K-pop Queen IU ushers in spring with breezy, addictive ‘Lilac’

We just said goodbye to the summer solstice, and now we’re saying hello to spring with IU and her new release, ‘Lilac.’

Listen, spring comes whenever IU smiles, but the celebrated K-pop queen has now put a more formal welcome date to the season with her new release. Earlier today, the 29-year-old soloist returned with her fifth full-length album Lilac, helmed by the eponymous title track ‘Lilac’.

Seeped in addictive sounds 80s-inspired hooks, the song chronicles the journey of a couple who has been together for 10 years, but is now amicably splitting before the arrival of spring, the season of rebirth.

Explaining the meaning behind the album, IU referred to the traditional meaning of the flower, and equates it to the oncoming advent of her thirties. Just as the flower refers to memories of one’s youth, Lilac is a goodbye to the previous decade of IU’s life and a thank you note to all those who supported her through it.

“In the language of flowers, ‘lilac’ means ‘memories of youth,’” she explained in a recent interview with W Magazine (Korea). “I wanted to include a farewell with the message ‘I’m now going onward to my next chapter’ while also greeting my upcoming 30s at the same time… While I reflect on my 20s, part of me wants to take it easy during the last moments of it, but I also think, ‘I have to live even more intensely than ever.’”

To celebrate the release of the album, the star also donated a cumulative 100 million won (approximately 116,000 AUD) to charity in the aid of single-parent families and individuals with impaired hearing.

IU started teasing Lilac earlier this year, kicking off the new era with her single ‘Celebrity’, which broke multiple records in South Korea.