• Who Is IU?

LIFE & CAREER

(this is pretty long but she has 14 years of career and I tried my best to summarize while still showing who she is, so take your time and enjoy! )

"When my PE teacher told me, ‘Lee Jieun come out and sing one song!’ as a punishment for talking too much, that was my moment. To the 14-year old student that sweetly sang Joo Hyunmi’s <Crush>, my teacher scolded me saying 'I told you to sing as a punishment, why are you enjoying it so much?' and asked me if I wanted to sing at a sports competition a few days later. To me, my debut performance was singing at the sports competition. After singing, I felt exhilarated, getting applause from of many people. Right then I thought, 'Oh, I should become a singer.’ After diligently going for auditions, I sadly didn’t pass all 20 of them"

• Lee Jieun born May 16, 1993, grew up living with her grandmother and her younger brother, her parents, in order to pay the debts lived separately from them. While living together, the three had to live in a small house full of cockroaches before moving to their relative’s house, which wasn't a good situation either. While starting her path in the industry she ended up being scammed by a fake agent who took money from her with the promise of debuting

• She signed with KakaoM in 2007 as a trainee, after auditioning for many agencies including JYP. Due to her living conditions at the time, IU stated that she "loved being at the studio", where she could eat as much as she wanted and had a place to sleep. Prior to her debut, LOEN coined her stage name "IU", deriving it from the phrase "I and You" to symbolize the unifying force of music between people. She debuted ten months later on September 18, 2008, with the song 'Mia, Lost Child'; the song didn’t go well commercially, deemed too serious for a 16 years old girl, and she confessed that on her debut stage fans of older boy groups were shouting insults at her. She also had to deal with fat shaming comments from those fans
However, the debut album itself was awarded the Rookie of the Month award by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in November 2008. IU said, "My first album failed, but I'm grateful for that. If I had become successful as soon as I made my debut, I wouldn't appreciate my staff members and the popularity that I'm enjoying now"

• On April 23, 2009, she had her first comeback with 'Boo'. Everything about the stages gave her a "cute" image, and although everyone loved it, IU, who was fifteen years old at the time, admitted that the image made her feel awkward. Later in the year she released 'Marshmallow' ft Zico, again the public loved it but she disliked the clothes and hairstyles. During the year her popularity started to rise and she participated in her first OSTS, did some collaborations and appeared on varieties. Her most famous appearance was on You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook where she did an aucustic cover of Snsd's Gee, Suju's Sorry Sorry and BigBang's Lies (the people aren't laughing at her on the video but at his expressions btw). She also became mc for the first time on a chart show, while becoming fixed guest on popular radio programs.

• On June 3, 2010, she released Nagging with 2AM's Lim Seulong. With this song she started what will become the 'IU dominating charts' phenomenon, and every single song after this charted high. Later she released another ost and another collaboration. On December 9 she came back with 'Good Day', she received praise for her vocal abilities, IU's fan base expanded to a more varied demographic as compared to other K-pop groups, and she got her first win on music shows. At the first broadcast of 'Good Day,' only one of her fan made it into the music broadcast studio 'There was fan chant in my song and that fan did it all by herself with all her might that I was able to hear it on stage". She was so touched that she thanked her on the winning speech and started crying. She starred in her first long term variety 'Heroes' which showed how popular she was in all kind of demographic and gave her even more success since her personality was shown. In the show she was with T-ara Jiyeon, one of her best friends and she also met Yoo Inna who became 'her person'. IU was then casted in the drama 'Dream High', her acting debut for which she sung the song 'Someday', both the drama and the song were extremely succssfull.

• On February 16, 2011, she released the song 'Only I didn't Know', a more dark and sad song, closer to her preference. She opened Corinne Bailey Rae's concert in Seoul, she is her favorite singer and was really excited about it. She was the new host for Inkigayo, she starred in two of K.Will's videos, in May she recorded her first self composed song 'Hold My Hand' as ost and she then participated in the ice skating variety 'Kim Yuna's Kiss & Cry'. On November 29 she came back with the song 'You & I', another big success. On December 14 she released her first Japanese album composed of a variety of her Korean songs in Japanese.

