Not to brag, but being an international IU fan in 2024 has been incredibly fun. We’re living the good life. She’s giving us freebies at her shows, the vlogs are vlogging, what a time to be alive. I finally got to see her perform live in July. I made a thread about it on Twitter/X:
I got merch, of course.
But check out my thread to get more details about my experience. And follow me on Twitter. It was so much fun. Easily one of my favorite shows this year. It really cemented my love for IU and her craft. Truly a triple threat. Even her dramas have me hook. Although I still need to go back and finish Hotel Del Luna, but I was obsessed with it. I just got distracted 😅.
Anyway, I meant to have this faves songs article out closer to when I saw IU. But you know, life be life-ing. So now it’s November and I need to take my mind off the US presidential election results.
So let’s talk about my fave IU songs. I think this will be a helpful starting point in IU’s library. We just celebrated her 16th anniversary of her debut:
So that’s a lot of music to go through. I highly encourage you to check out her discography further after this article. I have a pretty decent mix of uptempo and downtempo music of hers. Spotify has that this is IU playlist that’s also a good starting point. It’s long, so idk put it on while you’re cleaning your room or on a road trip.
You probably think IU is mostly boring ballads if you’ve heard her more popular stuff in passing. And she does have a lot of them in her library, but she does have a wide variety of music. That was one of the main things I was hoping for at her concert. I wanted a good mix of fast and slow songs, and that’s exactly what she gave us.
Today’s list is a scratch on the iceberg that is Miss IU’s catalog. 10 songs, in no particular order. These are my most go-to songs. And I think is a light introduction to one of my favorite musicians ever. So let’s get started.
I have to start with an honorary mention of “Good Day” and “heart“. “Good Day” is a classic and can’t be skipped. Mandatory IU knowledge. I feel the same with “heart(마음)”. It was the very first IU song I ever heard. I’ve talked about this before, but when I first got into Kpop, it was difficult to find in the mainstream like you can now.
Now you can find tons of Kpop and Korean playlists on Spotify and Apple Music. Back in the day, 2014-2015, you had YouTube and Pandora. And Pandora played a lot of 2nd gen and a few 3rd gen artists. And I didn’t have a paid subscription to Pandora. So if I wanted to listen to the GOT7 playlist, I had to sit through a lot of BigBang, Super Junior, 2PM, and SS501 before I got to here “Girls Girls Girls” and “Like Oh”.
But it would also introduce me to 4 Minute, G.NA, BTOB, BEAST. They played a lot of Cube artists now that I think about it. Miss A, Brown Eye Girls, like a loooot of groups that are barely even active anymore 😭. And within that random mix of popular, or new Kpop releases during that time, “Heart” would pop up almost every other song, lmao.
I had this Asian music channel I would listen to during this time through Direct TV, I believe, and they played “Heart” all the time as well. So I was tired of hearing it. But now it’s nostalgic for me, and I get teary-eyed if I think too much about it. And it is a good song. Some of IU’s music has this cafe, Jazz vibe to it. Cozy, cute, and fun. And that’s why I had to mention these two songs before we got into this good. I’d be a fake fan otherwise.
BBIBBI
This was one of my first Kpop fashion articles I wrote after I decided to transition from a fashion blogger to talking more about Kpop and Korean fashion. I posted this article almost six years ago as of writing. Still one of my favorite IU title tracks. I’ve always referred to “BBIBBI” as her distrack song.
I was so inspired but her styling in this video. And the song still hits like crack every time I hear it. It’s so chill in tempo and her voice is soft, but she’s fed up. I totally related to it. The lyrics are great. Everything about the way this song was crafted is so catchy, and IU is just so funny. Only she could write a song that is so direct and shady at the same time. She’s so witty but playful about it.
Me to IU after watching “BBIBBI” for the first time:
Blueming
Another oldie but goodie. The video for “Blueming” was also stuck in my head for days. Along with it being a great song, I just loved IU’s styling and blue hair on her. I also wrote a music fashion video article about this one. It’s still pretty popular. Which is always surprising to me.
Not because I think it’s bad, more because I’m surprised people are still checking for it. I love that. That’s what I want for my articles to do. Still be interesting years after the initial creation.
So music wise, “Blueming” like “BBIBBI” is more upbeat in tempo. Still very pop and fun.
Twenty-three
Goddddd I’ve been meaning to talk about CHAT-SHIRE for yeaaaaars. Now it’s almost ten years since it was released and I gotta wait until next year for the anniversary. Unless I can squeeze it in before the end of 2024, lol.
This is my favorite IU album from start to finish. Not a great time for her PR wise, Knetz were really going at her over the smallest things and taking things out of context. It was rough out here. But she weathered through the storm and made “BBIBBI” as a response. Or at least, that’s my head cannon. Idk if she actually said that anywhere. But the girls were not happy with her, this era.
“Twenty-three” is another IU track where IU’s wit and humor shines. My favorite line:
She has this way of incorporating her experiences as a celebrity and her personal life into words, lyrics that just has me smoking rubber duck gif. We need to be studying her work like we do Shakespeare.
CHAT-SHIRE‘s concept is strongly based off Alice in Wonderland. So that’s why, for example, IU has the black and purple stripe fit on. Yeah, purple is one of her colors, but it’s also like the Cheshire cat.
I’m purposely leaving this section a bit short, because I’ll go into further detail in that article. But I have to mention, in the beginning on IU’s cake the candles say 23. At her concert she reenacted this scene and swapped the numbers around to reflect her “current” age (any time I think I understand Korean age, I realized I really don’t get it, lol.) to 32 and the crowd went wild. Such a wonderful moment.
