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DATA SHOW THAT IU HAS DOMINATED KOREAN POP FOR A DECADE


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iu-10thanniversary.jpg DATA SHOW THAT IU HAS DOMINATED KOREAN POP FOR A DECADE

 

 

It’s unusual for a solo star to thrive in the cutthroat world of Korean pop music. Now a $5 billion global industry, K-pop, as its passionate followers across the world call it, is most recognizable for its girl and boy groups who train for up to 10 years before ever setting foot on stage. These groups, sometimes made up of more than eight people, accompany their songs with elaborate choreography, making it hard to stand out in the fierce competition as a solo artist.

 

Except if you’re IU.

 

Quartz crunched the numbers, and with 14 digital number one hits on the Gaon Music Chart, the 25-year-old megastar IU (pronounced “eye-youâ€) has topped the Korean chart more than any other artist since 2010. She’s outranked BTS, Girls’ Generation and Big Bang, which are some of the best-selling K-pop groups of all time.

 

A large part of IU’s success is based on her pure image. Korean culture prizes wholesome reputations among celebrities, and scandals are harshly frowned upon. IU has never had a misstep. Her pristine behavior, as Koreans see it, earned her the nickname 국민 ì—¬ë™ìƒ, or Nation’s Little Sister—a title that IU herself has actually rejected.

 

While image helps, it is IU’s music that keeps her at the top of the charts. Her sound has changed hugely over her career. Her earlier singles, such as “

†or “
,†are poppy and radio-friendly—â€Good Day†was the song that officially skyrocketed her career and established her signature charming, whimsical style.

 

In 2013, IU shocked the K-pop world with a sudden switch to jazz for her album Modern Times. She experimented with more complex, fluctuating time signatures and big band sounds. Her two albums since then, Chat-shire and Palette, also showed versatility and artistic growth—unlike most K-pop stars, IU writes and produces much of her music. Songs on these latest albums use 

 and 
 to convey a sense of vulnerability not often heard in K-pop.

 

As a songwriter, IU employs sophisticated compositional techniques that makes her music stand out in the pop scene. For example, she frequently uses deceptive cadences. If you are not familiar with music theory, here is what that means: Typically, whenever you hear the fifth note of a musical scale (called the “dominantâ€), the next chord will belong to the first note of the scale (the “tonicâ€). Most people find this satisfying to hear, as it creates a feeling of resolution. However, if instead the next note belongs to the minor sixth chord of the scale, it creates a sudden feeling of sadness, like black storm clouds rolling in on a sunny day. This is a deceptive cadence.

 

You can hear that here when IU switches to a deceptive cadence the second time she sings “Goodbye, goodbye to it all†(in Korean) at 3:30 in the song:

 
 
 

Yet unlike BTS, whose album debuted at number one in the US charts, IU hasn’t yet made it big in the US, the world’s largest music market by sales (pdf). Her lack of international success could be a language issue, as another big contributor to IU’s popularity is the quality of her lyrics. She writes many of her own lyrics—another rarity in K-pop—and they are often thoughtful and profound. It could also be that, unlike the big boy and girl groups, she doesn’t bring the mesmerizing choreography and flashy outfits that appeal to a lot of international K-pop fans.

 

It’s their loss. IU just might be the best K-pop has to offer. For a sampling of IU’s best songs, listen to the playlist at the source

 

PS: See Graphs at the Source: 

https://qz.com/quartzy/1559464/iu-has-dominated-korean-pop-charts-for-a-decade/

 

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I wonder why some English sites pay attention to Lee Jieun when she cannot write lyrics in English. She is a great lyricists abut all of her lyrics are based upon Korean.

IU can now be considered fluent in english? 90% of her concert in Singapore was spoken in English. 

 

but unfortunately she has stated she has no ambition in pursuing a career abroad .

 

I'm sure you know this, but I'm sure you so desperately want to see her giving a concert in your country that you pretend that you don't know hurrplz.png

 

I'm also sure that IF the demand is high, she will be there (like she's expanded her concerts across Asia) . So please, keep promoting IU chuplz.png

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Lee Jieun appears to have an American ambition as well but it is unlikely that she will try to promote there fully.

