IU scores 7 million downloads in 5 days for new album

[cherrypark.livejournal.com]

GAON chart for week of 11/27/2011 - 12/03/2011
1. "You & I" - 1,129,761 downloads
2. "Secret" - 692,588
3. "Sleeping Prince" - 570,868
4. "Uncle" - 547,429
5. "Child Searching for a Star" - 509,911
6. "Wallpaper Design" - 494,249
7. "Wisdom Tooth" - 479,014
8. "Teacher" - 462,784
9. "Everything's Alright" - 448,162
10. "Last Fantasy" - 447,187
11. "4AM" - 414,139
12. "A Stray Puppy" - 389,310
13. "Cry Cry" (T-ara) - 379,219
14. "L'Amant" - 366,411
15. "Troublemaker" (JS & Hyuna) - 362,744


via WeHeartIU/GAON








via WeHeartIU via dc inside/yes24/loen/

Releasing the 2nd album 'Last Fantasy'... Wrote the lyrics to 6 of the songs and "decided to not go to college, I went to the album jacket photoshoot on the day of the college entrance exams."

When meeting IU on the 28th at Seoul Donga Media Center, she took the reporter's computer and typed the words shown above. It was during that time the reporter was taking the time to listen to the new album's title song, 'You and I'. Originally, he had been expecting her to be lively and state 'Nice to meet you! Please show a lot of love for my second album'.

Beneath the black hoodie was her long, black hair. Her voice was husky, due to the fact that she "didn't sleep". When asked intimate questions, she did not take more than 2 seconds to think and still gave a clear and meaningful answer unlike most adult singers. Born in 1993, next January she will be 20 (in Korean age).

"Instead of songs like 'I feel like I'm going to die' and 'I'm going to go crazy', I think a calm song about daily life after a break up will be more moving. How many kids around my age do you think have experienced a really bad break up?"

IU has returned, not as "the Uncle Fans' cute girl" but as "the Uncles' musician", saying goodbye to being in her teens. In her second album, Last Fantasy, which IU released on the 29th, the credits are filled with first class musicians such as Kim Kwangjin, Yoon Sang, Jung Jaehyun, Lee Juk, Kim Hyungsuk, Jung Sukwon, Kim Hyuncheol, Yoon Jongshin, Lee Minsoo etc. IU herself composed one of the songs ('A Stray Puppy') and wrote the lyrics for six of the songs.

After seeing a stray puppy last September, she was inspired to compose the song 'A Stray Puppy'. "The theme is mainly about how it would feel to be loved then thrown away. It could be about lovers, orphans, or just about some lovers being afraid of growing apart..."

The song 'Uncle' (Track 6) is a song dedicated to the uncle fans. Lee Juk composed it and IU wrote the lyrics to it. In the recording studio, when IU asked Lee Juk "Should I call you Uncle", he replied, "No, never, even if I die call me oppa." IU laughed and stated, "Although I have a lot of 30-year-old uncle fans, I had received a fan letter from a 57-year-old uncle fan. Since their handwriting looks close to a font it made it look more elegant."

For the title song 'You & I', like what she typed into the reporter's computer, the feeling from 'Good Day' was continued while making it more complex to make the music quality higher. IU stated, "The sound became a lot wider. Since it uses majors and minors in many different types of chords, after listening to it, it would be hard to tell if it was supposed to be a happy song or a sad song. Due to that, my facial expression on stage will become more important." In two days time, on KBS TV 'Music Bank', she is planning to wear the outfit that she wore for her jacket photo; putting her hair into pigtails and wearing the 'bib dress' in order to put an emphasis on her neck line.

IU's idol, English female singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, gave her a new song. IU, who received the song along with the guide that Rae had provided, named the song '4AM' and for a week she woke up at 4AM to write down how she felt during that time.

When asked "Do you think you'll do well this time?" she answered "It's already doing well. I fulfilled my wish to compose a song, I released my second album before turning 20, and I got to work with the dream team. I'm more afraid of the musical evaluation than the popularity."

Unlike most of the kids her age, she had given up trying to go to college. "When you're in your teens you're supposed to dream, when you're in your 20s it's supposed to become reality but I already had a really good "dream". When I debuted in 9th grade, I had already decided not to go to college. I'm not longing for a college life. On the day kids took their college entrance exam, I went to my album jacket photoshoot. I decided to follow my dreams."