Red Queen
“Red Queen” featuring Zion.T is another example of Jazzy IU. I love a good Zion.T feature. This along with “Deja Boo” by Jonghyun are easily in my top favorite collabs. I’d say “Just” as well, but I think Crush is the feature on that one technically.
This is another song I’ll talk about in further detail later, but it’s a great track. And a direct reference to Alice in Wonderland.
LILAC
There’s kind of a pattern with me writing music video fashion articles for songs that ended up being some of my all-time favorite IU songs, going on here. You can read my fashion thoughts here.
I remember when I wrote that article, I knew I liked “LILAC”. But I don’t think I realized how much it really grew on me. IU’s voice is so beautiful on “LILAC”. Absolutely angelic sounding. Another midtempo track but a bit dance-y vibe to it as well.
Palette feat. G-DRAGON
Ah, another song that makes me emotional. I love “Palette” so so so much. I’ll have my ranking at the end of the article, but this has to be top 3 fave IU songs. I don’t usually check for G-Dragon, I’m a proud BigBang hater on main, lmao. They have a few songs I like. But I have to give props to G-DRAGON as a rapper. Because when I think of my favorite features of his, like “Complex” by Zion.T (lots of him today, totally unexpected). It’s because of how well he meshes into those songs. That’s how a good rap in Kpop should be.
Anyway, “Palette” is basically a follow-up to “Twenty-three”. She talks about being 25 and feeling confident with herself and her life. And it’s so soothing, comforting, and encouraging. I think this track transcends “Kpop” in that even people that are fans of Kpop, know who IU is but aren’t major fans, like this song.
This is more of a downtempo chill song. G-Dragon’s feature is short, smooth, and to the point. I highly recommend checking this one out for sure.
Can’t Love You Anymore feat. Oh Hyuk
Palette is such a fantastic album. My second favorite full length album of hers. LILAC being my first and CHAT-SHIRE being my favorite mini album of hers. But the Palette song I love, I need them injected directly into my bloodstream.
When I first “Can’t Love You Anymore” I had it on replay constantly. I never really listened to Oh Hyuk, but I knew who he was. His feature is chef’s kiss as well. IU really knows how to pick a feature man. You’re not gonna be on her song saying whatever for 30–40 seconds straight, lmao.
I’m also including this live performance version as well because, yes, this song is that good.
Jam Jam
I think what sells me on Palette so much is how crossover friendly it is. What do you mean IU put a dance track on the album? I mean, as dance/house as IU is gonna get, lol. “Jam Jam” as one of the songs I was praying IU would perform on tour, and she did!! It was phenomenal.
“Jam Jam” is another track I think is newbie to IU friendly song. She doesn’t have a lot of songs like this, so I think it makes times like this even more special.
Through the Night
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This first and ONLY boring ballad on this list, but my favorite IU ballad. She also performed this song live, and I was so excited to hear it. With was so beautiful having the crowd sing along with her, and she sounded amazing (throughout the show) during “Through the Night”. She’s that girl. Period.
I’m not much of a boring ballad girl, y’all know that. But when we get someone who can really SING in the booth, I’m listening. So if you do enjoy more music like this, then IU is definitely your girl for that.
Okay, last song…
Holssi
So you may have noticed eariler I had a Tweety Bird item in my merch pic. That was part of this Looney Tunes Tweety Bird IU collab. That’s a phone grip and Tweety is wearing the same outfit as IU in the music video for “Holssi”. Love to see it.
I got the phone grip because I knew if I wanted it later, it’d be nearly impossible to get. Or just be stupid expensive.
“Holssi” was a grower for me. Actually of all The Winning was. That’s why I didn’t intially write a Quick Thoughts article on it around the time of release. I’ll probably come back to it though. I really came to appreciate it more before and after my concert.
Like I said in my NCT DREAM article, sometimes it takes hearing a song live to change your mind. Time and a fresh pair of ears can do wonders. There’s been times when I initally love a song, then I don’t listen to it for months or years and I hear it again and I’m like “what the hell was I thinking, we gotta remove this one”.
“Holssi” at least as of writing, is my favorite song from The Winning. Shout out to “Love Wins All” (maybe my second favorite IU boring ballad) and the ajummas next to me at my show fawning over Taehyung when they played the music video and scenes from the music video during my show. That was hilarious. But also, big mood.
Alriiight those are my ten favorite IU songs and what I think is an execellent starting point for people looking to get into IU’s music. So in order of my favorite songs, I think it goes:
Palette (I was gonna riot if I didn’t hear this song live)
BBIBBI
Twenty-three
Jam Jam
Through the Night
Can’t Love You Anymore
LILAC
Blueming
Red Queen
Holssi
If you’re an Uaena like me, let me know what your favorite song(s) are in the comments below. I hope y’all enjoyed this article. I have so many topics for my upcoming articles list. I think the next article will be a quick thoughts. I know I said TXT’s The Star Chapter: Santuary. But I need it to marniate a bit more. I like it. But I don’t have much to say on it. At least I don’t think I do? I gotta listen to it a few more times.
Follow me on socials, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, & BlueSky to stay in the loop. Of course check out the site for new articles. I’m trying to post every other day. And with December and 2025 quickly aproaching, I gotta get it together and get these articles out. I have a HUGE plan for 2025 with that being my 10th year as a Kpoppie. So we’re gonna be DEEP in throwbacks. But more details on that next month. I should stop rambling. See y’all next article!
-Ash💚💜🐥