On the latest episode of “The King of Mask Singer,” masked singer “Milky Way” showed off his musical talents!
During the September 7 broadcast of the MBC singing competition, four contestants moved on to the next round in their quest for the throne.
In the second match-up of Round 2, “Milky Way” blew the crowd away with a soaring cover of Kim Kyung Ho’s “Forbidden Love,” which brought several members of the celebrity panel to their feet.
Spoilers
After watching his performance, OH MY GIRL’s Mimi speculated that Milky Way was a rookie boy group member, but Shin Bong Sun disagreed, saying that his performance seemed like that of a seasoned veteran. Yoon Sang sided with Mimi, noting that his voice sounded youthful and clear—and that his decision to sing an especially difficult song seemed like a choice that a very young idol would make.
Last week, Yoo Young Seok observed that Milky Way seemed to have an SM Entertainment vibe to him, leading Yoon Sang to guess, “If he’s someone from SM, I think he’s likely to be in either NCT WISH or NCT DREAM.”
In order to offer a hint to his identity, Milky Way then treated the audience to a brief piano performance.
Although Milky Way earned high praise from the panelists for his performance, he ultimately lost the round to his opponent and took off his mask to reveal his identity.
Just as Yoon Sang had guessed, Milky Way turned out to be none other than Jaehee, the main vocalist of NCT’s rookie unit NCT WISH.
Earlier in the show, host Kim Sung Joo had pointed out that the then-masked Jaehee seemed nervous, and even after he’d removed his mask, Kim Sung Joo noted with a comforting laugh that Jaehee’s hands were trembling.
At the request of the celebrity panelists who were sad that they wouldn’t be able to see Jaehee’s performance for the final round, Jaehee agreed to sing the song that he would have performed if he had advanced to Round 3.
Check out his soulful rendition of Naul’s “Memory of the Wind” below!
“The King of Mask Singer” also later released footage of Jaehee’s rehearsal for Round 3, which you can watch below:
Watch the full episode of “The King of Mask Singer” with English subtitles on Viki below:
