Female Idol Who Disappeared After The Worst Music Bank Debut In History Appeared Again After 15 Years To Clarify Rumors

January 2, 2009 marked the moment Ori (real name Baek Ji-hyun) made her debut on KBS’s “Music Bank” with her debut song “It’s Snowing.” She showed off her cute charms, but couldn’t control the pitch and beat. This was the female singer’s first and last performance because right after that day, Ori mysteriously disappeared and no one knows what happened to her during the past 15 years.

In addition to her real name Baek Ji-hyun, Ori also has the Japanese name Tanaka Sori. Her stage name is derived from this name, however, there are rumors that the name “Ori” is actually taken from the Korean translation of “ugly duckling” (mot saeng gin ori). Ori debuted at the age of 14 with an album of the same name containing 3 songs. She signed a contract with Chang’s Entertainment, an unknown company and was the only artist of this company.

After the “disaster” debut stage, Ori almost disappeared from the entertainment industry and no one knew anything about her anymore for nearly 15 years. Until recently, Ori reappeared and had an interview with the YouTube channel “TAEKandJOON” and the media outlet Sports Chosun.

In these interviews, she shared, “I worked at an IT company and a pet clinic,” Ori said. “There were quite a few people on the street who recognized me, ‘Oh? It’s Ori!’ they said.” Whenever that happened, she was busy hiding himself. “Now that I think about it, I think it was depression at the time,” she recalled. “My self-esteem was so broken.”

The former singer also spoke about numerous rumors and speculative misunderstandings regarding her background, such as KBS’ president was her father or that “her family was rich and paid so she could appear on the show.” “I’m not a ‘gold spoon’,” she said. “My dad died when I was 5 years old, and the family suffered a lot.” She added, “I had a hard time due to my dad’s absence when I was an adolescent, but those rumors were upsetting.”

She mentioned the music program’s producer at the time. “The producer called me to meet him separately (after the stage) and the atmosphere was very bad,” Ori explained the situation by adding, “He must have wanted to scold me, but later told me to leave because I looked so bright.”

When the story about the MC of the program, Yoo Se-yoon, who introduced Ori, was brought up, she said, “I received a DM from him, saying ‘I felt very sorry at that time’. If I have a chance later, I want to say sorry”. She also praised IU, who was a rookie like her in the year of 2009. Recalling the past, she said, “I used the same waiting room as IU. I watched her performance and I couldn’t shut my mouth. She sang very well”.

According to Ori, her mother and the agency’s CEO talked for a long time after the stage. She said, “I heard about canceling all the schedules. I retired as soon as I debuted. That was the truth”. Finally, Ori offered an apology. She said, “It’s natural that they criticized my skills. I’m sorry because it is true that I lacked skills”. She borrowed some lyrics from her debut song, saying “Please look at me once. Please look at my mistakes in the past and how I work hard”.

Source: Sports Chosun