Biography of IU
Lee Ji-eun, best known by her stage name IU, is a versatile South Korean actress, singer, and record producer. ‘K-pop legend’ is another title given to IU. Her outstanding vocals and 14-year career in the entertainment industry earned her both domestic and international acclaim.
She was born on 16 May 1993 in Seoul, South Korea’s Songjeong-dong district. When she was 15 years old, she made her musical debut in the 2008 extended play ‘Lost and Found’. In the beginning, she worked as a trainee for Leon Entertainment, which later became KaKao Entertainment. She started to gain recognition and popularity only after the lead single, ‘Good Day’, in 2010. It was ranked first among the ‘100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s’ by Billboard.
IU wrote the lyrics for a song for the television show ‘The Greatest Love’, which aired in 2011. ‘Modern Times’, the third studio album, was released in 2013 and reached its highest point on the Gaon Digital Chart at number 10. On Billboard’s list of the ’25 Greatest K-Pop Albums of the 2010s’, the album peaked at number two.
For the first time ever in 2017, her fourth studio album, ‘Palette’, debuted at the top of the World Albums chart. With her 2020 single ‘Eight’, she first reached the top of the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.
She has starred in several drama series, including ‘You Are the Best!’, ‘Pretty Man’, ‘The Producers’, and ‘Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo’. IU had a supporting part in the 2011 teen drama ‘Dream High’. She received her first Best Actress Television nomination at the 55th ‘Baeksang Arts Awards’ for the 2018 film ‘My Mister’. She earned a second Best Actress nomination at the ‘Baeksang Arts Awards’ for her role in the fantasy television series ‘Hotel del Luna’ for which she was nominated.
In South Korea, she is the artist with the most number-one singles. She is the first female artist from Korea to perform a solo concert, ‘The Golden Hour’, at Seoul Olympic Stadium on 17 and 18 September 2022 respectively. IU made history when she gave a solo female K-pop performance at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena as part of the Seoul ‘2019 Love, Poem concert tour’. She won the Gallup Korea Singer of the Year award in 2014 and 2017. She was named the all-time leader of Billboard’s K-pop Hot 100 in 2014 after having the most songs, ranking number one.
Early Life and Education
IU was born in Songjeong-dong, Seoul, South Korea, on 16 May 1993. She began taking acting classes after initially expressing a desire to enter the arts. When she was in junior high, her family went through a financial crisis, and they ultimately moved to Gyeonggi Province.
In middle school, she fell in love with singing and made the decision to pursue a career in the field. She went to 20 auditions, but she was rejected by every one of them. Later, at Good Entertainment, she received training from Uee, Yubin, Heo Ga-yoon, and Jun Hyo-seong. She moved to Bangbae in Seoul in 2007 after deciding to join LOEN Entertainment.
Career and Achievements
IU made her debut in 2008 after ten months of training. She performed her first single, ‘Lost Child’, live for the first time as a professional singer on the music programme M Countdown on 18 September 2008. The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism honoured her with the title of ‘Rookie of the Month’.
The lead promotional single for her debut studio album Growing Up, ‘Boo’, was released on 23 April 2009. Near the end of 2009, she released her second EP, titled ‘IU…IM’. She began promoting the album’s lead single, ‘Marshmallow’, on music shows starting on 13 November 2009. She started appearing on more variety shows, such as Sketchbook, Chocolate, and Star Golden Bell, as her fame and popularity continued to increase.
On 3 June 2010, IU released ‘Nagging’, a duet with Lim Seul-Ong at 2 AM. It debuted at number twelve on the Gaon Digital Chart. The music video for ‘Because I’m a Woman’, the theme song for the MBC historical drama ‘Road No. 1’, was released by IU. On 9 December 2010, her third EP, ‘Real’, was released. It debuted on the Gaon Album Chart at position four. She worked with the songwriter Kim Eana and the composer Lee Min-soo to create the album’s lead single, ‘Good Day’. She topped the charts on many music programmes, including M Countdown, Music Bank, and Inkigayo, during the album promotion period.
