IU was born Lee Ji-eun. At an early age, IU became interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry and began attending acting classes. After training for ten months, IU released “Lost Child” as her debut single. She performed the song live for the first time on the music program M! Countdown in September 2008, making it her debut performance as a professional singer. Regarding the performance, IU recalled the crowd had hurled insults at her and though she initially felt discouraged by it, she now considers it a beneficial experience. “Lost Child” is the lead single from her debut extended play Lost and Found, which was released on September 24, 2008.
In April 2009, IU launched her first studio album, Growing Up, with the lead promotional single, “Boo”. She began her album promotion the next day, performing “Boo” on KBS2’s Music Bank. The song was noted for its stark contrast in musical style to “Lost Child”, which was described as a “heavy” and “dark” ballad compared to the 1980s “retro sound” of “Boo”. Deemed as a “strategic” transformation, the dance choreography, stage costume and hairstyle shown in live performances were used to emphasize her youthfulness and project a “cute” image. Although it drew a favorable response from the public, IU, who was fifteen years old at the time, admitted that the image made her feel awkward. The song was nominated as a number-one contender on the popular music program, Inkigayo.
Towards the end of 2009, IU released her second extended play, IU…IM. She began promoting its lead single, “Marshmallow” on music programs across the three major television networks from November 2009. The song was described as “saccharine” with a style that was a hybrid of the rock and rock of the 1960s and “French pop”. Recalling the performances, IU stated on a 2013 episode of Happy Together that she disliked having to wear the girlish costumes and hairstyle fashioned for the song promotions. The performances were well-received and were once again labelled “cute”, reminiscent of reviews for “Boo”.
In June 2010, IU released “Nagging” a duet which she recorded with 2AM‘s Lim Seul-ong. The single debuted at twelve on the Gaon Digital Chart and shot up to the number-one position the following week, where it remained for three weeks. The song was popular on music programs, where it won the Mutizen award on Inkigayo and was placed first on Music Bank.
Soon after, IU released “Because I’m a Woman” one of the theme songs of MBC’s historical drama, Road No. 1. The song peaked at number six on the Gaon Digital Chart. IU’s collaboration with Sung Si-kyung on “It’s You” for his album, The First, debuted at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart. IU’s third EP, Real, was released in December 2010. Produced by Jo Yeong-cheol and Choi Gap-won, Real debuted at number four on the Gaon Album Chart. The lead single, “Good Day” an uptempo song, as explained by Kim Eana, is about “a shy girl who is nervous about expressing her feelings to the boy she likes.” During the album’s promotional period, IU also topped the charts on the music programs M! Countdown, Music Bank, and Inkigayo.
IU’s second studio album, Last Fantasy, was released in November 2011. The total number of download sales made from the album’s tracks exceeded 10 million within the first two weeks. Eight out of the album’s thirteen songs debuted in the top ten on the Gaon Digital Chart, while the album debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart. The main single, “You and I” became IU’s most commercially successful single with almost 5.5 million digital copies sold by the end of 2012. It topped the Gaon Chart as well as the newly established Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 chart at the time of release.
Almost two years after Last Fantasy, IU released her third studio album, Modern Times, in October 2013. It was described to be “a big shift from the young singer’s K-pop roots” that showcased a “more mature and sophisticated sound and image” than her previous work. Seoul Beats wrote: “With its jazzy, big band sound, IU provided a breath of fresh air to the K-pop scene… The album’s real strength is how seamlessly the tracks flow together.” Modern Times debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart, while seven of its tracks achieved top ten positions on the Gaon Digital Chart with the lead single, “The Red Shoes”, placing in the number one position. Similarly, the album debuted number four on Billboard‘s World Albums Chart, with twelve tracks in the K-Pop Hot 100 chart.
Her self-composed track, “Friday”, was originally intended to be included in Modern Times but was later released as the lead single of Modern Times – Epilogue. Described as a “mid-tempo, acoustic swing-pop number”, “Friday” held the number one position on the Billboard Korea K-pop Hot 100 chart for two weeks after release. The lead single was successful on the Gaon Digital Chart, peaking at number one, and became the 10th best-selling digital single of 2014. Its popularity was also demonstrated by its simultaneous number one ranking on all three of South Korea’s major music programs without any live performances.
