IU love poem in Singapore
After almost a year since South Korea's sweetheart IU stopped by our sunny island for her 10th Anniversary concert tour, she kept her promise with Singaenas to meet again in 2019. Selling out the first announced date once tickets went on sale, an additional show was added much to her fans' excitement.
As fans slowly streamed into The Star Theatre on the 6th of December, you could see how IU's music had reached a diverse range of people. Whether they came to be consoled by her voice, to watch the star perform again or to even witness her live for the first time, excitement filled the air as everyone eagerly anticipated her appearance.
As fans slowly streamed into The Star Theatre on the 6th of December, you could see how IU's music had reached a diverse range of people. Whether they came to be consoled by her voice, to watch the star perform again or to even witness her live for the first time, excitement filled the air as everyone eagerly anticipated her appearance.
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Donned in a floral dress and with a flower hung on the top of her right ear, it was as if a fairy tale character had stepped straight out of her story. Cheers erupted the venue as IU opened the night with 'unlucky', the first song from her latest EP 'Love Poem'. She then followed with an acoustic version of 'Palette' and greeted fans for the first time that night.
She mentioned how she really loved and missed Singapore, "I'm really glad that I'm able to have a concert at the same place as last year. Actually this venue is my favourite place to perform, the atmosphere and the sound, mood and (even) the colour of the chairs...everything is truly perfect", expressing her love for venue - The Star Theatre. It was just the opening speech but she already mentioned about possibly coming back to Singapore again next year, because the mood here was so good.
The crowd today was so responsive and energetic. "Everyone is smiling today, I feel so happy, please continue to smile throughout the concert today", said IU. Jokingly, she also mentioned that: "I must be really famous in Singapore" as she shyly talked about how she was going to perform for two days in Singapore this time. With the concert titled 'Love Poem', IU brought up that it was because she wanted her fans to "get more love through this concert".
As the concert progressed on to the next segment, she performed lighter songs like 'Autumn Morning' and 'Friday'. The back and forth between Singaenas and how they playfully teased each other showed the close relationship they had. Waving their lightsticks and swaying to the music, IU noticed how people in the crowd were genuinely enjoying the music with some people even "closing their eyes and enjoying" and "it's the first time I see people waving their light sticks so energetically during 'Autumn Morning'", emphasising how lovable this crowd was.
She mentioned how she really loved and missed Singapore, "I'm really glad that I'm able to have a concert at the same place as last year. Actually this venue is my favourite place to perform, the atmosphere and the sound, mood and (even) the colour of the chairs...everything is truly perfect", expressing her love for venue - The Star Theatre. It was just the opening speech but she already mentioned about possibly coming back to Singapore again next year, because the mood here was so good.
The crowd today was so responsive and energetic. "Everyone is smiling today, I feel so happy, please continue to smile throughout the concert today", said IU. Jokingly, she also mentioned that: "I must be really famous in Singapore" as she shyly talked about how she was going to perform for two days in Singapore this time. With the concert titled 'Love Poem', IU brought up that it was because she wanted her fans to "get more love through this concert".
As the concert progressed on to the next segment, she performed lighter songs like 'Autumn Morning' and 'Friday'. The back and forth between Singaenas and how they playfully teased each other showed the close relationship they had. Waving their lightsticks and swaying to the music, IU noticed how people in the crowd were genuinely enjoying the music with some people even "closing their eyes and enjoying" and "it's the first time I see people waving their light sticks so energetically during 'Autumn Morning'", emphasising how lovable this crowd was.
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She spoke to us in close to perfect English, but when she couldn't find the right words to express her thoughts, she would mix in some Korean. Singaenas however had no problem following on, much to the surprise of the star. Before the translator for the night could even begin to translate IU's words, you could hear replies to any comments IU made in Korean. There was definitely no language barrier that night, as both star and fans had already made the effort to learn each other's main language.
The image of Singaporeans in IU's head is one where the people are extremely relaxed and happy, but after today she also felt the passionate side of this tiny red dot. "Why do I feel like I'm at a fanmeeting today instead of a concert?" she said, relaxed and grinning from ear to ear.
Telling us to "forget about what happened yesterday, everyone makes mistakes, there is no one who is perfect", she tried explaining the meaningful lyrics behind 'Secret Garden' to the best of her abilities. She however ended up with "I'm lonely, and I make lots of mistakes", causing the crowd to laugh with her at her adorable translation. She too knew it wasn't what she had wanted to convey, bursting out into laughter saying "the message is actually more beautiful in Korean".
