Just as fame beckons K-pop singer Ailee, nude pictures taken of her before she became well-known have surfaced to haunt her.

The sexy Korean-American broke down when she found out last week about the leaked pictures, for which she had posed for fully naked, South Korean media reported.

Hardly surprising since such pictures usually lead to scorn and even career suicide, especially for K-pop stars.

Then came the big surprise: Instead of the expected backlash, the starlet, who made her K-pop debut only last year, found herself gaining in popularity.

So much so that the 24-year-old was on the brink of being voted Best Female Artist at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards (Mama), which was held in Hong Kong on Friday night.

Mama is Asia's top music awards show attended by K-pop A-listers like T.O.P, 2NE1 and Girls' Generation.

Last week, Ailee surged ahead in the fan-voted awards to overtake Lee Hyori in the race for Best Female Artist. But Lee eventually took home the award on Friday.

The US-born singer also surged past IU to lead the Best Female Vocal Performance category with her song U & I. Ailee won the award in the category.

For this, Ailee, whose debut single Heaven was a huge hit in South Korea last year, can thank K-pop fans who rallied behind her out of sympathy and voted online to support her.

Singapore Ailee fan Shermin Lin, 22, a sales executive, told The New Paper: "I voted for her because I felt so bad for her when I saw the pictures. This was certainly not her fault.

"I thought she would be dropped by her label because now she's 'damaged goods'. You know how it is in the Korean music industry - the singers have to be all nice, sweet and decent."

Student Li Zhenqing, 17, who also voted for Ailee, said: "I don't mean to be mean, but Ailee is dumb. There's always a chance that such pictures will be released.

"This doesn't mean I will stop loving her music. I'm just surprised she's not the street-smart girl she appears to be."

Other netizens were less forgiving, with one saying that Ailee can no longer be a role model for young girls and another questioned whether the pictures were a publicity stunt.

When Ailee was named as one of the Top 10 K-pop artistes of 2013 at the Melon Music Awards last weekend, she burst into tears.

She said in her acceptance speech: "I want to say 'I love you' to all the people and fans who have supported and loved me, no matter what happened."

Her management company, YMC Entertainment, has confirmed that she is the woman in the photos.

It said: "We've confirmed that those photos were taken for a camera test after Ailee received a model casting offer for a famous American underwear company while she was living in the US.

"Ailee was told that she needed to take the nude photos for an accurate examination of her body and she agreed to take them under the belief that since it was for a famous underwear company, all information would be secure."

The agency said there had been no response from the underwear company and Ailee has made a report to South Korean police. It also said it would be taking legal action against the person who leaked the photos.

Korean media reports had earlier implicated Ailee's ex-boyfriend Daniel Lee, the vice-president of US-based Korean entertainment website Allkpop, as the perpetrator because the pictures reportedly appeared there first.

In an interview with a Korean news programme, Mr Lee denied leaking the pictures and said he had not spoken to Ailee since the scandal.

He said a Canadian citizen had contacted the website in June in an attempt to sell Ailee's nude photos.

"A misunderstanding happened and I can only say (I'm) sorry about it."

5 things about Ailee

1 Beginnings

Before 2010

She was born Amy Lee in Denver, Colorado. She grew up in New Jersey. Her first foray into singing was posting her videos on a YouTube channel she created.

2 The big move

2010

She moved to South Korea in 2010 and was signed to YMC Entertainment after she aced the audition with the company.

3 Rap

2011

She was featured in Korean singer Wheesung's song They Are Coming. In it, she showed off her rapping skills. 4 ACTING

2012

She made her acting debut in the second season of Korean TV drama Dream High as Ailee, one of the members of fictional K-pop group HershE.

5 Music

2012-2013

So far, she has released two mini albums - Invitation (2012) and A Doll's House (2013).

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