• In 2012 she had her Japanese debut with Japanese versions of Good Day and Lost Child, sung with orchestra, peeked in top5 on Japanese charts and had a small tour. On May 11, she came back with double titles 'Every End of The Day' and 'Peach' (that she wrote about her best friend Sulli). In place of music videos, a 26-minute-long documentary-style music film was shot in Venice. In June she started her first Korean tour which made it impossible for her to promote the album. In September she had a concert in Japan. She became Mc of a quiz show and hosted Gayo Daejeon. She won Record Of The Year, Song of The Year, Best Pop Song and Female Musician of The Year.

• In 2013 she acted in the drama 'You're the best, Lee Soonshin', her co-stars as well as the production crew, praised her performance, especially during emotional scenes. For the drama she composed the song 'Beautiful Song'. She then released her second Japanese album with double titles "Beautiful Dancer' and 'New World'. On September she came out with another Japanese single, "Monday Afternoon'. Her first Korean comeback of the year was 'The Red Shoes', IU composed and wrote two out of the album's 13 tracks, which ranged from swing to jazz, bossa nova, Latin pop and folk genres. IU then joined the comedy serie Bel Ami, for her performance, IU was nominated in the Outstanding Korean Actress category at the 2014 Seoul International Drama Awards. She held her tour performing in Hong Kong for the first time. A repackage of the album came out on December with the self composed song ' Friday'.

• On May 16, 2014, she released the album 'A Flower Bookmark', with covers of songs from 80s and 90s. The song ' The Meaning of You' became her best selling single of the year. She held a smaller tour with a number of famous guests and all dates were sold out in ten minutes, all the profits were donated to the victims of the Sewol Ferry disaster.
During the year she collaborated with many artists with the songs 'Not Spring, Love or Cherry Blossoms', 'Anxious Heart' recorded in 2012, 'Sing For Me' with g.o.d, 'Sogyeonkdong' with Seo Taiji, 'When Would It Be'.

• In 2015 she starred in the drama The Producers, she wrote two songs for the drama 'Twenty Three' and 'Heart'. Heart was released as a digital single on May 18. Through The Producers, IU's popularity in China soared. IU participated in the music variety show 'Infinite Challenge', where she recorded the song 'Leon'. On October 23 she came back with the song '23', she wrote lyrics for all the songs in the album and composed the music for five and was credited as the album executive producer. She held a national tour, hosted fan meetings and concerts in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. She hosted Gayo Daejeon and listed as 'Woman of the Year' by GQ Korea.

• In 2016 she took a break from music to take the main role in the drama 'Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo'.

• On April 21, 2017, she released three singles 'Palette', 'Through the Night' and 'Can't Love You Anymore' of which she served as lyricist and producer. The album was critically acclaimed and won "Best Pop Album", "Album of the Year", "Record of the Year (Album)", 'Best Female Artist' , "Best songwriter", "Lyricist of the Year", "Producer of the Year" for herself and her production team, "Song of the Year". The New York Times Magazine also featured "Palette" on its list of "25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going", making IU the only Asian artist to make the list. Billboard ranked Palette the best K-pop album of 2017. IU then joined the reality program 'Hyori's Homestay'. On September 22 she released 'A Flower Bookmark 2' with the pre released 'Autumn Morning'. She went on tour in Korea and Hong Kong. She featured in Epik High's song 'Love Story'.

• In 2018 she starred in the drama 'My Mister', one of the highest rated Korean dramas in cable television history. IU then featured in Zico's song "Soulmate". On October to commemorate her tenth debut anniversary, IU released a single titled "Bbibbi", Billboard said 'The single not only comments on IU's experiences in the public life, but it doubles as a universal empowerment anthem, knowing and acknowledging one's worth and personal rights'. She went on tour and then featured on Kim Dongryul's song 'Fairytale.

• On April 11, 2019, IU made her film debut in the Netflix anthology series Persona. During the summer, IU starred in the fantasy mystery drama Hotel del Luna and she sung one of the songs on the soundtrack, "Happy Ending'. On November 18 she released the songs 'Love Poem' and 'Blueming' . On November she went on tour for two months.

