One of her biggest strengths is her focus on music she wants to create rather than adjust to fit the wants of the general public. There is A Wolf is her third full length and the most comprehensive and deep look into her ability as a musician.
Last winter, for a while (for quite some time), this song and album played repeatedly at my place.
Song: Winter Sleep (original: 겨울잠)
Artist: IU (original: 아이유)
Album: Pieces (original: 조각집)
Released on: December 29th, 2021
Song introduction (in the album):
“Outlined at age twenty-seven, which was characterized by frequent thoughts about lives leaving the world and lives being left behind in that world, and only completed at age twenty-nine, after suffering several such large losses. It tells the story of the first year of sending loved ones, friends, or pets away first. It was a clear and not difficult track to write in the order of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, but it took quite a long time to complete. Maybe I didn't want to write too direct expressions, and I didn't want to contain only superficial emotions as well.
This is the song that took the longest to record. I usually try to express it as concisely as possible, but I did not suppress my emotions in this song. Rather, with the desire to maximize the longing, I tried my own bold (?) arrangement by making a transition in the middle rather than in the second half of the song. That's why, unlike other songs, it is a piano-based song
Despite a great loss in my world, flowers bloom without delay, stars rise, and poems are born. Between those repeated seasons, there is a ‘winter sleep’. As I sing this song, I don't break down anymore. They will know it's not a lie.”
Lyrics:
I picked a few stems of early spring
and placed them by your bedroom door
Once you come out after a long sleep,
they'll have bloomed prettily.
I poured out a cup of starlit summer
and left it by your bedside
It'll soon melt away but
I guess you still want to rest by yourself.
This first spring and summer without you
Did they have to be so beautiful?
I should show you before it all goes away
You really need to see it, hmm.
Just as you'd lean on me and nap fitfully
You fell asleep looking just like that
What are you dreaming about?
You'll tell me when you wake?
Just like any morning, hmm..
I folded over a sheet of neatly written autumn
and left it in your mailbox
Will you underline your favorite part
and read it to me when you see me?
I took a pure white breath of winter
and put into it some words I said to myself
Always I bear it and just endure but
once in a while, immaturely, I miss you.
The freezing cold air of the year's end
Seeps in between my bones
I ought to hug that thin frame of yours,
which will surely be shivering.
Just as you'd lean on me and nap fitfully
You fell asleep looking just like that
What are you dreaming about?
You'll tell me when you wake?
Just like any morning, hmm..
It’s unusual for a solo star to thrive in the cutthroat world of Korean pop music. Now a $5 billion global industry, K-pop, as its passionate followers across the world call it, is most recognizable for its girl and boy groups who train for up to 10 years before ever setting foot on stage. These groups, sometimes made up of more than eight people, accompany their songs with elaborate choreography, making it hard to stand out in the fierce competition as a solo artist. Except if you’re IU.
