#concerttalk

Movie

Welcome to IU’s 10th anniversary tour concert. The main concept of this tour concert is movie. Some might have been with me for 10 years, some only one year, but regardless of who you are, I’ll be showing every single one of you my past 10 years being summarised into movies of different genres in here meaningfully. As you can see, even the opening CFs were filmed specially for this tour concert only. Since the setlist is really long, so there’s no time for us to talk. I will tell you guys my stories through my songs now, please let the show begin!

Growing Up - Goodbye to my 10s

I mustered my courage to perform ‘Good Day’ in the beginning even though it’s my biggest hit song ever because I think I still have many hit songs, so it should be fine. I’m thinking of leaving this one out of the setlist someday too! Let’s talk about love stories since I have lots of breakup songs. ‘The Story Only I Didn’t Know’ is a very mature love song. I think I’ve matured a lot as compared to when I first sang this song at the age of 18, so I think I can sing it better now. Also, this will probably be the last time for me to perform cute songs like ‘Marshmallow’, ‘Love Attack’ and ‘Boo’ as I think it’s time for me to leave my cute and young image behind. We actually invested most of our budget on these adorable yet very pricy marshmallow costumes! Now back to the main subject, I sincerely hope to convey more stories of my 20s in the future.

Passion of Writing & Embracing Myself

I really love to write since I was young as much as I love to sing. Even now as IU, one of my favourite things to do is writing lyrics. It is the toughest yet happiest process for me ever. Sometimes I get these inspirations from my concert, maybe negative which is why we have BBIBBI, but mostly positive and heartwarming like ‘Through The Night’ or ‘Heart’. I’ve never said this before but when I was young, even though I’ve received so much love, but I used to pay more attention to the people who disliked me. I think that’s why I used to write lyrics that are so sharp and dark, but it’s definitely changing now. I have become a person that can focus more on love. I’ve finally learnt to accept and embrace the various sides that I have after 10 years. I’m proud of myself for being able to tell my stories from different subjects and a broader perspective too. Seeing you guys today, it makes me want to write more songs about love or comfort. I really love myself at times like this. In the future, I’l write more lyrics that are maybe warm and tamed, or unkind at times too. You guys make me a better person and I’ll continue to sing songs that can convey more than simple words. I’m not sure what type of song I’ll write next, but in the process of writing, though our thoughts might not collide, but I really hope you guys will listen and relate to my emotions more often, can you do that for me? It won’t be easy since I’m very talkative, but please don’t hate my nagging and do continue to listen to my stories for a very long time.

‘BBIBBI’ - A Preview of the Next Album, Chat-Shire 2.0

I prepared ‘BBIBBI’ with light feelings, so I’m glad it was well-received. Initially, I intended to write the song to show my gratitude. Eventually, it digressed quite a bit from that. It became a warning song instead. At first, what I wrote was that, “we don’t know each other well yet, we don’t owe each other anything, so we have maintained a good relationship”. I wanted to write a song along this theme, because it was a period of time that I was thinking a lot about relationships between people. Composer Jong Hoon and I discussed a lot about what makes a good relationship. Some people would think you need to know the other person really well for a good relationship, but I personally feel that the moment I think I know a certain person really well, I’ll spoil our relationship. If I pigeonhole someone as being a certain type of person, or that the person would think in this way or that way, from the moment I do that, I won’t be able to see that person as who he or she is. Instead, I would just see the person as who I think the person is. So that’s something that I’m personally cautious about. No matter how close I am with a person, I think to myself, let’s not assume we know everything about the person. With those feelings, mixed with a bit of mischief, I wrote the song BBIBBI. As I wrote the lyrics, I thought a lot about my fans. My fans and I have that sort of relationship. If you meet someone a lot, there are times when it gets a little confusing, without you realising it, lines are crossed or things go overboard. But my fans have been careful about that for the past 10 years, so we have maintained a good relationship. I think it’s because of that that we don’t feel any hate towards each other and just think “ah it’s nice.” That’s what I thought about as I wrote this song. I thought about my Uaenas that I don’t need to give warnings to, whom I have a pleasant relationship with. So if you look at the song itself, although it seems rather off the mark, it’s a kind of “fan song”.

Also, BBIBBI is actually a preview of my next album which i’m still working on it, so the release date isn’t confirmed yet. It’s similar to Chat-shire, which is an album I cherish the most because it contains all my thoughts and imaginations back then, and there’s no way I can describe ‘Singer IU’ without this album. While Chat-Shire is more about my own stories, the next album is produced from a broader perspective, more about people too.

Gloomy Clock - For The Brightest Star In The Sky

The next song actually wasn’t on my set list, but I prepared it because I’ve been thinking about this one a lot recently. This song has been a great comfort to me since the moment I met it. I’ll change my mic (to pearl aqua). I really hope this song will reach the person I really miss.

Drama . Heart . Knees . Through The Night

I’ll add my self-composed song ‘Drama’ in my album someday because I really like it. ‘Heart’ is really precious to me, so I hope this song would represent me even after I die. I hope singing ‘Knees’ and ‘Through the Night’ will bring y’all a good sleep tonight. I’m really happy, so I think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight too.

รัก / Ruk (Love) in Bangkok

I was taken aback by how beautiful the lyrics are. I wonder if I can ever write a mature song like this in my life. My favourite part is “แต่ไม่รู้จะขอบคุณ ไม่รู้ทำอย่างไร ไม่รู้ว่าสิ่งไหนจะยิ่งใหญ่ควรค่าพอ” (But I don’t know how to thank you, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s great or worth enough) Just like the lyrics, I really don’t know how to express my gratitude towards you all for the hospitable reception. I’m so thankful.

