One of the biggest artist and K-pop soloist, Lee Ji-eun better known as IU, finally ended her first world tour and also celebrated a huge milestone in her career - performing her one hundredth solo concert at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
IU’s ‘2024 IU Hereh World Tour Concert Encore: The Winning’ concert ended on September 22, 2024, with the artist making history.
According to South Korean news organisation, The Korea Times, IU became the first woman musician to headline Seoul World Cup Stadium, following artists like Seventeen, Psy and G-Dragon.
While she is one of the biggest names in K-pop, the artist went from rags to riches to get to the success she has now.
IU is a singer, songwriter and actress from Seoul, South Korea.
According to reports, IU moved to a province in Gyeonggi and lived with her younger brother, cousin and grandmother, because of her family’s poor financial situation. It was during this time that she developed an amazing relationship with her grandmother.
That wasn’t the only hardship she faced. She auditioned for 20 companies and was rejected by almost all of them, including JYP Entertainment, one of the top companies in South Korea. And when she did get accepted by a company, she was scammed during the auditioning process.
It is said that the agency tricked her into giving them large sums of money to train and even appear on television. However, IU eventually signed on with Good Entertainment and trained, before she signed with Leon Entertainment now Kakao Entertainment, and moved back to Seoul.
With just ten months of training, she debuted in 2008. It was two years after her debut, in 2010, when she gained popularity for her single ‘Good Day’, which went viral because of her vocal capabilities. This earned her the title of ‘Nation’s Little Sister’ or ‘Nation’s Younger Sister’.
That single was also named as the best K-pop song released in 2010s by Billboard, and also spent five consecutive weeks at the top of South Korea’s Gaon Digital Chart.
It was revealed in various reports that once IU was doing better financially, she bought her father his dream car. It was also reported that her parents repaid their debt with the money they earned and left IU’s money untouched.
But financial struggle wasn’t the only hurdle that IU crossed. The singer and songwriter opened up about her eating disorder in 2014, on the talk show ‘Healing Camp, Aren’t You Happy’. She mentioned how her anxiety, doubts, and the fear that her popularity and success could be taken away at any time, led to her condition, according to a report from The South Morning China Post.
According to a report on the English-language newspaper, The South China Morning Post, IU sought professional help after one particular fan called her out at a concert. In 2015 during a concert in Busan, South Korea, a clip of a fan’s comment went viral.
In the video, IU can be seen mentioning someone had told her she gained weight, to which the fan shouted, “What weight?” leading to everyone at the concert hall laughing.
IU mentioned how she still watches the clip when she’s feeling down.
So, what does IU stand for, and why was it chosen as her stage name?
According to reports, Lee Ji-eun’s stage name IU was given to her by her agency, meaning ‘You’ and ‘I’ will become one through music. And her fans were named Uaena, where U stands for You, ae in Sino-Korean stands for love, and na is Korean for me.
With her popularity increasing, the singer went on to debut as an actress in 2011 with the K-drama Dream High alongside Bae Suzy, Kim Soo-hyun, Ok-Taec-yeon, Hahm Eun-jung, and Jang Woo-young.
This led to IU getting more roles in various dramas, and even getting nominated as Best Actress at award shows.
However, her first lead role was in the drama ‘You Are the Best’ (2013), which also earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Serial Drama at the 2013 KBS Drama Awards.
The singer and actress was also seen in hit dramas like Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016), Hotel del Luna (2019), The Producers (2015), and My Mister (2018). According to reports, IU even politely declined a very popular role – the role to play Hong Hae-in in the hit drama ‘Queen Of Tears’ (2024), which was eventually played by actress, Kim Ji-won.
Besides her singing and acting career, IU is also known for her kind nature. She not only donates to several organisations dealing with causes like disaster relief, underprivileged children, and more. She is also known to have established the ‘IU scholarship’ at her high school alma mater in 2016.
This scholarship is designed to help four graduates who require financial aid.
Over the weekend, when IU was completing her first world tour, she surprised fans with the news of the concert being her 100th solo concert.
According to South Korean news organisation The Korea Herald, IU said, “It feels surreal that today’s final show of my first world tour is also my 100th concert. I was surprised a fan was counting all my concerts – something even my parents don’t do. This world tour was possible because of your love and support. I promise to return with more great music.”
The singer performed for three hours, covering her sixteen-year career with 24 songs, including a new song ‘Bye Summer’.
The concert was attended by celebrities from the industry, including G-Dragon who featured on her hit song ‘Palette’. In attendance were also BTS’ members J-Hope and V, who also featured in the music video for IU’s song ‘Love Wins All’.
According to reports, IU also featured images of several female K-pop idols like Blackpink, Mamamoo, Twice, Aespa, Le Sserafim, NewJeans’ Hyein, and more during her performance of ‘Shh…’ which is a song written for women and features NewJeans’ Hyein and Joe Won-sun.
IU also recently started her own talk show on YouTube in 2021, titled ‘IU’s Palette’ and featured several artists from the industry.
On the work front IU released her sixth mini-album in February 2024, titled ‘The Winning’. She is also currently working on a series alongside Park Bo-gum titled ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’.
