(MBC)

Girl group EXID vocalist Solji and amateur singer Doo Jin-soo covered “Western Sky” on Saturday in the latest episode of MBC’s weekly Korean music program “Show! Music Core.”

Solji and Doo were the winners of the TV network‘s Lunar New Year special one-off entertainment show “Duet Festival,” in which professional singer and amateur musicians paired up to perform duets. Solji and Doo earned 477 points with “Western Sky” by seasoned vocalist Lee Seung-chul, beating the pair of hip-hop musician Zico and a high school girl, who stopped short of victory at 11 points behind.

Solji and Doo ascribed each other as the reason for becoming champions before the special session of “Show! Music Core.”

“People around me cheered me on,” Doo said. “It’s all thanks to Solji.”

“The secret behind our success was Doo,” Solji responded.

(MBC)

“Duet Festival” ended with viewership ratings of 9.8 percent, according to local researcher Nielsen Korea, leaving hope that the one-off could become an MBC regular entertainment program in the future.

Solji was formerly a professional vocal trainer before joining EXID as the leader. Solji garnered attention after winning in the MBC’s then-one-off singing competition “King of Mask Singers.” Doo is currently a professional vocal trainer as well. He participated in MBC‘s singing audition program “Star Audition - The Great Birth,” as a member of an a cappella group in 2012.

By Son Ji-hyoung (json@heraldcorp.com)