(Tae Bang-ie)

My Mister

Frankly speaking, I’m a very healthy person. Though I tend to lose control of my stamina sometimes, but I’m still proud of myself for being a mentally healthy person. However, lots of things happened to me while I was filming the drama early this year. Things were getting so tough to the point where I thought I wouldn't be able to make it for the first time ever since I made my debut as a celebrity. As it was around the time of the filming, so even though it was against my will, my condition somehow affected our drama team a lot. I was behaving like Ji-an in the beginning as it was actually my real condition at that time. But instead of pushing and rushing me, the whole crew was being really supportive while waiting and guiding me patiently until the end. So even though it was a hard time, I think I was able to complete this precious and meaningful project because of them. The My Mister team, especially my seniors and juniors are actually really busy, but they’re here to support me today. The moment the concert dates were out, they instantly made announcement in our group chat. The announcement was made months before the concert. They even started voting on whether to come on Saturday or Sunday together. They even postponed their filming schedules specially for me. I felt so bad as they really didn’t have to adjust their schedule simply for this one concert. Honestly, I didn’t expect them to stay until now (re-encore stage) as it’s super tiring even for my fans, but seeing how they’re still here supporting and showing their love to me, I feel really grateful about it.

To Be Born As Myself Again

I wondered what’s going to happen for the next 10 years and I felt, “For all you know, I could be having a more interesting and better life than I do now.” It’s only recently that I started having such thoughts though. Those who liked me since I was young would know this, but I’m not someone with a very high self-esteem or self-confidence. As I promoted as a singer, I built a lot more self-confidence in the process… especially, last year and this year. I always had the worst impression of myself and from a young age, what I felt about my life was, "ah, it’s beyond my ability”. Somehow, from last year all the way until this year, I’ve been feeling really glad that I was born as myself… It’s not exactly like I changed or anything, I’m still me, but my perception and how I feel about myself seem to have changed. Self-esteem is not just about being pretty, or cool, or great. I think being glad that you were born as yourself is having self-esteem. From last year to this year, I’ve been really glad that I was born as myself. I feel like this is such a great life.

While preparing for this concert, I examined my past 10 years and found myself thinking, “Oh right, I really didn’t like myself back then, I really didn’t like how I sounded then", but at the same time, I felt that I’m really satisfied with myself now. I’m really satisfied with the role I play and if I were to be born again, I would like to be born as myself. If I were to pick the biggest change for me for the past 10 years, this would be it. All of you played a huge role in making that happen, right? Although I don’t know each and every one of your names, or where you live, or your age and so on… but I feel like I know you. Not information about you per se, but still coming to watch this concert after these 10 years, sitting here and listening to me singing for over hours. I think it’s because we know each other well that we’re able to do this. All of you still look excited too. During this concert tour, I kept having thoughts that if there are people who continue to think I’m interesting and look at me excitedly, I could easily do this for another 10 years. I’m lacking in some areas, but I’m very grateful that we’ve been spending time together and that you’ve been accommodating towards me for the past 10 years. I’ll.. become better. I’ll become better and I’ll work harder. I’ll do that for the next 10 years. Thank you, everyone.

*IU’s mom bought more than 35k air cushions for the Busan, Gwangju and Seoul concert-goers.

Violet Flowers

I always thought of my fans as violet flowers, because you’re really quiet. Yet, with certain presence. You’re delicate yet dazzling individuals. Y’all used to be really quiet back then, but you’re getting louder and louder these days, you know when to cheer for me and I really love the change.

*IU crying for the first time at her concert upon seeing Hongaenas holding up their name cards

*IU kissing the hand of a Uaena who organised the touching event to express her gratitude

Dear Delicate Yet Dazzling Names

The reason we went with the theme of ‘movie’ for this concert is that my past 10 years have been like a movie too. Starting from being a nobody and now being able to perform at concerts, even do a tour, in front of such a large audience. Over the past 10 years, many more people have heard me sing as well. It really seems like a movie. When I first started out, I didn’t even dream of this. All I thought was that I wanted to become a singer. I never dreamt that I would receive so much love from everyone. I feel really lucky to have many happy memories from these past 10 years and been through a lot, promoting as a singer with the name ‘IU’. As this concert also signifies a consolidation of my past 10 years, I really invested my sincerity, time and energy to prepare for it.

Although I’m not sure when you started liking me (or becoming a fan), in order to explain who I am and for everyone to be able to follow easily (during the concert), we consolidated my past 10 years into this ‘movie’ (concert) for everyone. In fact, not only me, but each of your lives can be considered a movie too. It’s just that I’m lucky to have audience who keep coming to watch my movie. No doubt this movie of my past 10 years is able to shine brighter because of y’all. I wanted to show you guys a really cool movie this time, but I’m not sure if I did a good job conveying that to everyone.

Since the start of this year, I really gave it my all without holding back. I discussed with my staff for opinions too. After putting on this concert, I thought I would have repaid my debt (for the love and support that I received), because I really worked hard to prepare for it. However, I failed in the end. Today, I feel indebted to my fans again, so it seems impossible to repay it all once. Over the next 10 years, I’ll work diligently to repay everyone.

Now, I’m going to sing the last song and end the movie of my 10 years. I intentionally chose this song as the ending scene for the movie. After writing the lyrics for this song with Kim Eana lyricist, I felt, “Oh, I’ve really changed.” That’s because I’ve always been focusing on talking about myself and thoughts about myself, but now I’m able to shift that perspective outwards and see from others’ perspectives. Now, I even have the heart for and the capacity to show my support for someone else. I felt that my time spent as singer IU has been valuable, for making me someone who is capable of such love. “That’s really valuable” was what the song made me think.

I would like to dedicate this song to all the names (people) who have given me consolation over the past 10 years, before greeting everyone farewell tonight. Presenting the final ending scene of this movie to everyone. I’m going to sing the last song and take my leave. Thanks for always offering me your comfort, let’s cheer on each other and get along well for the next 10 years. I’ll never forget your voice, your heart and what we shared tonight. 정말 I’ll never forget 습니다. (Seriously, I’ll never forget it.)

*IU broke her own record and sang 43 songs at her Seoul (Day 2) concert which lasted about 5.5 hours.

