Girl group Blush takes SXSW to school

AUSTIN — Things look rosy in 2014 for girl group Blush.

The five-member band formed by an international talent search seeks to build on its Billboard dance chart success with a new album this summer followed possibly by a headlining tour.

Currently on their High School Nation tour of the USA, Blush made an appearance in Austin for South By Southwest and sang several energetic and catchy synth-pop songs including Miss Out and latest track Ain't Nobody Got Time for That, which even tosses in a few bleeped F-bombs. "We're going more edgy, more urban pop," says Victoria Chan, who is originally from Hong Kong.

All the 20-something women now live in Los Angeles, with the attention of "Uncle Quincy," legendary producer Quincy Jones who's their executive producer. "He actually pushed all of us to write our own songs. We had like a mini-songwriting camp for us about the song, the music, the direction and the look of the group," says Alisha Budhrani, also born in Hong Kong but of Indian descent.

She and the others in the group were selected in 2010 as part of Project Lotus, a talent competition held throughout Asia including South Korea, Japan and the Philippines. Also in the group: Angeli Flores (Philippines) and Natsuko Danjo (Japan). Original member Ji Hae Lee (South Korea), who is in Korea recording some solo music, did not make the trip. Broadway actress Catherine Ricafort, who is of Filipino heritage, served as a substitute.

Growing up in rural Japan, Danjo was a dancer and only started singing for the Project Lotus auditions. So writing music was something she was totally unprepared for. "The producer told me, 'Just write how you feel.' Nothing would come out on the paper. It took me like a week to finish one song, but it was so real and how I felt in the moment," she says. "It taught me to be honest because the most important thing in being an artist is trust."

They hope to flex their songwriting muscles on their first full-length album, which is in the works. "A lot of the tracks, we're now actually trying to put our input into it and so we can get more authentic rather than, 'Hey, send us a demo' and us record it," Budhrani says. Their goal, she says, is for the album "to be the summer jam for everybody."

All effort has built toward that. They've opened for the likes of Justin Bieber and the Black Eyed Peas and had hit singles such as Billboard Dance Chart topper Dance On and Undivided, which features an appearance by Snoop Dogg and hit No. 3.

Despite the rigorous selection process, they knew there were no certainties that the group would bond and be successful. "You always get a little fear about, 'How is this going to turn out?' I'm moving from Asia to the U.S. and we're always not sure how it's going to be?What's going to happen? Is the music going to be right? Is it going to cater to our audience? Is it going to match us?"

But, overall, the experience has been harmonious, Chan says. "We are all girls as well and understand you are going to have your off days. We are like sisters now and you will have your arguments or whatever. It's not like happy-go-lucky every day," she says. "But doing what we love, that is a driving force to get over those little bumps."