intense Hong Kong training/auditioning period is being filmed and it will be made in to a reality TV show scheduled to air early next year. By the end of October, the group will be found and they will start recording there first album in the UK. There album will be out as soon as the reality TV show has finished airing. There schedule has all been planned for the girls, now it comes to the hard part finding the girls. It must be really tough for the judges in Hong Kong at the moment.

Project Lotus have been making lots of announcements this week. Announcing who the finalists were! Having a concert where the lucky girls get to perform for a live audience for the first time! The concert is held tonight in Hong Kong! Good luck girls! Also on Project Lotus's facebook, the posted a vid of the girls singing. Do you guys like what you hear?

Project Lotus Update – More Celebrity Judges are named

Exciting news! Members of the Spice Girls are signed on to judge and mentor the contestants on Project Lotus (names haven’t been disclosed yet, I would love Posh to do it). Hong Kong Superstar Karen Mok was also named as a judge along with former GRAMMY Foundation Chair Steve Schnur.

As mentioned in my previous entries, Project Lotus will be made in to a TV reality show that is slated to be broadcasted early next year. It won’t be anything like ‘Idol’, ‘X Factor’ because the public doesn’t get to vote for their favourite. The show will be purely based on the journey to find the superstar girl band. The judges will have complete control of selecting the girls that make up the band. It will be interesting to see if the public agrees with their decision once the members of the band has been unveiled.

The TV show plan to celebrate the good side of the girls characters only. It sounds like they want everyone to get along like a happy family, as seen in Masterchef. The majority of reality TV shows want drama and cattiness for entertainment value, like Top Model, Big Brother. So it’ll be interesting to see if Project Lotus will make good TV viewing.

The girls will be from five different countries so there will be cultural differences and possibly language barriers if their English isn’t strong. The girls would be in a competitive environment and I expect friction might occur. Creative director-producer Eliot Kennedy expects the girls to bond closely with each other and form a strong team network in this journey.

The five finalists from Korea have been selected! The lucky girls have not been unveiled to the public yet.

A total of 16 songs have already been composed by the talented songwriters that include Gary Barlow. Popular music in the five countries are uniquely different, would they try to blend it all in or give the girls a poppy sound like Spice girls, R’n’B sound like Pussycat Dolls. The question is how will Project Lotus make a musical impact to the world?

Project Lotus Update – Yoo Do Hyun named as the celebrity judge

On the 25th August, Rocker Yoo Do Hyun of YB was named as the celebrity judge in Project Lotus, the search for Asia’s Spice Girls.

In a press conference, Yoo Do Hyun explained why he decided to get involved with Project Lotus.
“I was often asked why it was me that decided to participate in this project. And I answered that I did not want to make a girl group that only the West likes, but a girl group that was very distinct and varied in terms of their music style. I’m not too familiar in the girl group area, but I do know that I want to give my varied music tastes.”

“I’m not sure if I could add such diverse musical style, but I believe this is a good opportunity and decided to participate. I think that this girl group will be different from many of the currently existing girl and boy groups. It seems like there will be serious and deep music composition work involved. In addition to feeling honored, I am also enjoying my participation in this project.”
Yoo do Hyun and other judges will travel around Asia to select the 20 finalists that will undergo gruelling training and elimination process. Girls will be eliminated each week until five are left standing. The lucky five will then fly to England to record their debut album which will be released next year, straight after the reality series have finished airing.

Everything has been mapped out for Project Lotus, the search is on for the five faces of the group. Good luck to all the girls at the auditions.

Project Lotus Update – Call backs for next live audition held August 24

Project Lotus Update: The search for Asia's answer to the Spice Girls have heaten up! Just a reminder, Project Lotus is a reality TV show in search of 5 talented girls across Asia to form a girl band that will be launched world wide. To audition girls can either submit an online video or attend a live audition at various venues in different countries. Huge news came out this week! All the girls that progressed to the next stage of auditions were contacted with the good news! Last week I mentioned that I got the impression that it would be advantageous for girls to also attend the live audition and not just submit a video audition only. From Project Lotus's facebook page, and reading the wall posts it appears that none of the girls who only submitted a video audition made it to the next stage.

Just to remind you guys, I did audition for Project Lotus. I submitted a video only, I didn't attend the live auditions. Well, the results... not good news guys, I guess my Quest to be part of a Girl Band has been shattered. I got no call-back. I know, I think they overlooked some awesome talent (LOL). Have you watched my auditon video? I sing Justin Bieber (LOL). The second round auditions are held next week on August 24, all the girls that made it through will be performing on stage in front of a panel of celebrity judges. I'm curious to find out who the judges are! Good luck to all the girls next week! I will keep you updated on Project Lotus.

Project Lotus Update

Project Lotus Update: A quick recap on what project Lotus is, it's the search for Asia's answer to the Spice Girls! Auditions are being held in Asia to find five talented singers to form a new girl band that will be launched worldwide. I decided to start my quest to be a popstar so I sent in my video audition on their facebook. I've been checking their facebook for updates and there has been a lot of confusion about how the auditioning process worked. People thought that they can submit a video audition, but turns out that it would be advantageous to attend a live audition in the 5 countries. The five selected countries are China, Japan, Korea, Philipines and India. I only auditioned online so I hope that is enough for them to see my music talents

I got some information about the Korean live auditions. 25 year old Lim Miru from Australia flew the distance to Korea to audition live. Amazingly, she had only found out about the live auditions 3 days earlier, after stumbling upon it on youtube. That is perseverance. A total of 85 girls attended the live auditions in Korea, singing popular songs by Beyonce, Whitney Houstan, Christina Aguilera. They are still shortlisting the applicants and successful girls will proceed to the second live auditions held on Aug 24. Five finalists from each country will go to Hong Kong for an intense training and auditioning process like Masterchef and Idol. Eliminations will occur every week until five girls are left standing. All the drama will be broadcast on TV early next year in a reality tv show. It is an intense process for the girls but it is a lifetime opportunity because they get to work with grammy award winning producers, songwriters – The ultimate dream team.

Back to my audition, I haven't heard back from Project Lotus… hmmm… Just a reminder I sang Justin Bieber's no. 1 song Baby mashed up with ‘Saddest song’ by Cherry and ‘Someday soon’ by Natalie Bassingthwaighte. I still have my fingers crossed! I check my video on facebook and it has 5 likes so that’s cool =D Good luck to all the girls that auditioned!