IU - 6th Mini Album: The Winning [2-Type SET]

* Release date and album specifications may change due to production reasons.

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*Album Specifications

- SLEEVE : 176.5*242*19.5(mm)

- PHOTO BOOK : 172*242*17(mm) / 148p

- CD-R (DISC1) : 120*120(mm)

- ACCORDION PHOTO CARD : 99*107(mm) / spread 528*107(mm) / 1 type inserted (Image varies by version)

- MUGSHOT PHOTO CARD : 100*148(mm) / 1 type inserted (Image varies by version)

- CROSSWORD PUZZLE POSTCARD : 120*120(mm) / 1 type inserted (Image varies by version)

- LOGO STICKER : 3 types inserted (Image varies by version)

- HIDDEN MESSAGE CARD : 128*182(mm) / 1 type inserted (Image varies by version)

- PHOTO CARD : 55*85(mm) / 3 types inserted (Image varies by version)

# PRE-ORDER ONLY
- PHOTO CARD : 55*85(mm) / 1 random type out of 2 inserted (Image varies by version)

IU's 6th Mini Album [The Winning]

This is her first album in her thirties. 

While the conclusions and details differ, the spirit is that of when she was twenty-three. She has become an adult whose blood rushes for desires completely different from those she coveted back then, but her essence as a 'greedy person' remains unchanged. She erased the pondering question marks and drew exclamation points in their place. The first slot on her new list of desires for her thirties is filled with 'Victory'. Now, she is no longer confused about what she wants. For the first time in a while, she finds herself amusing again.

1. Shopper

A story about shoppers who, in a store that never closes, gather what they desire based on their own tastes and standards. 

The items they place in their carts are deeply personal. From others' perspectives, or by the world's standards, these items might seem too trivial, excessive, strange, or not particularly valuable. But the shoppers don't care. Listening intently to understand what they truly want, and precisely choosing items that will make them happy, they are simply content filling their carts with their desires and tastes.  

In this shop, the price tag for the value of one's desires is placed solely by the shopper themselves. Whether that choice is valuable or not is entirely for them to decide.

What I, as a shopper, put in my cart were the emotions and moments I encountered at the 2022 'The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun' concert. At that concert, I strongly felt desires of a somewhat unfamiliar kind for myself. 

The two-day concert, which I encountered while feeling a slight burnout at work, completely overturned the theme and atmosphere of this album, which I had been preparing, as well as my own energy towards it. I wanted to set aside what was easy and comfortable for a moment and challenge myself once again, pouring everything out. It was the audience on that hot night who clearly organized my mind, which had been circling the same spot, procrastinating on finishing the album, unable to acknowledge the burnout.

Tens of thousands of voices, clear as a single person's, entered me and awakened new desires. I packed the courage and overwhelming emotion I felt because of them into this song. This time, I hope my voice becomes 'the courage to be confident in what one wants' for those who listen to this song. /

An Electro-Pop Rock track with an intense sound.

Based on refreshing guitar sounds, various transitions incessantly stimulate the ears.

IU's vocals alternate between restraint and release throughout the song, delivering a fun sensation as if soda is exploding in one's head. 

Playfully added FX sounds throughout the song enhance the exciting feeling, as if shopping at a market.

2. Spore

In 'CHAT-SHIRE', the first album I personally produced in my twenties, I likened my age to a single flower. 

Whether it was a flamboyant bloom or a delicate blossom. Back then, I believed I was a flower that would fully bloom in due time.

Now in my thirties, having realized that not everyone needs to be a flower or has a reason to be one, I want to live as a spore fluttering freely in the sky. Like a tireless shopper, I want to wander aimlessly, browsing, and put the diverse options displayed throughout my world into my cart. /

A track with a unique Hip-Hop/R&B-based composition.

Over a heavy Drum & Bass, IU's voice showcases various charms, expressing sometimes the flexibility of an R&B singer, sometimes the relaxed confidence of a rapper, and sometimes the cheerful innocence of children singing a nursery rhyme.

3. Shh.. (Feat. HYEIN, Jo Won Sun & Special Narr. Patty Kim)

'This isn't simply a story of friendship.

