Maps of Music

Lilac (2021)

Where the lyrics of Lilac take you, and where it was really made.

IU ended her twenties with an album she barely composed: she is credited as co-composer on only two of its ten songs.

Key places

Recording studio named in the album's studio list (2021)

Recording site Village Recorders — The Village is one of several studios named in the album's studio list in the source. The point uses the building-level coordinates of the matched candidate. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Fifth studio album by South Korean singer-songwriter IU, and her fifth Korean-language studio album
• Released 25 March 2021 through Edam Entertainment
• Ten tracks; IU is the sole lyricist on eight, with two lyrics co-written with Dean and Lee Chan-hyuk
• Concept is 'greeting/farewell' (insa); the album closes her 'twenties series'
• The series comprises Spring of a Twenty Year Old, Twenty-Three, Palette and Eight
• Styles range from city pop, retro funk and ballads to indie pop and reggae
• Title track 'Lilac' recalls 1970s and 1980s disco with funk and pop bass lines
• 'My Sea' runs five minutes and 16 seconds, a numerical reference to IU's birthday, 16 May
• Certified platinum by the Korean Music Content Association in May 2021

Background

• 8 September 2020: IU uploaded a video as Lee Ji-dong, her Edam Entertainment employee alter-ego, revealing a studio album by year end
• 11 January 2021: Edam announced the pre-release single 'Celebrity' for 27 January
• 3 March 2021: the fifth Korean-language studio album titled Lilac was announced for 25 March
• 4 March 2021: release and title announced; a comeback timetable followed on 8 March
• Original plan was six songs written by her and six by other composers; she is co-composer only on 'Celebrity' and 'Coin'
• In a W Korea interview she said she did not feel the need for a self-composed song, since its calmer sound did not fit the rest of the record
• Stated goal: an album that is enjoyable and tells stories, closer to a blockbuster than an independent film
• In Korean age reckoning she turned 29 in 2021, so the album marks the end of her twenties
• She said the flower 'lilac' means 'memories of youth' and that the album bids farewell while greeting her thirties

Recording

• Track list unveiled on her official SNS accounts on 10 March 2021
• K-R&B singer Dean appears as a featured artist; AKMU's Lee Chan-hyuk, singer-songwriter Naul and Penomeco took part in production
• The studio list in the source names The Village among several studios
• First full-length album in nearly four years, following Palette (2017)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Lee Ji-eun (born May 16, 1993), known by stage name IU, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actress.
• Signed with LOEN Entertainment (now Kakao Entertainment) in 2007 as a trainee.
• Debuted as a singer in 2008 at age fifteen with the EP Lost and Found.
• Achieved national stardom with "Good Day" from the 2010 EP Real.

Career

• "Good Day" spent five consecutive weeks at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart.
• Her 2011 albums Real+ and Last Fantasy established her as a major force in South Korean music.
• Her musical style matured over time, moving beyond mainstream K-pop and increasing her creative control as lyricist and producer.
• Her 2020 single "Eight" (prod. by Suga) was her first to reach number one on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart.
• Has released five studio albums and twelve EPs, with thirty-one number-one singles.
• Gained acting recognition with roles in Dream High (2011), My Mister (2018), and When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025).
• Held a solo concert, The Golden Hour, at Seoul Olympic Stadium in September 2022, the first Korean female artist to do so.
• Known as the "Queen of K-pop" by NME and Billboard in 2024.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Korean critics placed the album in the broader context of IU's discography over the last decade, describing it as an album of 'the many activities and various styles' she has taken on
• Kim Hak-sun and Lee Dae-hwa regretted the lack of cohesion and freshness, despite the album's high level of completeness
• Writing all the lyrics herself was said to capture the organicity of the whole album and to remove a sense of imbalance
• Shim Yoon-ji of Kyunghyang Shinmun said the lyrics revealed IU's strengths and that the record comforts young people living in the contemporary age
• Hwang Sun-up of IZM called Lilac 'a flower made of sounds' and named multi-person collaboration as its biggest change
• Newsis and Rolling Stone Korea both concluded there could not be a more perfect farewell
• NME found the new direction bolder, louder and more fun, swapping subdued sun-kissed pop for dancefloor hits
• Chase McMullen of Beats Per Minute praised the use of external collaborators and called most of the music weightless and playful
• Rolling Stone India described it as a grand celebration of all things summer and pop
• The Chicago Maroon praised IU's lyrical talent and said the sunshine pop tracks were not enough to define the whole album

Records

• Hanteo chart: 216,319 copies on the first day, surpassing the opening-day sales of Love Poem (2019)
• Second-highest first-week sales by a South Korean female soloist, with a cumulative 267,754 copies
• Debuted atop the weekly Gaon Album Chart for 21–27 March 2021
• All ten tracks entered the Gaon Digital Chart top 30; 'Lilac' reached number four, then number one the following week
• KMCA platinum certification in May 2021 for over 250,000 copies
• Idology named it among the ten best albums of the year; NME listed it among the best Asian albums of 2021
• IZM and Rolling Stone India included it among the best K-pop albums of 2021; Allure Korea featured it among memorable releases

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'Empty Cup' placed 42nd on Beats Per Minute's list of the 50 best songs of 2021
• 'My Sea' runs five minutes and 16 seconds, a numerical representation of IU's birthday on 16 May
• 'Celebrity' was born for a friend labelled eccentric for her personality and clothes, then grew into a message for anyone who felt alienated for not meeting expectations
• 'Celebrity' is the first time IU used synthesizers and autotune, according to the source
• 'Epilogue' is dedicated to fans and its vintage sound recalls IU's third album, Modern Times

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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