IU grew in stature and popularity compared to other K-pop groups. The top spot on Billboard magazine’s list of the ‘100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s’ went to ‘Good Day’. She starred in the teen drama ‘Dream High’ from December 2010 to February 2011.
On 16 February 2011, ‘Real+’, the follow-up to the extended play ‘Real’ with three songs, was released. The song achieved commercial success and peaked at the top of the Gaon Digital Chart. IU was chosen as one of the new hosts for the music show ‘Inkigayo’. In May 2011, she recorded her first original song for the romantic comedy television programme ‘The Greatest Love’. In 2011 it ranked the second-highest spot on the Gaon Digital Chart.
‘Last Fantasy’, the second studio album by her was made available on 29 November 2011. The album’s tracks collectively sold more than 10 million downloads in its first two weeks. On the Gaon Album Chart, the album debuted at number one, and eight of its thirteen songs debuted in the top ten on the Gaon Digital Chart. About 5.5 million digital copies of her lead single, ‘You & I’, were sold by the end of 2012.
IU performed two shows as part of her preliminary work for her Japanese debut on 24 January 2012. On 24 January 2012, she gave two performances. Following the concert, brand-new singles with translated lyrics for ‘Good Day’ and ‘You & I’ were both released in Japan. The Billboard Japan Hot 100 peaked at number eleven with ‘You & I’, and the Oricon Singles Chart peaked at number four. She gave five short performances in Tokyo, Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka.
She started her first concert tour, dubbed ‘Real Fantasy’, in June 2012. She gave concerts in six different South Korean cities. Her fifth Korean EP, ‘Spring of a Twenty-Year-Old’, was released on 11 May 2012. One of her songs, ‘Peach’, released in 2015 peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and three on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100.
IU performed at the Tokyo International Forum on 17 September 2012, as part of the “IU Friendship Special Concert — Autumn 2012”. She represented as the host of the annual music programme, 2012 SBS Gayo Daejeon, alongside actors Jung Gyu-woon and actress Bae Suzy. The song ‘Last Fantasy’ was named Record of the Year at the 2012 Seoul Music Awards, and she was also one of the ten musical acts to take home the Main Prize. ‘Good Day’ won Song of the Year and Best Pop Song at the Korean Music Awards.
At the beginning of 2013, she landed her first significant television series role as Lee Soon-shin in ‘You’re the Best’. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Serial Drama at the 2013 ‘KBS Drama Awards’. She collaborated on a recording of the drama’s theme song, ‘Beautiful Song’, with co-star Jo Jung-suk. ‘Can You Hear Me?’, her second Japanese EP album, featured her first original Japanese song. The two singles from the album, ‘Beautiful Dancer’ and ‘New World’, respectively peaked at positions 66 and 76 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
The third studio album by IU, titled ‘Modern Times’, was released on 8 October 2013. She self-wrote and composed two of the album’s 13 songs, which encompasses the swing, jazz, bossa nova, Latin pop, and folk genres. The album, which had twelve songs that appeared on the K-pop Hot 100 chart, debuted on Billboard’s World Albums Chart at number four. The album came in at number two on Billboard’s list of the ’25 Greatest K-Pop Albums of the 2010s’.
The album ‘Modern Times — Epilogue,’ which included the two bonus songs ‘Friday’ and ‘Pastel Crayon’, was released on 20 December 2013. The lead single was successful; it peaked at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart and was the tenth best-selling digital single.
The sixth Korean extended play and debut cover album by IU, ‘A Flower Bookmark’, was released on 16 May 2014. Seven songs from the 1980s and 1990s are covered on the album in a range of musical genres, including ballad, dance, folk, and rock. ‘My Old Story’, the lead single, eventually reached number two. Her best-selling single of 2014 and the song with the most sales was ‘The Meaning of You’, a song she co-wrote with Kim Chang-wan in 1984.