Translated by squishy_blob, 4seasonswithIU Compiled by IUteamstarcandy

THE SHOWER . BAD DAY . THE NIGHT OF FIRST BREAKUP . KNEES

For those who enjoys listening to upbeat songs can sleep for awhile, while the others can cry if you want. I used to write diary when I was in high school. Since I became a trainee at such a young age, there were lots of things that made me felt lonely. Sometimes I just thought “Why is it so cold? Why does it feel like my house is so big? Why is it so empty..?” That’s how I came out with this self-composed song called ‘Bad Day 💭’.  So when I found out that many were able to sympathise with this song, I didn’t feel happy or sad, I just thought that “Oh, maybe they’re just as lonely as me.” My voice doesn’t crack often but it did crack a bit when I was singing ‘The Night of First Breakup 💔’. I’m sorry for that, especially because it’s a ballad song, I shouldn’t have ruined the atmosphere and emotions 😞 Did anyone cry during the ballad session?

CAN’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE . MARSHMALLOW . LOVE STORY . PALETTE . WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN

“I’m seriously a huge fan of you, IU-ssi” - DEAN

“I love your voice and bought your album. I’ll treat you milk tea next time” - KHALIL FONG

“You look very beautiful today” - ZICO

“We are thankful to you” - EPIK HIGH

“I received a parcel a few days ago and thought it was a DVD. When I opened it up, it felt so familiar. I found out it was my ‘Palette’ album, and each page decorated with sparkles, paints and flower stickers. It’s one of my top 3 favourite presents that I received this year. Thank you” - IU

“I was kinda bored and wanted to give something special to you in return for the fridge and soju you sent me.” -GD

“Having such a female singer like IU in our country is a blessing to us. As a senior, I have a lot to learn from her” - PSY

THROUGH THE NIGHT 💚 .  [DEAR. IU] ✉️

Seems like no one has noticed about this yet. When I was writing the lyrics for ‘Through the Night’, I thought of Uaenas and our fandom colour, that’s how I came out with ‘the glow of firefly’, cause it’s neon yellow. Since you’ve heard me singing TTN, I hope everyone can sleep tight tonight. Because i’m someone who has trouble sleeping, so telling someone ‘sleep tight’ has rather a special meaning to me. Sometimes I can sleep well, but sometimes I really can’t fall asleep. It’s a weakness of mine that I wish others didn’t know about. As I have insomnia, I hate how everyone else is sleeping at night except for me and I feel sad too. We were still hanging out together in the day, but they’ve left me behind and travelled to another world. I’m the only one still awake, so it feels like I’m all alone and I felt lonely every night. Even Inna unnie sleeps well, it makes me feel sad 😞 That’s when I wrote songs like ‘Knees’ and ‘Bad Day’. Quite a number of my own compositions are about that kind of sleep right?  When I first heard TTN, I thought to myself that this was really a love song. A love song. That’s how I felt. So I wanted to express a love song in a language of my own. But there are so many love songs in this world. I wondered how to express a love song in a unique way and after thinking through carefully, I think it’s “goodnight”. As I have difficulty sleeping, during this lonely and gloomy time, knowing that you’re sleeping well is a consolation for me. I really hope you have sweet dreams and sleep well. Thinking about it, to me this is love. That’s the kind of message I wanted to convey through the song. I’m glad that i’m awake, so I can watch over all of you at night. When i’m putting on my concert, the audience and I would exchange emotions and when I went down to get closer to everyone during the ‘You Know’ performance, I got this feeling. That this is not just between a singer and her audience, but a relationship between humans. It’s about human to human and although we don’t have the chance to talk to each other, we show support for each other. I thought to myself that this is something special. After going round the concert venue just now, seeing the faces of the audience at my final Seoul concert, I thought to myself that I hope all of you sleep well tonight. So I sang ‘Through the Night’ just now, while trying to convey the emotions of ‘goodnight’. Although it doesn’t seem like something very significant, but from my perspective, these are my pure feelings for all of you.

I’m going to read a letter to all of you. This is something rather private, but I wanted to share it with all of you, so I brought it along. After starting my concert tour in Busan, I started to feel tired midway.. because I only had 3 days to rest in between each concert, so it was really tiring. Just as I was feeling “ah, this is so tiring”, that’s when I received this letter. It’s from someone that I’ve relied upon a lot from a young age and we got to know each other since elementary school. Out of all the people I know, this great friend would be in the top 5. He/she has taught me a lot and actually tutored me in Maths back in high school too, a really cool and reliable and smart adult. Currently, he/she is a theatre actor. I’ve never introduced this friend to all of you before. As I really like this letter, I’ve been leaving it by my bedside and kept re-reading it for days. I’ve almost memorised it by now. This part of the letter struck me the most. “The curtain goes up at my performance and it always seems to end in a flash. Because theatre performance is a thing of time. It all ends in a moment -poof- like a vanishing mirage. For that theatrical moment, one breaks out in a futile and warm sweat (puts in a lot of effort) and keeps going.” Every single word in this paragraph strikes me deeply. I was probably thinking about this at that point in time. The thing about performances is that they make you feel so empty and futile, more so than any other events. The reason being there’s no evidence left behind. Compared to all the effort and time invested by so many people, just like a mirage, as it says in this letter, it vanishes like a mirage -poof- I have the same experience too. I don’t really remember my concert last year or the year before that. For me, I can’t remember my concerts clearly, or my performances either. I guess it’ll be same this time round then? Everyone worked so hard to prepare for this concert, so after the final show, how great would that feeling of emptiness be..? I’m actually rather afraid of that feeling of emptiness. Despite that, upon reading this letter, I thought to myself, ‘Ah right, my friend acknowledges that too, this emptiness. But to him/her, one breaks out in warm sweat for this moment that brings emptiness. Right, I do start to feel empty, but is that something to feel sad about? I just need to focus on breaking out in warm sweat.’ Reading this really helped me to pull myself together again. After this concert ends, I’ll start to feel empty for sure. Not just myself, but the audience as well, right? The audience, our band and staff who worked hard to prepared for this concert, everyone will most likely be feeling empty. However, after reading this letter, I’m not so afraid anymore. I came to understand that the reason I feel empty is because of the warm and genuine sweat everyone put in.. But all that sweat does not disappear into some unknown drain, it has gone into all this (that you see in front of you). All of you have witnessed it, and all of you will remember it. In that case, after we become recharged and refilled, we break out in a sweat at one go. How is that a terrible or sad thing? We can just be refilled. We need to empty out ourselves first before we can be refilled. That’s what I thought, so I felt that this was a great process. Everything else really doesn’t matter. If the audience today remember the warmth of everyone who broke out in futile and warm sweat for this, that emptiness does not feel sad. I hope all of you think to yourselves positively, ‘Phew, it’s over, it was great. Let’s take a break and fill ourselves up with something else new.’ I’m not asking all of you to remember my performance or every minute clearly. It’s fine to go to bed and wake up without remembering a thing. You don’t have to remember every details, but please keep the emotions and impressions from today in your memories, and cherish them for a long time. I’ve poured more sweat and effort than ever in preparing for this concert, so I’d like to request all of you to remember them.

