IU - 6th Mini Album [The Winning] (Special Ver.)

This is my first album in my thirties. While the conclusions and details are vastly different, the energy is the same as it was when I was twenty-three. I have become an adult whose blood pumps for entirely different ambitions than the ones I craved back then, but one way or another, my essence as a "greedy person" remains the same. I erased the question marks I had been pondering and drew exclamation points in their place. I filled the first slot of the new ambition list I'm writing in my thirties with "victory." Now, I am no longer confused about what I want. For the first time in a while, I find this version of myself interesting again. 1. Shopper A story about shoppers who sweep up everything they want based on their own tastes and standards in a store that never closes. The items they put in their carts are deeply personal. To others' standards or the world's standards, they may seem too trivial, excessive, strange, or perhaps not very valuable. But the shoppers do not care. In order to realize what they truly want, they listen intently to themselves and accurately pick the items that will make them happy; they are simply satisfied as they fill their carts to the brim with their desires and tastes. In this shop, the price tag for the value of one's desire is set only by the shopper themselves. Whether that choice is valuable or not is entirely for them to judge. What I, as a shopper, put in my cart are the emotions and moments I encountered during the 2022 "The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun" concert. At that performance, I felt strong desires of a nature that was somewhat unfamiliar to me. While I was feeling a bit of burnout with my work, those two days of performance completely overturned the theme and atmosphere of this album, which was already in preparation, as well as the very energy I was bringing to it. I wanted to set aside the easy and comfortable path for a moment and challenge myself once again, as if pouring everything out. It was the audience of those hot nights who clearly organized my mind, which had been circling the same spot and procrastinating on finishing the album, unable to admit that I was experiencing burnout. The sound of tens of thousands of people entered me as clearly as a single voice, awakening new ambitions. I crammed the courage and overwhelming emotion I felt into this song. This time, I hope my voice becomes the "courage to have confidence in what one wants" for those who listen to this song. / An Electro-Pop Rock track with an intense sound. Based on a refreshing guitar sound, various transitions constantly stimulate the ears. IU's vocals repeat a cycle of restraint and release throughout the song, providing a sensation like carbonation popping in the head. The witty FX sources added throughout the song add to the exciting feeling of shopping at a market. 2. Holssi (Spore) In 'CHAT-SHIRE', the first album I produced myself in my twenties, I compared my age to a single flower. Whether it was a flashy flower or a small one. Back then, I believed I was a flower that would bloom in full when the time came. Now in my thirties, having realized that not everyone in the world has a reason to be a flower, nor a need to be one, I want to live as a spore fluttering lonely in the sky. Like a tireless shopper, I want to wander and look around without a destination, putting the various options displayed throughout my world into my cart. / A track with a unique structure based on Hip-Hop/R&B. Over a heavy Drum & Bass, IU's voice radiates diverse charms, expressing the flexibility of an R&B singer, the confidence and ease of a rapper, and the cheerfulness and simplicity of a child singing a nursery rhyme. 3. Shh.. (Feat. HYEIN, Jo Won-sun & Special Narr. Patti Kim) 'This is not a simple story of friendship. Nor is it a simple love story. There was something more complicated between her and me.' Names that defeat me every time. Names in my heart that never go out of style. Names that guided me to who I am today, names that constitute some part of me. To those women who will remain special and complex for a long time. / While based on a deep Blues sensibility, this is a song where one must notice the generic shifts depending on the singer. The sound was composed to be optimized for each artist's tone: IU's part with a Soul Blues feel, NewJeans Hyein's part with an R&B foundation, and Cho Won-sun's part which transforms into a Rock sound. The distinct and seasoned interpretations of the same melody by each vocalist, the top-tier playing of the IU band members, and the voice of the 'master' Patti Kim closing this confusingly charming song make one feel both the diversity of generations and genres, and the harmony that encompasses all those layers. 4. Love wins all Some call the present an era of great hatred. It certainly does not seem to be a time when love is prevalent. In a gray world that grows colder with conspicuous hostility and indifference, hoping for victory with the weapon of invisible love sometimes feels like an absurd thing. However, from my own experience, hatred is always alone, even in its moments of strongest momentum. On the other hand, love is fiercely together, even while fleeing, breaking, and fading away. Love has a sufficient chance of winning. This song contains the story of those who strive to love until the end in a world that hinders loving. As a side note, in this five-song album, there are two songs dedicated to the people I love, especially my fans, and one of them is this song, Love wins all. From the age of eighteen, when my life changed overnight as I suddenly received great love, until now. There hasn't been a single day where I haven't imagined the act of fading away. I thought it was vaguely lonely, scary, and a natural occurrence. But after thinking about it every day for over ten years, my attitude toward it gradually changed. Now, I'm not particularly afraid. I don't think the regret or loneliness will be greater at that moment. Above all, I don't think it will be that close. The reason I, who was a pessimistic and worried child, could change this much in the meantime is likely because there were people who tirelessly reassured me every day during those ten-plus years of barely holding on. Thanks to them, thinking back, I have never been alone for a single moment while living as IU. To my diligent fans who have never left me alone. I want to say thank you for endlessly cultivating love within my heart, which perhaps was born as an 'extra-dry' type. And I also want to say thank you so much for choosing to be by my side time and again, though I still don't know for what reason. Just as you have done for me, I want to be someone who is with you in your moments of rising and fading. I want to be the person by your side saying, "It's not scary. Let's fade away in the most wonderful way." / Starting with a minimal and vintage piano intro and leading to a maximum outro, this is a ballad with a clear narrative structure, continuing IU's series of grand ballads that have been greatly loved by fans, such as 'Secret,' 'Dear Name,' 'Love poem,' and 'My sea.' As it progresses toward the latter half, the vocals that surge like a battle and the instrumental arrangement reminiscent of a grand symphony maximize the emotion. The rhythm, which feels like swimming through the sky, and the harmony themes layered upon it enhance the charm of the 6/8 time signature, while the strings that spread wide and gently wrap the overall sound add breadth and depth to the song. Following the harmony of IU's delicate vocal technique and the wide-ranging melody, and tracing the unstoppable crescendo, you will suddenly reach the end and find yourself focusing on IU's very last breath. 5. I’ll Be Your Audience (I stan U) The phrase "I will be your devoted audience" is perhaps the most romantic expression I can offer another person right now. That is what being an audience means to me. To those who agreed with my music and my words, their eyes sparkling without a hint of fatigue until the long performance ended, I want to faithfully repay them with an equal amount of love. I want to be that same level of support in your lives. To protect the meaning of what we shared, I want to live more diligently, step by step. Saying thank you is far too little. Saying I love you is not enough. Standing face to face, sending affection through my eyes and my voice, I will be your audience. / Starting with a melodic guitar riff and refreshing vocals, passing through a dreamy B-section to a chorus where we breathe together, and moving through a bridge where we play like children until the final climax—this song, which rushes dynamically without a moment's rest for three minutes, feels like an IU concert condensed into a single track. The electric guitar and strings harmonize appropriately, leading the song into an overall Pop rock sound. Singer, audience, band. It is a song where everyone at the venue can become each other's audience and breathe together with hearts full of emotion.