Her third solo Korean concert series, ‘Just One Step… That Much More’, fulfilled her desire to give a more exclusive and private performance at Sogang University’s Mary Hall. In addition to several new arrangements of her earlier songs, she performed all seven of the songs from ‘A Flower Bookmark’ live for the first time. The concert’s earnings were donated to the Sewol Ferry Disaster victims.
At the KCON music festival in Los Angeles, IU performed for the first time in the United States. The top ten songs were created in 2014 as a result of her collaborations with other musicians. For instance, she represented both the singer and lyricist on High4’s ‘Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms’, which debuted at the top of both the Gaon Digital Chart and the Billboard Korea K-pop Hot 100. She earned the title of ‘all-time chart leader’ with five number-one singles.
One of South Korea’s most anticipated TV shows of the year was, ‘The Producers’, starring IU alongside Kim Soo-hyun, Cha Tae-hyun, and Gong Hyo-jin. For the digital single ‘Heart’, she wrote both the music and the lyrics. ‘Heart’, which debuted at the top of the charts, eventually rose to become the tenth most popular digital single in South Korea for the entire year.
The South Korean Defense Ministry employed the K-pop song ‘Heart’ to promote ‘South Korean youth culture’ in broadcasts to North Korea during the tense standoff between the two countries in August 2015. As her fame grew in China, it’s been reported that various project affords from Chinese companies were offered to her.
The digital release of ‘Chat-Shire’, IU’s seventh Korean EP, was released on 23 October 2015, and the physical release followed on 27 October 2015. All seven of the songs’ melodies and five of their songs’ music were composed by her, who also wrote the lyrics for the songs. She was also listed as the record’s executive producer. Billboard ranked ‘Chat-Shire’ as the sixth-best K-pop album of 2015.
Before ending on 3 December 2015, the ‘Chat-Shire’ tour travelled from Seoul to Busan, Daegu, and Gwangju. In numerous cities, she held fan events and concerts. On KKBOX, Taiwan’s most well-known online music retailer, Smash Hits, Warner Music Taiwan released the 16 previously released songs, which debuted at the top of the K-pop album chart in the first week of its release.
On 21 April 2017, she released ‘Palette’, IU’s fourth studio album, on which she also served as executive producer and the foremost lyricist. ‘Palette’ topped local charts for album sales and downloads and debuted at the top of the Billboard World Albums chart. ‘Through the Night’, the first pre-release song by her, went on to become both her best-selling single of 2017 and the album’s best-selling song.
Numerous awards were given to ‘Palette’, including ‘Best Pop Album’ at the 15th Korean Music Awards, ‘Album of the Year’ at the ‘Melon Music Awards’, and ‘Record of the Year’ at the 27th ‘Seoul Music Awards’.
IU was also recognized as the Best Female Artist at the ‘Mnet Asian Music Awards’. The album also helped her win the ‘Melon Music Awards’ ‘Best Songwriter’ title, the seventh Gaon Chart Music Awards’ ‘Lyricist of the Year’ title, and the ‘Producer of the Year’ title for both her and her production team. At the 32nd Golden Disc Awards, she also won ‘Song of the Year’ for her popular song ‘Through the Night’. ‘Palette’ was ranked as the best K-pop album of 2017 by Billboard.
She released her second cover album, titled ‘A Flower Bookmark 2’, on 22 September 2017. For her ninth anniversary, the single ‘Autumn Morning’ was released without prior announcement. Gallup Korea named her the most well-known K-pop performer and K-pop idol of 2017. A commercial success and one of the highest-rated Korean dramas in cable television history, ‘My Mister’ made its tvN debut in March 2018 with IU in the lead role of Lee Ji-an.
