Jieun Lee, known as IU, is a famous South Korean singer and actress who earned the title “Nation’s Little Sister” through her work in the music and film industries. On Feb. 20, IU released an EP of five songs called “The Winning” which has since captured the hearts of many fans alike, topping Korean Music Charts and ranking first on iTunes in 15 countries.
A shopper knows what they want. They have specific items that they choose to put in their carts, but there is so much to explore other than the few items they take. This analogy is used to represent the message in “Shopper,” which is about having the confidence and courage to continue to accomplish and setting more goals to achieve. This electro-pop rock song is vibrant and probably one of the most colorful and saturated songs that IU has released in the past couple of years. The vibrance of the song is very well-represented in the music video full of colors, confetti and glitter.
“Shopper” is a very optimistic song with an encouraging message. The analogy of a shopper is genius. In a world that is dominated by consumerism, it makes perfect sense. It’s something people do quite often without much thought to it, making the message more accessible and approachable since it’s such a big part of our culture.
This is the type of song I would listen to on a road trip with friends. It’s a good song to get your energy sky-high and your heart pumping. Daily, though, I’d listen to it for an energy boost and to hype myself up while I get ready to go out.
“Holssi” is the second title track of “The Winning” with completely different vibes than the first track. If “Shopper” was sunshine and rainbows, “Holssi” is something you’d hear at a cafe. It has a very trendy sound with slight hip-hop and R&B influences. IU raps in this song, which is definitely a rare occurrence. It was almost like a singing rap, which I liked.
Holssi, seeds or spores in Korean, means ‘dandelion seeds’ in this song, which you can see constantly floating around in the music video. This song refers back to her 2015 album “CHAT-SHIRE” in which she compared her age, 22, to a flower. Now, at 30, she shares that maybe not everyone needs to settle and become a flower. She throws a question to her audience: what if you don’t need to become a flower to float from place to place, exploring the world freely?
I found this song very interesting. While this is something I think about as I contemplate and stress about my future, I’ve never really thought it was an option to go with the flow. It’s not a take that people, especially adults, seem to encourage because settling down and staying grounded is safe. You’re probably going to end up fine. When you let yourself go with the unpredictable wind, though, there’s no guarantee of how you’ll end up. Life is never guaranteed for anyone because it’s not something that you can predict in the first place. While we’re at it, maybe we should stay seeds and explore whatever we encounter.
“Shh..” was quite an interesting song and music video. After listening and watching it over and over, I’m not sure if I still have a complete grasp of what it means. “Shh..” is a very poetic piece that isn’t something you’ll understand with one listen, especially if poetry is not your forte. This song features HYEIN from NewJeans, WONSUN JOE and a narration from Patti Kim, all celebrities from South Korea from different generations. Each person featured in the song represents an age group of women: HYEIN represents teenage girls, IU as women in their 30s, WONSUN JOE as women in their 50s and Patti Kimas women in their 80s.
Just like with poetry, I do think this song could have many different interpretations. I understood this song as being about a mother-daughter relationship. The music video features Chinese actress Tang Wei and IU, with Tang Wei as the grown-up daughter, and IU, as the mother who hasn’t changed since the daughter’s childhood. Both the mother and daughter have hidden each other away to protect the other, the mother wanting to keep the daughter safe and sound with her, and the daughter, who kept her mother hidden inside to keep a part of her with her after they were separated.
Mother-daughter relationships are complicated and at times don’t really make sense. This idea is repeated throughout the song, the lyrics saying “It’s not about F/ It’s not about L” where F thought to stand for Friendship and L for Lover. The bond between a mother and daughter isn’t quite friendship nor is it like a lover, but a strange mix of both. Sometimes it’s more like a friendship, like a lover, but also neither.
One other thing I noticed about “Shh..” was the word “shh” itself. When a woman chooses to become a mother, she loses her name and becomes “Mom.” I liked how this was represented in the last chorus and outro narration in the lyrics “her name is shh.” You’ll never know her name because she’s simply someone’s mother, or “Mom.”
Though this song was definitely hard to understand, I loved the sound. It’s something new from IU that she doesn’t do very often. It’s a very groovy piece that almost feels jazzy. Something I noticed is that when each featured artist began singing their part, there were slight shifts in the genre to highlight the singer’s vocals. HYEIN’s part in the first verse and chorus had a lot of R&B influence which is a genre that suits her voice and brings out a lot of her strengths. WONSUN JOE is a rock artist, so her parts had strong rock influences. These details made the song very interesting because it’s not common to see an artist putting the spotlight on artists who are featured in their music. I may not be entirely sure about what this song means, but one thing I’m sure about is that “Shh..” is going to be one of my top songs of 2024.
“Love wins all”, as represented in the title and the incredibly heart-wrenching music video, is about how love wins against all odds. Unlike the rest of the songs on this album, the music video was pre-released on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 on other music platforms as a single, peaking at third on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales on Feb. 10.
The song opens with a slow, melancholic piano melody leading into an equally beautiful and sad first verse. The sad yet hopeful first and second verses transition into what feels almost like excitement for the light at the end of the tunnel in the pre-chorus. The addition of percussion and string instruments creates an explosion of bittersweet hopefulness.
Before you listen to or watch the music video, be prepared to be depressed for days. For four weeks straight, I was absolutely obsessed with this song. Actually, “obsessed” is an understatement. I was living, breathing and sleeping to this song. It perfectly captures bittersweetness in the most beautiful way possible through the music video, starring IU and V of BTS. The cinematography was insane, and it felt so much like a movie more than anything. Their chemistry on the screen was top-tier, and it left me heartbroken for days.
“I stan U” is a song that IU dedicates to her supporters, expressing that she will be the audience that they have been for her. While they have completely different sounds, I found it a bit similar to her single, “Celebrity,” released in 2021. They both share similar sentiments of returning the favor of the support she has received throughout her career and life back to her biggest cheerleaders. I really liked the overall sound of it with the rock influences with a mix of string instruments which is a cool combination that could clash if not done properly. It created a ton of drama within the song which made it much more interesting.
I truly love IU’s poetic lyrics. Hopefully, you’ve noticed by now, but IU loves using analogies for all of her songs. I liked the analogy that she uses in referring to her supporters as her favorite artists that she will support no matter what genre of music they sing. I found the flip of her becoming the fan and the supporter very clever. If you aren’t adding this song to your motivation playlist for when you need encouragement, I don’t know what else you would put. If IU telling you that you’re stunning is not enough I don’t know what will be. I look forward to seeing this song being performed as well because, in the performance preview, she rises from the audience. It’s a very cute performance that I would love to see live.
“The Winning” was a mix of very classic IU songs along with new sounds that were explored. Even though this album only had five songs because it’s an EP, there was so much diversity. I was blown away by the range IU has and I think she’ll be winning the hearts of many more than she already has with this EP. “The Winning” is available on all music platforms and as a CD. On March 2, IU’s H.E.R. World Tour will begin in Seoul, South Korea, and stop by New Jersey, Georgia, Washington D.C., Illinois and California from July 15 to Aug. 2. If you’re interested, stay on the lookout for ticket sales in the near future!
