She bagged the role just six months into her career.
Recently, MBC announced that ALLDAY PROJECT member Annie was going to be stepping into the role of the Gayo Daejejeon MC, succeeding Girls’ Generation member YoonA, who stepped down from the role after ten years.
Often considered one of the biggest year-end music festivals, Gayo Daejejeon enjoys a high reputation in the industry, and so being the event’s MC carries considerable weight. The network’s decision to appoint Annie to the role, despite her absolute lack of experience in MC-ing any music show whatsoever, has been met with mixed responses. Given that this year would also mark the 20th anniversary of the festival, the questions around Annie’s appointment have only increased.
In an interview with Sports Chosun, Jang Woo Sung, the producer in charge of this year’s Gayo Daejejeon, tried to quell the public’s curiosity about why Annie was chosen for this significant role. He admitted that after YoonA stepped down, they had many concerns around who to bring in next. Annie, according to Jang, was the “most natural choice” because she is a “rising star that represents the times.”
Annie has shown smart and charismatic leadership through various activities since her debut. She captured the public’s attention in such a short time and I thought she was an icon befitting the new era.
— Jang Woo Sung
This explanation, however, has been met with mostly cold responses from netizens. Some felt that Jang was exaggerating Annie’s impact as a rookie who is just six months into her career. Others opined that it would be better for the network not to address the topic at all since it was supposedly quite obvious that Annie’s family background played a big role in her bagging this opportunity.
- “What an excuse…it’s just not convincing at all.”
- “Honestly, it would’ve been better if they’d just said nothing.”
- “The new face of the era???? This is so cringe, seriously.”
- “Huh?”
- “I guess they are just trying to kiss up.”
- “Ugh…This reeks of the capitalist class system.”