 

Red Velvet's American tour might become an inspiration for Lee Jieun.

 

IU can now be considered fluent in english? 90% of her concert in Singapore was spoken in English. 

 

but unfortunately she has stated she has no ambition in pursuing a career abroad .

 

I'm sure you know this, but I'm sure you so desperately want to see her giving a concert in your country that you pretend that you don't know hurrplz.png

 

I'm also sure that IF the demand is high, she will be there (like she's expanded her concerts across Asia) . So please, keep promoting IU chuplz.png

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when most of the so called scandals were taken from Pann posts, they are hardly scandals tho.. lets be real.

 

Her image is still pretty unscratched tbh.

I read a scandal about her with an underage boy? Can’t quite remember the full story tho

 

She’s only 25? Is that Korean or international? She seems immensely talented.

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I read a scandal about her with an underage boy? Can’t quite remember the full story tho

 

She’s only 25? Is that Korean or international? She seems immensely talented.

omg 

look at how twisted things become?!

 

 

That scandal started on Pann! 

 

it was a HUGE mess. 

 

 

It's her Lolita scandal due to Chat-shire's song 'Zeze ' that's based on a character off a book.

 

- someone on Pann wrote that Chat-Shire was heavily Lolita. That post got a lot of attention which ensued a whole witch-hunt. 

 

IU stated million of times that Chat-Shire was based on her own experiences and most people could understand the satire and metaphors behind her songs but others didn't quite get it. 

 

On the tail of that scandal people decided to pick apart her album, so there were plagiarism accusations, never ending discussions that reached over 40k+ thumbs up on Naver for days. All over baseless accusations (all debunked)... about something she had already vaguely explained. 

 

Now, the exact meaning of the song, we don't know. But it's unfair to push an agenda and discredit the singer's intentions. 

 

 

 

She also had a scandal at the beginning of the year when a report stated that a building she purchased had made a lot of profit. 

Some cleaver soul (again) on Pann wrote that it was all too suspicious.

 

That post also got a lot of traction but before it turned into anything, IU quickly invited Journalists inside her building, showing she had no intentions in selling it for profit and that it held her mum's office, rooms where she keeps her fan gifts stored and extra rooms where she allows trainees and inspiring musicians to practice for free. End of problem.  

 

 

So to be fair, although IU's image is unscratched she gets into scandals every year (especially around the time of her music comebacks or drama comebacks ... )

So that paragraph is not quite right. But it's not completely wrong either, because Koreans do trust and love IU beyond her music. 

 

 

 

The only scandal that's of her own actions is the one from 2012. But if people still hold a grudge against her for that, they are petty. 

 

 

 

IU is 25 international age, she's from May 93. 

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I don’t think language is the main reason for her lack of popularity internationally.

 

Majority of I-fans are mostly interested in Kpop groups compared to soloists. If there are known k-soloist, they’re most likely being attributed to being part of a group. Plus, IU’s musical style doesn’t really cater to i-fans.

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If there were any artist in Kpop that is the embodiment of Korean music, I would pick IU. She’s influenced by western music, but she keeps the foundation of Korean traditional music. She’s Korea’s biggest artist because of her connection to the culture. You wont find an artist as ingrained into modern korean music as her. In a way, that has hindered her international success, but she doesn’t need it when she runs the korean music industry. She’s never claimed to want to achieve anything beyond it.

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when most of the so called scandals were taken from Pann posts, they are hardly scandals tho.. lets be real. 

 

Her image is still pretty unscratched tbh.

 

eh... i like iu, a lot, but yeah there was one huge scandal that really didn't originate from Pann and she got bashed a lot for it for a while. i'm glad she was able to come out of it unscratched, tho, cause it was nonsensical and really hurtful for everyone involved. 

 

--

this said, we been knew. good day will forever be my fave title song from her. i was obsessed with it when it came out. but i'll admit that marshmallow was and still is my hidden pleasure fhsdjhfasdg u.u

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