MUMBAI: After an exciting finale at the Aloft Seoul Myeondong, Hanita Bhambri emerged as the ultimate winner of this year’s Project: Aloft Star Asia Pacific - a competition that identifies the hottest emerging music talent from around the globe, offering them a chance to kick-start their careers - spearheaded by Marriott International’s Aloft Hotels in partnership with Universal Music Group and Brands (UMGB), the brand strategy division of Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment.

From the 1,000+ original song entries and more than 70,000 online votes cast, five finalists including Australia’s High Tropics, Southeast Asia’s Nate Nontree from Thailand, India’s Hanita Bhambri, South Korea’s Blah and Greater China’s Eric Kung from Taiwan, battled it out onstage for the ultimate prize. Hanita Bhambri wins the chance to record and release her original track and music video through Universal Music Group and their prestigious labels.

The finalists performed live at Aloft Seoul Myeongdong in South Korea to a venue packed with more than 100 influencers, global media, Marriott loyalty members and guests. Thousands of fans worldwide joined the excitement, watching via Facebook live. Each finalist performed one original song to a panel of judges from Aloft, Universal Music Group and music industry experts. The four judges evaluated on showmanship and stage presence, technical skill, the ‘Wow’ factor, creativity and originality and international appeal, along with original song writing and music composition.

 “I feel so blessed to be chosen as the ultimate winner. Music has always been a passion of mine and I’m so thankful to Aloft Hotels and Universal Music Group for giving me this opportunity to follow my dreams. I can’t wait to share my music with new fans around the world,” said Hanita Bhambri, this year’s Project: Aloft Star Asia Pacific winner.

 “The energy and excitement in the room from both the guests and the contestants was palpable. Each of the five bands did a phenomenal job in their performances, it was really hard for us to choose one final winner,” said Universal Music Group India and South Asia Managing Director and CEO Devraj Sanyal.  “It was really close, but in the end, we were all very impressed by Hanita Bhambri’s showmanship and her original piece really moved me,” he added.

Aloft Hotels has been fostering and incubating emerging musical talent around the world for over a decade. Project: Aloft Star is a global artist discovery competition running in four regions around the world, powered by Marriott International’s partnership with Universal Music Group & Brands (UMGB). Marriott International’s “Different. By Design” Aloft Hotels are hotspots for music makers and music lovers from around the world.

Marriott International Asia Pacific Brand and Marketing Vice President Mike Fulkerson commented, “Project: Aloft Star is a global competition and the Asia Pacific edition simply gets larger each year. This is the first time we’ve combined all Asian finalists together in one big blowout finale in Seoul. This competition captures the brand’s belief in self-expression through music and is closely linked to our Live at Aloft Hotels performances which invite local musicians to perform at our hotels worldwide.” 

Three lucky online voters who correctly guessed the winner also won 50,000 loyalty points each, redeemable for stays at participating Marriott International hotels around the world and other rewards.