SINGAPORE — Asia may produce its own Rihanna or Katy Perry and it may happen very soon. At least, that is what 16-time Grammy-winning Canadian musician and producer David Foster believes.

“Asia (in terms of singing) has had a tradition of copying the West since pop music started,” Foster said to reporters at a preview of AXN’s Asia’s Got Talent held at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore today (Jan 27). “Now what is happening is Asia is finding its own flavour with its singers. The Beatles copied the American sound, but when they played, it just came out different. The Asians have copied the American sound for so many years, but now it’s starting to come out different.”

He added: “They are starting to put a twist on what is going on, and I am certain that somebody like a Rihanna or a Katy Perry is going to pop from Asia. If you do the maths, with two point something billion people, it’s going to happen. The Asian youth are all over it.”

In the meantime, Foster is busy looking for Asia’s next biggest star. The 65-year-old is one of the judges on the very first season of Asia’s Got Talent, alongside Indonesian-French singer-songwriter Anggun, former Spice Girl Melanie C and Taiwanese-American singer-actor Van Ness Wu. Asia’s Got Talent is billed as the biggest competition in the world, and will field applicants from 15 territories across Asia. The semi-finals and finals of the competition will be filmed at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. And yes, Foster admitted that he’d be the meanest judge on the panel.

“Because I am the oldest, I have the least patience,” he quipped.

And if anyone is questioning their abilities to judge anything other than music – they are all, of course, best known for being musicians and singers - the judges claim they have special secret talents which may or may not be good enough for public consumption. Foster is said to be a “really good magician”, while Wu is good at juggling. Anggun can “do an impression of a snail” and Mel C can perform Spice Girls songs in a pretty unusual way.

“Not only can I sing, I can gargle the tunes as well!” the 41-year-old quipped. “I have been working on it for years!”

Asia’s Got Talent will premiere first on AXN on March 12, 2015, airing on Thursdays at 8.05pm in Singapore.