The Singaporean singer had been heady with joy that she had been picked by Jason Mraz's management to sing a live duet with him at his sold-out concert here last Thursday.
But hours after they sang his hit song Lucky together at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, she realised that her 'malfunctioning' outfit had accidentally stolen the limelight from her.
Though concert-goers praised her singing, the purple dress she wore ended up garnering more attention.
The dress had layers of fabric gathered at the thigh, particularly in front, making it look as though something was sticking out.
Before long, video clips of Joi's duet turned up on file-sharing site YouTube.
As of yesterday, some 10 separate clips of the performance from different users were circulating online.
In all, they have been viewed more than 1,200 times.
Netizens who watched the clips generally wondered about Joi's 'bulge'.
On his blog, a Mr Malique wrote: 'I shall not comment on her performance/stage persona/chemistry but her stylist is in deep trouble, I bet. Just look at the photo will you?
'Tell me what on earth is that... ?!'
Concert-goer Cindy Sim, 29, a business consultant, who was sitting 15 rows from the stage, told The New Paper: 'I could see it from where I was seated.
'The dress looked strange because it had something sticking out inappropriately. It could be seen from the two big screens next to the stage too.
'It was really most unfortunate for Joi.'
When asked about it, Joi, 30, who's known for her Chinese pop songs, told The New Paper in a phone interview that she found out about the brouhaha only after she viewed the clip on YouTube.
But the brave girl is nonchalant about it.
She said: 'There's no reason for me to brood about it. It's not such a big deal. There are people who will like what I wear and people who won't.
'There's not much I can do now so I'll just choose a better dress the next time.'
She declined to say who the stylist was.
Joi's manager later explained that the dress had looked all right during the fitting.
She said: 'Our best guess is that the stylist wasn't present on Thursday to dress Joi up.'
She explained that the dress had additional zips on the shoulder strap.
And when Joi zipped these up, the fabric gathered around a single spot, producing the bulge, instead of falling into a wide U shape, as it was supposed to.
Not everybody spotted the 'wardrobe malfunction', though.
One concert-goer, Miss Eva Nastassia, 21, a student, said she believed the audience was more likely to be looking at Mraz.
Good job
And the good news for Joi is that she won rave reviews for her performance.
Both Miss Sim and Miss Nastassia agreed that the Singaporean singer held her own with Mraz and 'did a pretty good job'.
Miss Nastassia said she had heard some booing after the duet. But she believes these probably came from young female fans who were 'jealous she got to hug him for such a long time' after the duet.
Miss Nastassia added that some in the audience didn't even know who Joi was.
Joi said she met the singer for rehearsals only on the day of the show itself.
For her, doing a duet with Mraz was a dream come true.
The day after the performance, she gushed in her blog: 'I am so happy I'm given the opportunity to even just shake his hand.
About her hug, Joi said: 'Jason is very charming in person and every girl wants a piece of him, but I've no intention of causing 'pain' to these girls!'
She explained Mraz had opened his arms wide at her after the song and it was only polite of her to accept the hug.
According to Joi's record label, Warner Music, Mraz was reportedly 'very satisfied with his collaboration with Joi and hopes to work together with her soon'.
The label also said Mraz reportedly 'feels that Joi is the best Asian artiste that he's worked with so far'.
Mraz, 31, is known for songs like You And I Both, The Remedy and I'm Yours.
The popular singer, who had selected one local female singer from each Asian country on his tour for a duet with him on stage, had performed the same song with Fiona Sit in Hong Kong, Evonne Hsu in Taipei and Penny Tai in Malaysia.
The original song was done with American pop-folk singer Colbie Caillat.
Joi first gained recognition in the local Mando-pop scene with her second album Sunrise.
She also sang last year's National Day Parade theme song with Hady Mirza.
Joi performed at the Singapore Entertainment Awards Celebration Party on Saturday and is now preparing for her sixth Mandarin album, which will be out later this year.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