For the tenth anniversary of her debut, she released the song ‘Bbibbi’ in October 2018. On 10 October 2018, the song and accompanying music video were released. In the first 24 hours following its release, 1,462,625 listeners registered for ‘Bbibbi’. The song peaked at the top of the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart as well as the Gaon Digital Chart.
On 11 April 2019, the Netflix anthology series Persona debuted with IU as a featured guest. It was the sixth-most-watched Netflix show in Korea in 2019. The summer saw the production of the fantasy mystery drama ‘Hotel del Luna’, which starred IU. Another track from the soundtrack, ‘Happy Ending’, was also performed by her. The drama was a commercial success. She made a comeback in the music industry in 2012 with the song ‘Peach’, which was inspired by the late singer Sulli.
For the first time in nine years, IU contributed a song to a soundtrack album with the song ‘Give You My Heart’ for the well-known romantic comedy ‘Crash Landing on You’. It was released on 15 February 2020.
On 6 May 2020, she released the song ‘Eight’, which featured and was produced by Suga of BTS. Following her prior singles ‘Twenty-Three’ from 2015 and ‘Palette’ from 2017, which together make up her ‘coming-of-age’ series. She released the song ‘Into the I-LAND’ on 19 June 2020, serving as the theme song for the survival reality series I-Land.
On 9 January 2021, the 35th ‘Golden Disc Awards’ were held, and she made history by winning Song of the Year for her song ‘Blueming’, becoming the first female soloist to do so. With the pre-release single ‘Celebrity’, Edam Entertainment announced her comeback on 27 January 2021. When LILAC, her fifth studio album was released on 25 March 2022, it immediately became a commercial success and debuted at the top of the Gaon Album Chart. Strawberry Moon, an IU digital single, was released in 2021.
In 2022, IU and Jay Park’s collaborative single ‘Ganadara’ reached its highest point at the top of the Gaon Digital Chart and the Billboard K-pop Hot 100. Her first documentary, ‘Pieces: 29th Winter’, was released on 23 March 2022. So-young was portrayed by her in the film ‘Broker’.
For her work, she received a nomination for Best New Actress at the 27th Chunsa International Film Festival. On 27 July 2022, it was revealed that on 17 and 18 September 2022, she would take the stage at The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun, the first Korean female artist’s concert.
Endorsements
IU has provided her endorsement for a wide range of products throughout her career, including electronics, clothing, and cosmetics. Her breakthrough in 2010 resulted in her signing her first three endorsement contracts with Ysb Clothing, Crown Bakery, and the MyChew candy line from Crown Confectionery. From 2012 to 2013, she was the Aion spokesmodel.
Samsung featured IU as the ambassador for Yeosu’s Expo 2012 in advertisements for products like Anycall, the Galaxy S II, the Wave 3, and Samsung Card between 2018 and 2019. In commercials for the following clothing brands, she has made appearances in Unionbay and Le Coq Sportif beginning in 2011, SK Planet online store 11th, G by GUESS with Yoo Seung-ho, Elite with Infinite, SBENU with Song Jae-rim, and J. Estina Jewellery.
Gucci named IU as their brand ambassador for South Korea in February 2020. She was appointed the organization’s global brand ambassador in March 2022. Later in July 2021, New Balance designated her as the international face of their brand. Among the cosmetics enterprises that she has endorsed are The Saem, Qdsuh in China, ISOI, and CNP Cosmetics.
In April 2022, one of South Korea’s four largest banks, Woori Financial Group, decided to feature her as an advertising model. Other endorsements include S-Oil, Homeplus, Nongshim’s Goods, Mexicana Chicken fast food restaurant, Jeju Samdasoo, and Binggrae Banana Flavored Milk in the middle of 2020. IU had been named the spokesperson for Chamisul Soju.
Personal Life
HighZiumStudio officially confirmed the dating relationship between actor Lee Jong-suk and IU in 2022. This information was later confirmed by her agency EDAM Entertainment.
Philanthropy
She has donated a total of 4.3 billion to different charitable causes since her debut. She has been a spokesperson for the National Police Agency of South Korea’s anti-bullying campaigns in schools.