IU - "4AM" (Composed by Corinne Bailey Rae, lyrics by IU)

IU - "Stray Puppy" (composed & written by IU)

via uknow9096 1 & 2

Translation: >-Hope @ WeHeartIU.com
Edited: TheFly @ WeHeartIU.com
Source: dongA

Comments

[anthonymarie.livejournal.com]

wow i never knew A Stray Puppy was composed and written by her.

It's probably my most favourite song off her album.

[lazmy.livejournal.com]

this, boys and girls, is called slaying

[suzieeq-luv.livejournal.com]

+ all the numbers

[5h0rtyy.livejournal.com]

congrats IU! :)

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

i'm not to fond of her title track so i didnt even bother with the album but these two tracks convinced me otherwise. i think i'm going to give it a chance

thnx, OP!

[thebluemonk.livejournal.com]

iu da best der eva was

BEST DER EVA WAS!

[rainydayphotos.livejournal.com]

I'm so proud of her, especially her involvement in this album :')

[boba-holic.livejournal.com]

:O verrrrry impressive. And good for her, I really enjoyed the album.

[suzieeq-luv.livejournal.com]

Heavily biased to 4AM now since learning it was by Corinne Bailey Rae.
IU has come a long way and I'm happy for her ;P

[lockerkeys.livejournal.com]

in other news,

IU turns into a sexy biz woman
(http://tinypic.com?ref=9gy8sh)

and has a cute oppa manager
(http://tinypic.com?ref=8xvc6e)

/lazy to create a post

[cherrypark.livejournal.com]

Is this the same manager who was in her marshmallow costume? he's always so (rightfully) protective of her against screaming fanboys in fancams.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

damn iu

[raindropreflect.livejournal.com]

mte. Altho I loved Mia, so I'm sad it wasn't a song that could have been released when she was popular.

[threebits.livejournal.com]

Good job

Only song I can't get into is the second track tbh all of them are good

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Yea, when I first heard the beginning, I was like "christmas themed video game say what?" But now I just pretend that I'm playing Sonic whenever I hear it and all's good.

[youlittle.livejournal.com]

happy for her ;~;

[uledy.livejournal.com]

I've been wearing this album out this whole week, especially "Secret" and "A Stray Dog". The rest of the tracks took a little more time for me to love. Not instant love like "Real", but now I definitely appreciate it. Love this girl.

[threebits.livejournal.com]

Secret is so good idk probably just me being hormonal and stuff but it made me tear up lol

[mad-nux.livejournal.com]

love the album. now that's who you call a digital monster

[hangingover.livejournal.com]

get it! the album is awesome. all the songs are good but i could listen to "you and i" all day

[frequency.livejournal.com]

i really liked this album, so this is pretty awesome to see.

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Go, IU, go! :D

[lustre-city.livejournal.com]

Good to hear :) She deserves it!

[opal.livejournal.com]

4AM was probably my favorite song on this album and to hear it was composed by Corinne Bailey Rae makes all the sense.

This album actually sounded like an artistic effort instead of making something that was only catering to a fanbase.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Slay U doing it.

I'm really happy for her and her company, effort like that deserves success. It's a great album and I hope it continues to do well.

[givemehistory.livejournal.com]

shit i can't stop looking at the dress with the exaggerated double collar, i hope she gets to wear that in a live perf sometime~

also i love korean cd packaging in general but this one was so awkward, it was thin and square and big and it wouldn't fit in my mailbox, haha.

[cherrypark.livejournal.com]

HI EM ♥ ♥ ♥

I want my album. :( Why isn't it here yet, em, WHY. :(

[ohprecioustime.livejournal.com]

aren't dls in Korea like a penny

either way good for her,Kpop need more IUs and just more soloist in general

[sballet06.livejournal.com]

Legit been listening to the album on repeat this week. 4AM and L'Amant are so flawless and the rest of the tracks are all really good too.

Earmarked the album for my next Gmarket haul. It deserves the buy.

[song-jihyuk.livejournal.com]

wow IU :o