Project Lotus writing camp

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXXFLzgyQOk

A couple of weeks ago, I headed off to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios near London for a songwriting camp with a host of top-line writers from the UK and US.  The camp was led by Grammy award-winning producer Eliot Kennedy (the man who helped create the Spice Girls) and featured the likes of musical legends Gary Barlow of Take That fame, Shaznay Lewis of All Saints, Jodi Marr (Mika, Ricky Martin), and Nina Woodford (Nelly Furtado, Leona Lewis, Alesha Dixon).

The camp itself was organized for a brand new pan-Asian musical project “Project Lotus” wherein a girl band of five was to be assembled through a talent search over five different Asian countries.  A selection of the songs generated from this camp is to be sung by these girls on their debut album.

Needless to say, the camp was a truly humbling experience.  Being the youngest participant there, I learned so much just from being in the presence of such great musicians.  After all the pleasantries though, we all got down to business, splitting up into groups of 3 or 4 and heading off into separate studios in the gigantic Real World complex with the simple goal of creating at least one original track per team per day.  I had the pleasure of working with three different teams of exciting personalities during my stay there and the songs we wrote/produced were added to a pool of almost twenty (!) by the end of the week.

Alas, time flies when you’re having fun and all the writers parted ways before we knew it.  I do have a hunch that we’ll all be collaborating again sometime in the near future.

As “Project Lotus” begins filming very soon, I am honored and excited to be the celebrity coach on the program to mentor the contestants in episodes produced and broadcast in the region!  You guys can check out the website at www.projectlotus.tv for details.  If you’re a girl and you can sing and dance, I suggest you take a look and submit a video!