DEAR NAME …

After all the 10 songs were ready for my album, I wondered to myself when I was picking the title track, “When I release this album (Palette), what would it be?” I could emphasise the side of myself as a professional, as a female, as a youth in her 20s, or my personal side. I was considering all these. If the 2nd track ‘Palette’ is about my personal self, the reason I picked the 10th track ‘Dear Name’ as my second title track is because I wanted to pick a song that I sang as a person. At the start, I expressed myself as this and that, my age right now, my gender, where I live, what my job is, and so on, but in ‘Dear Name’, regardless of these conditions, I hoped to express a song that would simply be a source of consolation from one person to another. That’s how I wrote the lyrics and picked this song to be one of the title tracks. Actually, no matter how much we try to categories people and group people together, there’s not much that can group us together as one. We’re all different and seem to belong to certain groups, but eventually our similarity is that we’re all human. So I picked phrases I felt had the most human-like quality, wrote it as a person and sang it as a person. I honestly hope that while listening to this song, everyone can become the main character of the song.

DEAR NAME VCR “To one’s own, name that despite surmounting the countless challenges, comes crashing down because of something as trivial as a feather. To a precious name, that is more perfect and beautiful to someone, than any other words in the world. To a name, that is missed and brings painful memories which is no longer called out anymore. From a name, to some other name. filled with a wave of events, a few words written in a stiff manner and moving my heavy body carefully, putting one foot down at a time today. To all the delicate, yet dazzling names…” 🌸

Note:

The names appeared on the screen during Dear Name’s stage belong to 1st Generation Uaena fanclub members who attended the concert. Not only that, there was a session where all the IU Team members’ (the band and dancers) names appeared on the screen one by one, followed by their own screen time to show their talents to the audiences. Thanks to IU, all of the delicate and dazzling names out there were being known and appreciated by more people.

IU said she will release 'Drama' in an album properly one day!

IU said that one side of her in-ears is the Uaena official logo, while the other side is 제비꽃 (violet flowers), because her fans are like violet flowers  (able to show a bold front like morning glory). 

TWENTY-THREE. PALETTE

I tried to express who I am in ‘twenty-three💄’ and put all the emotions of my 23-year-old self into the song, you know. In a way, ‘Palette 🎨 ‘ is a song that is like an answer to 23. Back when I was 23, I did this and that, wasn’t sure about what I was doing and I recorded the state of myself at that point of time into the song. In Palette, although I can’t say it’s a conclusion, it’s a song that shows that I have somewhat sorted things out compared to the past. What’s really different between the two songs is that 23 really has a lot of syllables in the lyrics, so I kept splitting up the syllables and changing the lyrics. I wanted to explain everything in more detail back then. However, when I was writing the song ‘Palette’, there were significantly less syllables. The structure of the song is a lot simpler than 23 too. When I was writing Palette, if there was something I couldn’t or didn’t convey through the song, I felt that it couldn’t be helped. Let’s not try so hard to convey every single thing, without missing any. I felt that what I managed to be conveyed is who I am right now, so I composed this song with a more relaxed mind. Until the point of adding it (Palette) to the album, to me, this song was really casual and chill though? But as time went by, it gradually held a stronger significance to me. For ‘Palette’, unlike the warm, kind and emotional me in ‘Through the Night’, or the seemingly strong side of me in Dear Name, nor the talkative or confused me in 23, is just about who I am right now. I really felt that I added another colour to my palette (during this concert). With this new colour, I’ll paint another pretty picture for everyone. Clearly, all of you will be reflected (in my songs), since I’ve received a lot of emotions (from this concert), the songs I sing will contain the impressions and images of the audiences. In the songs that I’ll be singing in the future. Thank you so much for making me feel this way. To celebrate my upcoming 10th debut anniversary, I’m gradually preparing for some special surprises, positives and variety sides of mine to show all of you.

Translated by Squishy, 4seasonswithIU Compiled by IUteamstarcandy

During my trainee days, I was extremely quiet and depress. My senior trainees were gorgeous, tall and sang very well. I was quite poor and didn’t own many things. I was lack of confidence and kind of timid. Being the maknae (the youngest), I was a very solitary person. That was 10 years ago. I hated reality and dreamt a lot. I even dreamt when I was sleeping. I really like to sleep, even for now. Often woke up and found myself sleeping for 8 to 9 hours! There is no time for me to rest whenever I’m busy, so I sleep a lot when I rest. Time passes so quickly without being noticed when I’m doing nothing. Anyways, I like dreaming when I’m sleeping. As compared to reality, I like dreams better. As the time I spent on talking got shorter, the time I spent being alone got longer. Those times when I secretly indulged in daydreaming were precious to me. I will cherish these memories for a long time. Back then, my company provided me a dorm that was much better than my house located in Uijeongbu. It was a huge modern building with adequate heating system located in rich housing area. Despite being the maknae, I was given a single room all for myself. Other trainees had to live in the same dorm together. The fridge was always full and manager unnie (older sister) often prepared meal for me too. The environment was much better than my house. I felt like I was in debt, which was true. Back then, I didn’t understand well that everything provided to the trainees were also counted as debt. Trainees have to pay their debt to agency after debut, I earned them only after clearing the debts. Calmly sharing the reality, hahaha. Being the maknae, everybody was nice to me and I didn’t get scolded much. To be honest, I hated the dorm although it was indeed nice. Mainly because I couldn’t feel any warm feelings there, what’s more I was a good-for-nothing. So I hated there. Since then, I’ve begun to write diary till now. Lacking of confidence was the reason I started it. ‘Why am I living, where am I, where am I going’, I recorded down because I had doubts. If I don’t record down ‘why am I surviving today’, I would feel like everything was just illusion. Even ‘I ate Troop Stew today’ could be an evidence proving that ‘I’m still alive’. I would still go through them as time passes. There was a phrase written there ‘Although I could feel the warmth, but strangely I have no courage.’