Nor is it simply a love story.

There was something more complex between her and me.'

Names that always win against me.

Names that never go out of style in my heart.

Names that guided me to who I am now, 

Names that constitute a part of me somewhere within. 

To these women, who will remain special and complex for a long time. /

This song is based on a deep Blues sensibility, but listeners should pay attention to the genre changes depending on the vocalist.

The sound is structured to optimize each artist's vocal color, including IU's Soul Blues-like part, NewJeans' Hyein's R&B-influenced part, and Jo Won Sun's part, which transforms into a Rock sound.

The individual and seasoned interpretations of each vocalist approaching the same melody, the top-tier performance of IU's band members, and the voice of 'maestro' Patty Kim closing this captivatingly complex song, simultaneously evoke a richness of generations and genres, and a harmony that encompasses all those layers.

4. Love wins all

Some call this the era of great hatred.

It certainly doesn't feel like a time when love is abundant.

In a grey world growing colder with conspicuous enmity and indifference,

hoping for victory with invisible love as a weapon sometimes feels absurd.

But from my own experience, even at its strongest, hatred is always alone.

On the other hand, even while fleeing, breaking, and fading, love stubbornly remains together.

Love has a good chance of winning.

This song tells the story of those who strive to love until the end in a world that obstructs love.

Incidentally, this album, containing five tracks, features two songs dedicated to the people I love, especially my fans, and one of them is 'Love wins all'.

From the age of eighteen, when my life changed overnight after unexpectedly receiving immense love, until now.

There hasn't been a single day I haven't imagined fading away. I vaguely thought it would be lonely, frightening, and simply inevitable.

But after thinking about it every day for over a decade, my attitude towards it gradually changed.

Now, it doesn't scare me much. I don't think I'll feel more regret or loneliness in that moment.

More than anything, it doesn't feel so close.

The reason I, who was once a pessimistic and worried child, could change so much in the interim must be because there were people who tirelessly reassured me every day for those precarious past decades.

Thanks to them, looking 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 thank you for endlessly cultivating love in my heart, which was perhaps naturally prone to dryness.

And also, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for repeatedly choosing to be by my side, for reasons I still don't fully understand.

Just as you have been for me, I want to be the one who accompanies you in your moments of rising and setting.

I want to be the one beside you, saying, "Don't be scared. Let's fade away most splendidly." /

This ballad, with a clear narrative arc from a minimalist and vintage piano intro to a maximalist outro, continues IU's series of grand ballads deeply loved by fans, such as 'Secret', 'To My Name', 'Love poem', and 'My Sea'. Towards the latter half, the battle-like surging vocals and instrumental arrangements reminiscent of a magnificent symphony maximize emotions.

The rhythm, as if swimming through the sky, and the harmonic themes building upon it enhance the charm of the 6/8 time signature, while the widely spread strings gently enveloping the overall sound add breadth and depth to the song.

Following the harmony of IU's delicate vocal technique and wide-ranging melody, and the unceasing, accelerating climax, listeners will eventually reach the very end, focusing on every last breath of IU.

5. I Stan U

The phrase, 'I will be your fervent audience,' is probably the most romantic expression I can offer to another person right now. That is what 'audience' means to me.

To those who agreed with my music and words, with eyes sparkling and no sign of exhaustion until the long concert ended, I sincerely want to repay that much love. I want to be that much support in your lives too. I want to live more diligently, step by step, to preserve the meaning of what we've shared. "Thank you" is far too little. "I love you" is not enough. 

Standing face to face, sending affection with eyes and voice,

I will be your audience. /

This song, which dynamically surges for three minutes without pause, from an intro beginning with a melodic guitar riff and fresh vocals, through a dreamy B-part, a chorus where everyone breathes together, a bridge like children playing, to the final climax, feels like an entire IU concert condensed into one track. 

The electric guitar and strings create a harmonious blend, guiding the song towards an overall Pop Rock sound. Singer, audience, band. This is a song where everyone in the concert hall can become each other's audience and breathe together with overflowing emotion.

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Author: IU

Publisher: KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT