[2][6] In May 2012, she started hosting the second season of MBC's audition show I Am a Singer, singing her song "Nocturne" on the first night, and receiving praise for her emcee style.

[7] Despite her relative inexperience, compared to the show's past emcees, the creative director said, "We were impressed with her style of talking that was both comforting and effortless," and convinced her to remain, after being a temporary replacement.

[7] Her appearance on the show was said to reveal a "softer side" of the veteran singer who was known for a "strong, sometimes stubborn, stance on issues related to K-pop," and a firm opposition to lip-syncing on the air.

[3] On January 12, 2011, she married her long time friend and lover, a Korean-American businessman in his mid-40s, in Santa Barbara, California, and they reside in Samseong-dong, Seoul.

[2] In her memoir Barefoot Diva, published in February 2012, she wrote, "For a time, people called me a tiger in that I always seemed ready to criticize and fight.