2008, I was grade 3 and debuted with the song ‘Mia 👧’, do all of you remember? It’s been 7 years. Most trainees needed 7 years of training before debut, but I was lucky enough to debut after only 10 months of training. ‘Mia’ is quite difficult to sing, the key is high and the lyrics are tricky. Anyone still sings this in KTV? It would be more easy to reach high notes with soft voice. But the pronunciation is hard which makes it harder to reach higher keys. I felt exhausted when I sang this in grade 3, but still not an easy song for me now. I was busy after making my debut. Although this album didn’t have any achievements, I want to thank Loen Entertainment that put effort to help me release more albums. Thanks to them, I gained lots of fans and acknowledgements through releasing mini albums, single track, official album and schedules. And cleared my debts hahaha, really busy though. Sounds like a black-hearted company haha. 9 years passed so quickly. Debuting at a young age enable me to achieve my dream earlier, but there are pros and cons. I don’t have deep impression for my childhood. I debuted with that hard song, ’Mia’ but didn’t feel like a real singer after that.

 I didn’t get that ‘Kyah, I’ve finally become a singer’ feels in ‘Mia’ or ‘Good Day’ era where my popularity rose, but in 2014 which is 2 years ago, remember? I was 22 back then. I want to talk about stories happened in that period. I released 4 times of song. Which songs were they? ‘Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossom🍒’ in spring. This song really brings out the spring feels of my springtime. Will the upcoming spring keep me warm? I still remember it was April 8th,2014 because I practiced hard with my former trainee friends. It’s the debut song for boy-group HIGH4 from another company. I felt uneasy due to AKMU’s comeback. “Ah, what should I do…”, the situation wasn’t helping since ‘200%’ and the 2 other songs sounds amazing too. I really love it but hmm…I shouldn’t help them with the streaming. I was super desperate and kept praying “Please be a hit, please” while waiting for 4/8. Later, I released everyone’s favourite album ‘The Flower Bookmark🌼’ on my birthday. Held a small theatre concert which was totally different from big concerts. I thought “Don’t think this will be a success” but it did and I was super satisfied, gained more confidence and memories. If there’s a chance, do join me in the small theatre concert again. When the 1st beat of ‘Meaning of You’ came out, a strong emotion hit me so hard and left me with deep impression. Singing this song together with fans makes my heart throb. ☀️Summer, I don’t really work during summertime. As all of you know, hits like ‘Good Day ⛅️’,’You & I 🕐’ and ‘Friday 💭’ were released in 🍁fall. 2014 summer, I didn't expect ‘Summer Love’ would receive so much love because I felt like it wasn’t my style while recording it. I didn’t sing this song much after that, but now I think it sounds super good after practicing for this concert. So, I suggested to add dance when the ‘Ulala’ part comes out hoping to reach everyone’s liking. This song was added in the list today due to my stubbornness. I decided to let myself rest during ❄️winter since I worked so hard for the collaborations with HIGH4, senior Kim Changwan and Ulala Session. Just then, I got a call from my big senior, Seo Taiji. I felt like I’m a promising junior when I received this wonderful song ‘Sogyeokdong⛄️’. Although I’ve never been there before, but I sang the song with scenic landscape in my mind. And so I featured in the album of one of my favourite singer. It was an honour.

Anyone here dislike G.O.D? No right? They are seniors who I really admire. Recently I went to a BBQ restaurant and met senior Yoon by coincidence. And he was sitting at opposite of my table, wearing a hat and could only see a part of his face, he’s senior Yoon Kye Sang. Since I was ugly that day, didn’t dare to ask for his signature. I took part in their album too. That’s how 2014 ended. I’m grateful that all my songs have great achievements. This is embarrassing to say it myself, but… my songs topped 1st place and received trophies. That was my glory year as a singer. “I’m finally a singer”! Although everything was perfect, but my heart had doubts and dropped in confidence. Every time someone praised me, I’d think that ‘Do I deserve it?’ and constantly doubting and hating myself. This is my first time sharing this out. I had hard times going on show because I doubt that I could show a cheerful side of me or meet your expectations. That was why I had less TV appearances. Also, I didn’t feel well and suffered from Binge Eating (Consuming large quantity of food in short period of time). Of course I’m okay now. I couldn’t sleep well too, but couldn’t find the reason behind it. My life was going on pretty well. Everyone praised me like “Pretty!”, “You’ve done well, great!” but I questioned myself “Why don’t I have confidence in myself?” while looking up the sky emotionally. ‘Reality is kind towards me, but why do I hate myself?’. With that, I suffered from Insomnia (Sleeplessness) 💤. 

