On the latest episode of “The King of Mask Singer,” masked singer “Singing Hambuggy” shared the story of how she was scouted!
During the November 30 broadcast of the MBC singing competition, eight new contestants entered the ring to challenge the reigning champion for the throne.
In the second match-up of Round 1, “Hot Dog” and “Singing Hambuggy” went head-to-head with a duet performance of Lucia and Epitone Project’s “Please.”
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After watching their performance, several of the celebrity panelists guessed that Singing Hambuggy was the main vocalist of a girl group.
In order to provide another clue to her identity, Singing Hambuggy performed brief dance covers of Lee Soo Ji’s alter ego HAMBUGGY and PSY.
Kim Gura then astutely observed that covering PSY was an unusual choice for what he assumed to be a girl group member, and he asked the panel if there were any idol groups produced by PSY. GFRIEND’s Yerin brought up Baby DONT Cry, the rookie girl group that recently debuted under PSY’s label P NATION, leading the other panelists to exclaim that Singing Hambuggy was most likely a member of the group.
Although Singing Hambuggy earned praise for her vocals, she ultimately lost the round to her opponent. The masked singer then performed a charming rendition of Byul’s “December 32,” taking off her mask halfway through the song to reveal her identity—and sure enough, she turned out to be none other than Yihyun, the leader and main vocalist of Baby DONT Cry.
During her interview, host Kim Sung Joo mentioned that before her debut, Yihyun once performed on stage together with IU as a child. Yihyun explained that she once appeared on the show “Fantastic Duo 2” as “Bundang’s Little IU,” and she wound up singing together with IU.
“At the time, I was running for school vice president, and [IU] even sang my campaign song together with me,” recalled Yihyun. “She was so warm and kind.”
Revealing how she wound up signing with PSY’s agency, she continued, “I met PSY at that same show. He asked me, ‘I’ll make you the nation’s little sister, so won’t you join me [at my label]?’”
Watch the full episode of “The King of Mask Singer” with English subtitles on Viki below!
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