'Not everyone can be a flower': IU reflects on adulthood in new EP

IU reflects on life in her thirties with the release of her first EP in over two years, featuring tracks that she wrote herself. Her world tour will kick off soon after the release.

Singer-songwriter IU will drop her sixth EP ″The Winning″ on Tuesday [EDAM ENTERTAINMENT]

Not everyone has to bloom into a flower — you can live a meaningful life as a spore, says IU.

“I thought I would bloom as a flower — whatever flower it may be — when I was young,” the singer-songwriter said in a YouTube video on Tuesday ahead of the release of “The Winning,” her first EP in over two years, later that day. All five of the EP's tracks — “Shopper,” “Shh,” “Love wins all,” “I Stan U” and “Holssi” — were written by IU herself.

“But as I reach my thirties, I thought, maybe I should just live as a spore and realized that not everyone can be a flower. We don’t have to bloom as a flower to have a [meaningful] ending in our life,” IU said, explaining her thoughts behind the lead track “Holssi.” “Holssi” translates to spore in Korean.

“'The Winning,' therefore, “talks about my aspiration on how I can live a great life as a spore,” the artist said.

“Shopper,” the EP's second lead track, discusses people's “needs and desires,” per IU.

“I think we live in a time where people are hiding their desire and appetite; you see kids with a monotonous dream and adults hiding their taste,” IU said. “I’m telling people to be upfront of their needs, whether it be materialistic or abstract.”

“The Winning” is also IU’s first album released after she entered her thirties.

“I think my thirties suit me very well. I feel comfortable and pleasant in ways I couldn’t experience when I was a teenager or when I was in my twenties, so I want to stay in my thirties for a long time,” IU said.

“I’ll be bringing up stories and messages that are distinctly different from my twenties, so I have worked on [‘The Winning’] bearing it mind that it’s an album that divides [an era].”

Following the release of “The Winning,” IU will kick off the “H.E.R” world tour at the KSPO Dome in southern Seoul on March 2. The singer will visit 17 cities around the world, including Singapore, Hong Kong, London and Washington, D.C.

To find out more about IU, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]