Sleep deprivation affected my mornings. I felt miserable when morning arrived. I couldn’t do anything because my brain was befogged all day. I was disappointed in myself. ‘I value sleep a lot, but why can’t I fall asleep? Why can’t my sleep cycle follow its normal pattern? Strange.’ It was a vicious cycle. There were so many things waiting for my decision and my condition wasn’t helping at all. For example, parting away with close staff, whether to renew contract or not and deciding what concept for next album. I renewed my contract with Loen Ent. even when I had doubts in myself. Now the name has changed to ‘Fave ent.’ That was because everybody treated me well, took good care of me. I began to take initiative in producing my music. I wanted to produce an album but I hesitated. I wasn’t sure what to do. ‘If I release albums like the ones before, will I wear out?’, I questioned myself a lot and finally got my answer. The answer was right at the end of my concern. ‘I should release a straightforward album that tells about my discomfort and anxiety whenever I receive compliments.’ I began to prepare new album in a daze, and decided to name it ‘Chat-Shire 🍰’ with the 1st song I sang just now ‘Twenty-three💄’ as title track. But I’m 24 this year. This album represents everything about me. My mischievous behaviour that tortures me, but I really am playful though. I thought ‘Will there be any album harder than this?’ as I was preparing it. I fought a lot with the staff due to conflict of opinion, and redid a few times. ‘Finally done!’, I put my mind at ease and slept peacefully. I love the album, and I'm still in love with the album. This album is lacking in many aspects, and I feel sorry the everyone here who had high expectations. I could have done better than this, I’m sincerely sorry and grateful. ‘Chat-shire’ is frankly written from a producer’s perspective, and frank reviews were given, it was hard for me. I’m very thankful to those who listened and evaluated this album attentively. I know it has left much to be desired but I have that ‘I’ve finally achieved a huge thing!’ feeling now. This album might be superficial, but no exaggerated compliments towards the album or me. Which also means this album received appropriate evaluation. ‘Chat-Shire’ is precious to me. It’s like my fingers, I would rather let myself suffer from the pain but never for my fingers. Although there are many people who dislike this album. It has been a year since I released ‘Chat-Shire’, time passes fast right? 

I've been preparing for my new album, and I've appeared in my drama ‘Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo 🌙❤️.’ Many of my Moon Lovers family members are here today. I’m the type to get shy easily, but warmed up with them fast while filming the drama. Hope everybody watch it! I enjoyed filming the drama, and gained many friends. After filming ended, I'm taking a break these days. As mentioned before, I’ve been practicing all day like a trainee, preparing for my new album. This is the first time I have sometime ever since debut, feels good. I don’t have schedules, you’re upset right? I’m not resting, but working hard to prepare something interesting. Although work is work, but I care for how people think of me or when did they start to like me. But I don’t really care how I think of myself or when did I feel satisfied with myself after debut. ‘Chat-shire’ is the album that will make me recall back who I am now in the future. Those days are really meaningful to me. I’m trying to get rid of my bad habits and develop good habits like showing ’Not the side of me that’s being shown, but simply just me.’ in the future. Surely I’d get better and healthy soon.

  I don’t really read back what I’ve done before, but I’m reading the interviews I did when I was a newbie these days. And one interview fascinates me. When I was still in high school, I was asked about my ambition and I answered ‘Producing album’. I had Goosebumps! My dream somehow came true. To be honest, I’m not really a strategist or planner. I didn’t come this far with that dream, but unconsciously did it. A thought flashed across my mind- ‘Every dream I dreamt when I was young came true, I should have dreamt more…. Like billboard haha.’ I’ve been dreaming a lot lately, hoping that these dreams will come true 10 years later. It has been forever since I dreamt for a dream, amazing. Of course, we shouldn’t just dream for fun and let go of them, new album will be released by next year. Next year is the 24th step right? I hope the 24th step will be peaceful. I hope more people will be looking forward with thoughts like ‘What differences will she have for this time?’ It would be amazing if these people love this step the same as me.

[Marshmallow Doll (ft. pink angel wings)－our adorable manager Hanteo] 

I’ve changed a lot, hope everyone support me and love the new side of me. Now, I won’t ever feel lost or uneasy when I receive love and support. I can take in and manage them well. Gradually improving, feels good. This is the end of our talk, quite long right? I’ve never told anyone this before. But it’s better since I’ve always been holding and trying to overcome it by myself. It has become one of my habits. But now I can share with my fans in concert. I’m glad no one fell asleep till the end. This song was written at a night when I hated myself so much. There were some saying that this song sounds dangerously dark, and asked if I want to die. But no, this is not a song about wanting to die, but wanting to live well. The song that gives me hope. For me, it’s a cheerful song. You may sleep when I sing the song because I wrote this song hoping people would fall asleep while listening to it. Really, I won’t get angry. I wish all of you will have good dreams whenever you’re asleep, or awake.

✨THE END ✨

Source: Squishy’s audio recording Translated by 4seasonswithIU

‘ A LITTLE HAPPINESS 小幸运 ’🍀

I’m nervous and my heart is beating so fast right now. Hyperventilating right now. Will I be able to do well? I prepared a present for all of you. This… is quite tough. Among all the songs that I’ve sung, this is the hardest one. Even during rehearsal, the thought of giving up came across my mind. The lyrics are extremely difficult…for real! I thought it will at least reach certain level after countless practises that I’ve done, but it’s indeed tough. The most challenging song I’ve ever tried before. I doubt myself can do well. (Hwaiting, you can do it!!) I had mental breakdown during rehearsal……*sobs* … I’ll let you have a listen now.

小幸运! The song was so hard. Harder than any songs that I’ve sung before. I was so nervous so I wore both sides of In-ear, I failed to notice the audiences’ reactions because I was too focused on the song. Normally, I only wear one side of it to hear the respond but  both sides were blocked just now. As soon as I took off the In-ear, the screams were so (loud). I was so grateful… I don’t say this often, but I think I did a great job based on your reactions. Anyways, I felt wonderful that everyone loves it. Thank you~

🔔 2017 ‘Merry Chirstmas in Advance’ (ft. Friday + Let it snow + Jingle Bells)🎄

This is a special song because I’ll be singing it for 2017 Merry Christmas in Advance ! My very first time wishing all of you a Merry Christmas in 2017. Really early Xmas~  *Fake snowflakes ❄️ engulfing the concert hall* Merry Christmas~Too much snow right? This is like some sort of snowstorm hehehe. Taiwan is not snowing right? That’s why I prepared it... Everyone is feeling good right? 满意吗？(Satisfied?) (YESSS) 满意~ 我也满意。(Me too)My first time seeing a new side of everyone. You guys are adorable and lovely. 好可爱 (So cute). Today is Friday, so I'll sing 'Friday' (Everyday is Friday for IUaena~) The atmosphere here is similar to Korea, I feel like you guys understand what I'm talking. I've been preparing the last concert for 6 months with my band. Not joking around, it’s so fun and I feel proud. So happy to be here in Taiwan. I could already feel today will be successful even from the opening. And the audiences’ reaction... (Woohoo~) I’lI make it interesting till the very end and visit again! (Promise us!!) Promise? 你们新年快乐~ (Happy new year) (新年快乐!) Since I received lots of luck right now, I will release a good album this year. 