• On 2020 for the first time in nine years, IU participated in a soundtrack album with the song "Give You My Heart" for the hit romantic comedy Crash Landing on You. On May 6 IU released the single "Eight" ft BTS's Suga. still in May, she started filming for her first commercial film Dream. On June 19, IU released the song "Into the I-LAND" as the signal song for Mnet's survival reality show I-Land.

• On January 9, 2021, she won the "Digital Daesang Song of the Year" award at the 35th Golden Disc Awards with her song, "Blueming.
On January 27 she released the song 'Celebrity' as a prerelease of he album 'Lilac' which was released on March 25 to immediate commercial success. The album debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart and all tracks had simultaneously charted in the top 30 of the Gaon Digital Chart. IU performed 'Coin' on music shows as a bside'. She said about the album: 'Since I debuted at 15 yo people have seen me from the middle of my teens, they've seen me throughout my whole twenties. I'm making this album because I want to say goodbye to those who have been watching over my twenties, and thank you to those who watched until the very end. I want to reach my thirties with a clean slate'. The album became the second highest-selling by a South Korean female soloist in its first week, additionally, several of IU's older songs re-entered the Digital chart following the album's release. In May 2021, Lilac was certified platinum by the Korean Music Content Association (KMCA) for selling over 250,000 copies. Lilac was featured in Time magazine best kpop albums of 2021.
In August she featured in AKMU's song 'Nakka'. On October 19 she released her digital single, "Strawberry Moon", her third song of 2021 alone to achieve an Inkigayo triple crown.
IU won 'Best Vocal Performance' 'Best Female Artist' at MAMA, 'Best Female Solo' 'Songwriter Of The Year' 'Album of the Year' 'Artist of the Year' at the Melon Music Awards. On December 29 she released her digital album 'Pieces', five songs she wrote and composed during her twenties that never felt right to release. The album took first place on all charts and topped iTunes in 13 countries.

• On January 2022 she won 'Album Bonsang' with Lilac and 'Digital Bonsang' 'Digital Daesang' with Celebrity and 'Seezn most popular artist award' at Golden Disk Awards.
Lilac won 'Best Pop Album' at the 19th Korean Music Awards. She won Artist of the Year at Gaon Chart Music Awards with Celebrity, Lilac, Strawberry Moon, Lyricist Of the Year and Record Production of the Year. On January 27th she released 'Mother Nature (H2O)", song composed by Kang Seungwon. On March 11th she collaborated with Jay Park in the song' Ganadara'.

CHARITY

IU constantly donates money to associations and causes she personally search for, both anonymously (later gets found out) and in the open. In particular, one charity she donates to repeatedly is senior citizens’ foundation in Bangbaedong, Seoul.

• In 2010 she joined a Save The Air campaign for air pollution, mentoring children and selling thirsts with proceeds going to the campaign.
• In 2011 she had a duet with ice skater Kim Yuna and all proceeds were donated to the training of the future national team.
• In 2015 she donated 100 million won to Child Fund Korea and did the same over the years
• Since 2016, she has made 5 contributions of ₩10 million KRW ($8,400 USD) each to the Green Umbrella Children's Fund charity, and on top of donations she also volunteered
• She established a scholarship at her high school alma-mater in 2016 after regularly donating there for the past several years, to help four graduates from families needing financial aid.
• In 2018, IU provided ₩20,000,000 in financial aid to five college students, helping to cover their room and board.
• In April 2019 a deadly fire tore through Sokcho and neighbouring cities in Goseong County, IU helped to offset some of the devastation by donating ₩100 million KRW ($84,000 USD) to the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation to support children affected by the fire. Still in 2019, after acting in the drama My Mister, IU donated ₩50,000,000 to the Deaf Senior Citizens Support Center, inspired by her role where she had to learn sign language.
• Since 2020 she uses her media popularity to help find missing childrens with posters at the end of the videos on her official YouTube channel
• She donated a total equivalent of half a million dollars during 2020 as she expanded her charity to covid related efforts and was thanked by the prime minister

• In May 2021 she donated ₩10,000,000 to aid single parent families and grandparents raising grandchildren, ₩500,000,000 to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation, the Korean Single Mothers association, the Comprehensive Support Center for Elderly living alone, the Child Welfare Association, the association to support children with rare diseases, a specialized association supporting the disabled. For her 13th debut anniversary she donated ₩850,000,000 of various products for winter for twenty covid clinics in Seoul. On December she donated ₩100,000,000 to Green Umbrella Foundation to support college student's tuition for low income grandchildren and single parent families.
• She inspires fans to donate money as well, and things such as school supllies and water were amongst the fan projects.

