'Used singer' Solji dominates holiday TV
Solji, left, sings in "Duet Singing Contest" on MBC. / Courtesy of MBC
Singer Solji from K-pop girl band EXID has won plenty of admirers on TV variety shows celebrating the Lunar New Year holiday season (Feb. 6-10), shedding her “used singer” tag, based on long years largely out of the public eye.
Taking advantage of the holiday to appear on five shows, Solji, 27, showed she is a multi-faceted entertainer with the power to attract TV viewers.
Along with a male amateur singer, she won a
on MBC. On MBC’s
“Idol Star Athletics Championships,”
she outshone fellow K-pop artists in Korean traditional wrestling “ssireum,” archery and sprinting.
Soljia from “Idol Star Athletics Championships” on MBC
She was also cool enough to give up looking sexy, eating a load of jokbal ― braised pig trotter ― on a food variety show and looking dorky as she went through comical self-evaluation tests on a comedy show.
The praise for Solji partly derives from recognition of her past. Since her debut with duo girl band 2NB in 2006 until EXID released the single “Up & Down” in 2014, she has remained below the public radar.
She was referred to as a “used singer” as were other artists having little luck despite their years as K-pop stars.