LJK: 大家好，我是李准基。(Hi everyone, I'm Lee Junki) 你们开心吗？你们幸福吗? (Happy? ) You sang so well~~ Why are there so many people? IU: Thanks for coming today. LJK: No,  I’m thankful to be invited here. IU: Actually, I asked for a favour and it was really a last minute request but he delightedly agreed to it right away. LJK: I knew this would be a fun performance so I couldn't decline it. My heart was racing and couldn't wait to go on stage. IU: He still came despite being so busy today. He said he wanted to stay with all of you a little longer so… LJK: Me…? I want to watch Jieun’s performances at the auditorium. IU: The audiences might freak out and focus out when I’m performing. LJK: Any available seats there? I think there would be a few though? Fully occupied, what should I do…. IU: Tomorrow, you have a showcase right? LJK: Yes, I have fan meeting too. IU: I’m really grateful that you could make it today despite your busy schedule. You’re really the best! *thumbs up* 最棒的~ (The best) LJK: As long as Jieun likes it, everything is fine for me~ IU: 非常好 (Very good). All of you want to look at Junki oppa longer right? LJK: Nono, I want more. IU: I’ll leave the stage for awhile and you’re in charge of the stage while I change my attire. LJK: As you need to show more cool performances today, you should rest for awhile. IU: I’ll come back soon~ LJK: 大家好？ 你们喜欢 IU 吗？真的吗? 你们都爱IU吗？ (Hello, do you like IU? Really? Goes everyone loves IU?) The respond (voice) is too small? Make some noise as much as you like IU! There are lots of male fans today too! ‘Waghhhh’ *imitates their voices* Really happy to be invited here. Although IU is my junior as an actress, but she’s also a musician who I respect a lot. I’m jealous of IU that she’s able to receive such undying love from all of you. You will still love her unconditionally in the future right? 谢谢 (TQ). I was moved and amazed by Jieun’s cool acting in the process of filming the drama. In the future, I’ll treasure these memories regardless what new project I’ll be meeting. I should step aside soon. Hope everyone here can create precious memories with IU, lastly greeting everyone with an OST from MoonLovers. I guess you guys wouldn’t know. Korean is hard~ You’ll still know the melody even though you don’t know how to sing it. Just hum it okay~ I'll let you listen to it now, 'For You’. 大家一起唱~ (sing along together) 谢谢， 祝你们新年快乐. (TQ, happy new year~) -LJK left-

Lee joongi’s fm talk with iu 🌙❤️

(ENG SUBS available)

IU singing '三寸天堂' @ Lee Joongi's FM 

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Twenty-Three . Red Queen . Pierrot Smiles At Us . New Shoes . Every End Of The Day . You & I

Hello, I’m IU. This is my first concert in Hong Kong. I’ve got that strange feeling seeing the seats being filled up completely. The subtitles are up (on screen) well right? Since there are subtitles today, I will talk slowly. By referring to the subtitles, please listen to what I will say. How was the opening performance? Did you guys like it? Was it cool? That’s a relief. It’s been a long time since I’ve stood on stage and dress up beautifully. It’s a bit tiring, so can I rest for a bit? Let me drink my water. You guys love it or not? Oh, They brought my shoes out because my legs are hurting a bit, I can change it right? Let me change my shoes. (Wow~~) Since I’m wearing new shoes, what song should I sing now? I’m going to sing ‘New Shoes’, if you don’t know this song, just think of yourself wearing new shoes running around happily while listening to it. Are you guys happy? Thank you~ I think I sang too much songs that Hong Kong fans are unfamiliar with them… Oh you guys know the songs?! Now, I’m going to sing a song that’s well known among HK fans this time. ‘You & I’

Someday . Bad Day . Mia . The Meaning of You . My Old Story . 囍帖街 . 喜欢你

This is my attire for 2nd period. How is it? Am I pretty? Happy? Me too, I’m happy too. ‘Someday’ is an OST from drama ‘Dream High’. For 2nd period, there will be more of this genre of songs. More ballad songs. Love it? I guess you’re not familiar with all of these songs. There are many unpopular songs among them… But those are my favourite songs. Although the language is different, but still brings out great music right? So… it would be good if you would listen to it.  

(Brings her guitar) Next song is a song I wrote when I felt lonely during my high school days. I will sing ‘Bad Day’ now. I… debuted with this song 9 years ago. Although I didn’t get much attention during that time, but I slowly gained more and more fans, and even open concert in Hk. It’s fascinating. Although the show has begun for 30 mins, I’m still fascinated right now. Do these people really know me? Are they my fans? Just by thinking of it feels super magical to me. I’m really thankful and happy. Before this, fans sang along with me when I was singing in Korean during my showcase. They surprised me! How did they manage to sing in Korean? Is it possible for today as well? I will look forward to it for today too. ‘The Meaning of You’. Did I sing well or not? You guys sang along with me in Korean, I’m extremely touched at times like this. (We learned it for you, unnie~) Hahahah, you guys learn it for me? I’m really grateful. I know a few Cantonese lines: ‘So happy! You guys like it or not?’ Since I’ve only been receiving from you all, so it’s time for me to return your favor. I can’t be the only one feeling touched here, so I prepared a gift. I’m nervous because I haven’t sung it in a while. ‘囍帖街’ (Lee Tung Street)

Boo . Marshmallow . You Know

Am I pretty? Thank you. I sang ‘Boo’ when I was in high school. Back then, it was really hard for me. But now, I don’t really sing such adorable song. I was smiling a lot on stage because I felt embarrassed when HK fans looked at me as if I’m your grandchild. Before this performance, the guest did extremely well. His name is ‘Hanjin’, right? It’s also my first time meeting him at backstage, he treated me nicely. But it seems like you guys like him more than me. (No!!) How was ‘喜欢你’(I like you)? Did I sing well or not? Thanks. Cantonese is really hard. Since it’s your mother tongue so you won’t understand me…. Cantonese is the hardest language to learn in the world. But still, I made effort because everyone likes it so much. I really want to thank everyone. And now 3rd period has begun. Many dance songs are included in 3rd period. So instead of doing nothing, please cheer loudly for me. Cheer loudly! Louder! (Hooo!!) Just cheer it like this will do. Let’s check if you’re ready. ‘You Know’.