PERSONALITY

IU is known for the beautiful relationship she has with her staff, the IU team; most of them have been with her since the beginning and she never fails to thank them, making them go on stage to receive awards, get into camera and just generally loving and appreciating them. A famous instance is when she had to renew her contract and she agreed only with the condition that all of her staff would have a salary increase and better treatment. She also has a team bonding trip with everyone every year. She's close to her bodyguards as well and their interactions are always funny and cute, she even convinced them to go on stage and dance with her.
She sung at the wedding of every staff that got married and some videos went viral because of how cute they are. One of the hairstylist said: 'I’ve worked with countless stars, but IU is the first one that remembered every single staff member and saved them in her heart and in a handmade book'.

One time IU promised a fan that she would attend her graduation and she actually did, making everyone fall once again for her sweet personality.

During her stay at Hyori's bed&breakfast reality she actually became friend with a group of people and as stated by these girls she kept treating them nicely and like a normal person even after the show was over. She kept in contact with the girls and supported them when they graduated or started their shops.
IU is also really straightforward and she has been since debut, she speaks her mind and isn't afraid to call out people as seen in her song BBiBBi. She's funny, and likes to tease her friends, she respect her seniors and she's a perfectionist when it comes to work. She suffers from insomnia and wrote many songs during sleepless nights. She loves her friends deeply and never let rumors or anyone make her change her mind about the people she loves.

She loves reading, and a lot of libraries and book shops have a 'IU section' of books she has read.
She wrote a short novel about people with no dreams reassuring them.

She stated that she doesn't care for charts and releases her songs based on what times she feels right instead of following the best time for music to chart.

She has been a huge fan of g.o.d since she was 15 and she still goes to their concerts when she can. Her bias is Kim Taewoo and in 2011 she had a 'date' with him in a 'date your celebrity for a day' kind of program and they sung the duet from the movie 'Music and Lyrics' together. She achieved every fangirl's dream when she, as a successful artist, invited them as guests at her 2018 concert. She was shaking the whole time introducing them saying 'everyone these are my oppas' and then cried after hugging them She then featured in g.o.d remake hits album in 2019.

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• Fandom

The fandom name is Uaena;
U = You , AE = 爱 love, NA = me
She once said that men are called biscuits 건빵 (geonbbang) because that’s her favourite snack and female fans are star candy 별사탕 (byeolsatang) because IU used to have very few female fans, just like the rare star candies when you buy a pack of biscuits.

• Uaena official logo is this one, the note means 'You and I become one through music' and the heart 'You and I love each other'. It is basically the meaning of Uaena into shape.

• We don't have official colors but usually things are in the neon/lime green of the logo and lilac as it's IU's favorite color. The lightstick comes into these colors as well.

• One of IU's signature gesture is to buy sweets and chocolate at airports every time she travels in different countries and cities and then giving them to fans as a thank you for supporting her.

• Another gesture is writing songs for fans: Uaena, Knee, Heart

• She loves fans so much that she holds concert that last 4 or 5 hours, with encore and en-encore. She usually ask minors to leave at a certain hour so that they can go to school the next day and the parents waiting to pick them up can go home. She held her anniversary fan meeting at two different times during the day, one early for minors and students and one later at night for adults.

• She always listen to fans questions carefully and give them long and serious answers and advices. This one about social anxiety for example.

• She sent her guitar to a teenage boy who wrote to her that he wanted to learn how to play.

• She rarely cries in public and she did for the first time in a concert when the fans made a fan project holding banners with their names while she was singing her song 'Dear Name'. She then asked who made the project and went to kiss her hand.

• Even during her graduation day she accepted her schoolmates' requests for pics with her

• She always rolls down her car windows to wave at fans

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