In 2015, and again in 2018, 2019, and 2020, she gave 100 million US dollars to the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation for the less fortunate children. A scholarship called the ‘IU Scholarship’ was established to help four graduates from low-income families.
IU took part in the Ice Bucket Challenge, an online event to raise awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. She gave a 50 million won donation to the Deaf Senior Citizens Support Center in 2019. According to the Korean Nurses Association, she donated 4,600 cooling vests and 3,000 pieces of medical protective clothing to nurses during the 2020 pandemic.
In August 2020, she donated 100 million won to the Korea Disaster Relief Association to help flood victims. In May 2021, she donated 10 million won to Yangpyeong County to help families with single parents and grandparents caring for grandkids.
For the treatment of children and teenagers with rare diseases, IU gave a total of 500 million won to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation, the Korean Single Mothers and Families Association, the Comprehensive Support Center for Elderly Living Alone, the Child Welfare Association, the Yeouldol Association, and the Purme Foundation on 16 May 2021.
On 18 September 2021, the 13th anniversary of her debut, she donated 850 million won worth of goods, including winter coats, bedding sets, and water bottles to 20 COVID-19 clinics in Seoul.
The Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation reported that IU gave 100 million won on 24 December 2021. She gave the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation 100 million won in observance of Children’s Day. She gave a total of 210 million won to The Snail of Love, Korean Single Mothers Family Association, Eden Iville, and Changwon Social Welfare Corporation on her birthday, 16 May 2022. In celebration of Family Month in May, she gave Yangpyeong-gun 10 million won in order to ’empower the children of the low-income and vulnerable classes’.
Net Worth and Lifestyle
According to different sources, the South Korean singer, songwriter, producer and actress, IU, has an estimated net worth of 40 to 45 million US dollars. Her income is from her artistic field as well as from other endorsements. With the information gathered from sources like Seoul Space and Korea Portal, she is placed as one of the richest artists in 2021.
Awards
IU has been nominated for more than 200 awards since her debut in 2008, and she has won more than 100 of them. She has been honoured with 21 ‘Melon Music Awards’, 16 ‘Gaon Chart Music Awards’, 5 ‘Korean Music Awards’, 11 ‘Mnet Asian Music Awards’, 7 ‘Seoul Music Awards’, and 8 ‘Golden Disc Awards’.
For her work as an actress, she has also received numerous honours, including the 2014 ‘KBS Drama Awards’ Best New Actress award for her role in ‘You’re the Best’. 10 ‘Daesang awards’, including 5 from the ‘Melon Music Awards’ and 3 from the ‘Golden Disc Awards’, have been given to her from different award ceremonies.
IU was listed as one of South Korea’s most influential people on the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list in 2012, and five more times since then. The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism also recognised her for her influence and success in the music industry at the 2015 Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards. She received the ‘CJ ENM-instituted Visionary Award’ in 2022, which honours the best actors and actresses in Korean film and television.
Interesting Facts about IU
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After a photo of the two in a movie theatre went viral, IU was thought to be dating actor Lee Hyun-woo in August 2013.
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Jiyeon of T-ara and Suzy are IU’s closest friends.
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Sweet potatoes and raw fish are IU’s two favourite foods.
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She enjoys browsing the internet, listening to music, and reading books.
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On September 24, 2008, she released her debut album, “Lost and Found.”
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She made the decision to pursue singing professionally when she was in the seventh grade.
FAQs
- What is IU’s favourite colour?
Purple is IU’s favourite colour. - What is IU’s Instagram ID?
‘dlwlrma‘ is IU’s Instagram ID with 29.1 million followers. - Is IU in a relationship with anyone?
As per different resources and information collected, IU and actor Lee Jong-suk are in a relationship. - To which K-pop group IU belongs?
IU is from KaKao M, the former LOEN Entertainment.