Leon . Merry Christmas in Advance . Friday (+ Let it snow! + Jingle Bells 🔔) . Good Day

You guys are so great! Give yourself a round of applause~ All of you did so well. Having fun? It was really fun for me. Sometimes I would suddenly feel happy, but it doesn’t happen often. After watching Mr.Hanjin’s performance, I felt super happy. I’m so happy~ Are you happy? Since everyone cheered loudly for me, please rest and let me do the rest. I brought the 2nd gift for you. Merry Christmas~~ Phew… Do you guys like snow? I heard that there’s no snow in Hong Kong, right? So I gathered snow from Korea and brought here to let everyone have a look. Like it or not? Hehehe. Next week will be Christmas and much more year-end spirit. Yesterday, I had fun till late night as soon as I reached Hong Kong~ (We know!) You know? How did you know? I enjoyed the night view and ate yummy food. Although it’s not snowing, but I could feel the uplifting Christmas spirit here. Conclusion, I really like Hong Kong. I really like Hong Kong~ It’s my first overseas concert, I’m really happy to hold it in HK.  Should we begin the phototime session?

For me, I really like the next song. What day is today? (FRIDAY) Oh, Friday~ Actually, I lied that it’s Friday even though it’s actually Tuesday~ I lied on Sunday too. There weren’t many chances to sing ‘Friday’ on a real Friday. But today is a real Friday, so I’ll sing it in the most joyful way I’ve ever sung for today. 

Encore: Red Shoes . Heart . En-Encore: Raindrop . En-en-encore: The Shower

Do you guys miss me or not? I miss you too. Actually, ‘Red Shoes’ is not in the list, but I sang this song only in HK. I did well right? Did I sing well? Although the concert has ended, but I came to thank all of you again. I’m really thankful towards everyone who came to my concert today. I know there are people who’ve attended my concert for a few times. I think those people will know I’ve never been this excited in my concert before. I’m feeling wonderful since I had so much fun today. I felt proud for having new faces here today. I’m really happy today~ I’ll visit again. Will you come if I visit here next time? (YES) (Please sing ‘Heart’) Should I sing ‘heart’? Since you guys wanted it, I’ll sing it. After this, it’s really the end. HK dishes are really tasty. Delicious~ Please be careful on your way home~ Thank you, Hong Kong is the best!

-Special video message: IU talking in Cantonese to thank HK fans-

(ENG SUBS Available - open caption)

2nd Encore: It’s actually the end for today. The subtitles are not coming out now, right? But why is nobody leaving right now? The show has really ended. Why are you guys not leaving? I think HK is really unique, indeed charismatic. During the opening, I thought people didn’t really like me because they were sitting there expressionless. Then I realized I was wrong during the 3rd period. That’s why I was so cheerful in 3rd period. So I even prepared the special video message and sang ‘Heart’ loudly. Did all of you practiced beforehand? (NO~) I almost cried at the ‘영영 살아있어요’ (lyrics) part. (Please cry!) Cry?! Hong Kong is indeed charismatic! I’m going crazy! There’s someone I noticed since the opening and thought he didn’t really like me but guess I was wrong about him because he’s still here right now. I finally understand that he’s quite unique and the fact that he really likes me. I fell for HK, deeply. Since I don’t know how to express that in Cantonese, I just want to say ‘I really like you all’ Thank you~ I don’t sing this song just anywhere, but let’s make promise for 2nd encore. From now on, these songs will not prove my real singing ability. You get what I’m trying to say right? As you know, my throat is exhausted right… So this is just fan service. If my voice ever cracks by chance, please understand that it isn’t my real singing ability, okay? Promise me? (Promise) I think everyone will like the next song. It’s been a long time I’ve sung this… Does anyone know ‘Rain Drop’? Oh, I think my pronunciation sounded strange, many people didn’t get it. It’s ‘Rain Drop’. I’ll give my best to sing this song. I really have to go after this. I really like everyone… What should I do? Everyone is so attractive. 3rd Encore: You guys are really charismatic!! I’ll sing just one last time with you all and leave. Please sing along! At this rate, how to get home?  ‘The Shower’.

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO IU FROM IUHK

Wow… wow… Oh my… What is this… I almost cried.  Even though I didn’t cry. Am really thankful. Don’t cry~ /Asking Hanteo manager to film the crowd/ I’ll pretend to take selfie with you guys (Hanteo Manager recording video). I’m extremely touched. How to say ‘touched’ in Cantonese? (Gamdong~) ‘Gamdong’. I mean, how did you manage to do that without me noticing in my own concert? My mind has gone blank. I’ll sing Friday for now and continue later. I heard many of you like this. That is why I prepared a longer version of this song. Although I’ve introduced my team before, but please give another round of applause to them for making this cool HK concert possible. I really cherish them. The next song will be the last song. Time passed really fast right? Was it fun? It would have been much more interesting if I can speak Cantonese well. I’m really sorry. But I promise to improve my Cantonese the next time I visit here. Promise~ I really like Hong Kong. HK always comes to my mind first. I swear. I wish everyone gains sweet memories too. I think we will be meeting often because we maintained good relationship. Should we meet up more often? What song should I sing on a good day like this? (Good Day) I’m really happy today. Thank you everyone.

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