IZM Neo Music Interview with IU - Part 1

What time did you wake up today?
11 AM.


Then what time do you sleep?
Yesterday? After recording the New Year Special and returning home, it was already about 2 or 3 AM.


That seems to be better than during the promotions for your previous album?
A large factor was probably the drama (Dream High). Just going by the schedules, there were lots more these year compared to last year, but since there was no drama to film, taking away the time spent waiting or filming, I seem to have a lot more time to rest now.


This album was highly anticipated. How did it feel when you saw the final product?
Just umm, I'm not sure. This album took about a year, so there wasn't really much feelings of satisfaction or that sort of stuff and I kept getting pestered about it... so I felt kind of like, 'Ah, it's finally done now!'


It's been a year between your 'Real' album and this one. From the perspective of your agency, they were probably rushing you to come up with a mini album.

It was actually the company that told me we were going to produce a full-length album, so once the 'Real' album was out, I started collecting songs for this album. I've been collecting songs for a long time and unlike the other albums, recording for this album took almost half a year. I don't think there was any plan to hurry and come up with the album. (But still, let's just say it took pretty long.) I think it took pretty long too, but there was the OST and all that in the middle, so most people didn't feel it was that long (Note: She's referring to 'Hold My Hand', which she composed for The Greatest Love OST). I was appearing frequently on broadcasts too, such as 'Kiss and Cry', so I don't think it felt that long.


Your title song is 'You and I'. Since it's for your full-length album, don't you find that it was quite similar to 'Good Day'?

I felt that way initially too. However, the people at my agency didn't think so. (Laughs) At first, when Minsoo-oppa (Composer of both songs) let me listen to the guide, I said honestly, "I'm not really sure about this. Isn't it really similar to Good Day?" (Lee Minsoo) oppa replied, if you just look at it on the surface, it may seem to be similar to Good Day but if you listen to it again carefully, you'll find that it's a completely different song and even the chord progressions, the background music is totally different, so although I personally found it similar too, I worked hard to let it take a different direction. Although it may sound similar, if you listen to it for a long time, you'll be like, "Oh, this is different, isn't it?" We tried recording with my voice first and when I listened to it after the arrangement was all done, it sounded different. I put my trust in oppa and got started on this song, but it was really when I did the actual recording that I felt it and I said, "Oh, it's really different, isn't it?".


The lyrics are quite ambiguous and the melody goes high and low, it was probably difficult to do the recording. How did it go?

Yes, it was difficult. It took a really long time. I was feeling distressed myself too. To the extent that I was wondering if I've ever felt so distressed doing recording. I was in agony and so were the composers. (Laughs) We couldn't see the end of it. A recording that we couldn't see the end of. Usually, that doesn't quite happen. Because I came for recording with some of my own thoughts too, so when I sang, I naturally visualised what it should be like, but in the past, I didn't use to do that. The composers were at a loss as to what to do and the producer too, said, "Ah, what should we do about this" (Laughs) Nothing would come out of it if the composers weren't in the right mindset. After spending about 5 hours recording, things didn't work out, so we started over. The next day, again if things didn't work out, we'd start all over again, and altogether it took 3 days to record. On the day of the third recording, I felt the song was starting to take shape.


The next song that was well-received is 'Secret'. Did you expect that?

I didn't.


Why do you think the response was good?

As for why I didn't expect that, I think it was because I watched the whole process until it reached completion. As I was recording 'Secret', it wasn't this grand. As it was recorded with a temporary arrangement, I never expected it to turn out to be on such a large scale and become so splendid. The 'Secret' when I was recording was a song that gave you gentle and calm feelings. With some of those feelings still in me, even after the song went through editing, I couldn't sense what it was really like. But the other staff who heard the final version went, "Wow, this is really awesome." Even then I couldn't feel it but as time passes by, the song I'm listening to more and more now is 'Secret'.

The fact that it's the first song on the tracklist probably played a part too. Also, I only found out later that composer, Jung Suk-won sunbaenim, being the meticulous person he is, threw in elements here and there that would make people feel touched.


The recording for this song doesn't seem smooth either. Like how it starts off delicately then gets emotional in the later half.

It's actually the opposite, when I was recording using the temporary arrangement, I felt I was starting from ground zero. So to some extent, with the simple accompaniment, I had to blindly become emotional and as I was singing, it just couldn't take off. It was supposed to rise together with the instrumental, but with the accompaniment staying that way, I couldn't draw my voice higher. So it was really tiring. Jung Suk-won sunbaenim also said, "It's tiring but try singing with some imagination, just imagine, imagine". (Laughs) I received careful guidance from him. That imagination helped me a lot. (Laughs) It's really thanks to the guidance. (Then wasn't there anything about the chorus?) Initially, nothing at all, really. 'Secret' was a pretty tough case of recording too. It didn't take long to record, but I really kept thinking, "Will this be fine?" In the recording studio too, I sweated enough to fill a bowl.


Your next song 'Sleeping Prince', it's the second time Yoon Sang has composed a song for you. He seems to want to elicit a certain image from you.

Express yourself as a teenager as much as you want. Because it's your last chance to do so. Originally sang by a singer called 'Halo', we requested for the song. In particular, Kim Lee Na lyricist wanted it. So I didn't even know when we got it and it's such a bright song too. Since it's quite different from the previous song, I felt lost initially. But Yoon Sang sunbaenim was as meticulous as Jung Suk-won sunbaenim in guiding me. During the recording for this song, my tone kept fluctuating. Initially, Yoon Sang sunbaenim wanted my voice with the tone of 'Marshmallow'. The really cute and autotune sort of feel. When 'Marshmallow' first came out, it sounded like there was a lot of autotune, but in actual fact, that song didn't use any autotune at all. Yet Yoon Sang sunbaenim wanted that. The autotune sort of voice without actually using autotune (Laughs). So he wanted a whiny baby-like voice but I couldn't do that anymore. Since Yoon Sang sunbaenim wanted extreme cuteness, it was really difficult. Rather than the vocals, the emphasis on being cute made it a song that was tiring in a different way.


Credits to squishyblob @ weheartiu Read more