The image of Singaporeans in IU's head is one where the people are extremely relaxed and happy, but after today she also felt the passionate side of this tiny red dot. "Why do I feel like I'm at a fanmeeting today instead of a concert?" she said, relaxed and grinning from ear to ear.
Telling us to "forget about what happened yesterday, everyone makes mistakes, there is no one who is perfect", she tried explaining the meaningful lyrics behind 'Secret Garden' to the best of her abilities. She however ended up with "I'm lonely, and I make lots of mistakes", causing the crowd to laugh with her at her adorable translation. She too knew it wasn't what she had wanted to convey, bursting out into laughter saying "the message is actually more beautiful in Korean".
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Moving on to a more upbeat section of the night, she performed 'The Visitor', 'Jam Jam', and 'Twenty-Three'. She promised us an amazing show tonight and she undoubtedly delivered. IU was definitely in the best of moods today and you could link that to the extremely high tension of the crowd. Feeding off each other's good energy, the night was filled with continuous laughter and happiness.
"Actually during the second part of the show, I'm supposed to show a more haughty and egoistic concept while performing but I kept laughing. I wasn't supposed to laugh at these parts but because of how much energy and groove Singapore has, this concert is really so fun for me. It's so funny that you guys are waving the light sticks so fast. When I'm in a really good mood my pitch will usually lean more towards a sharp note, today throughout I think it will be like that... I feel really good. It's really interesting that when I'm feeling down I have a flat in my tone but today is just sharp."
The crowd's favourite for the night was definitely 'BBIBBI', where IU even crowned Singapore as "BBIBBI's hometown". Having posted a video of herself teaching the fanchant for 'Blueming', the chants for this song was especially loud. With the crowd's adorable antics and cute fan project of colourful LED roses, IU burst out into chuckles mid-song from time to time while looking out lovingly at the crowd. 'Meaning of You' was too another favourite of ours, as fans sang an entire verse with the star in perfect harmony.
"Actually during the second part of the show, I'm supposed to show a more haughty and egoistic concept while performing but I kept laughing. I wasn't supposed to laugh at these parts but because of how much energy and groove Singapore has, this concert is really so fun for me. It's so funny that you guys are waving the light sticks so fast. When I'm in a really good mood my pitch will usually lean more towards a sharp note, today throughout I think it will be like that... I feel really good. It's really interesting that when I'm feeling down I have a flat in my tone but today is just sharp."
The crowd's favourite for the night was definitely 'BBIBBI', where IU even crowned Singapore as "BBIBBI's hometown". Having posted a video of herself teaching the fanchant for 'Blueming', the chants for this song was especially loud. With the crowd's adorable antics and cute fan project of colourful LED roses, IU burst out into chuckles mid-song from time to time while looking out lovingly at the crowd. 'Meaning of You' was too another favourite of ours, as fans sang an entire verse with the star in perfect harmony.
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The highlight of the night was definitely when she did an entire OST medley of her recent drama 'Hotel Del Luna'. IU covered a mashup of 'Lean On Me', 'All About You', 'Remember Me' and 'Happy Ending'. She told us to listen with a "generous heart" because she's doing it for the first time and she inserted this section at the last minute just for her fans. A highlight reel of the drama was shown in the background too, and she later told us that the video was put together at the last minute by the concert team so kudos to them for setting the scene and making this section of the concert so perfect.
Singing 'Happy Ending' live for the first time ever, she told us to keep it a secret from Korean Uaenas, saying that "they will be really sad if they know about this". The main reason behind inserting this section was to thank her fans for the love that she received as the main lead for 'Hotel Del Luna'. What made it more meaningful was that she covered her role model - singer Gummy's track too, mentioning how it was such an honour to have Gummy be the singer for her drama's OST.
"It's been a really long time since I've sang my senior's song on stage. To me she's a really good singer and it worried me a lot if I could do justice to this track so I was cautious. I had to come up with a lot of courage to sing this song and it's especially special to me, that's why it was a nerve-wrecking stage for me."
Don't worry, IU, the crowd entirely loved this medley, and the fact that you practically sang each song like it was your own, it was totally perfect.
Singing 'Happy Ending' live for the first time ever, she told us to keep it a secret from Korean Uaenas, saying that "they will be really sad if they know about this". The main reason behind inserting this section was to thank her fans for the love that she received as the main lead for 'Hotel Del Luna'. What made it more meaningful was that she covered her role model - singer Gummy's track too, mentioning how it was such an honour to have Gummy be the singer for her drama's OST.
"It's been a really long time since I've sang my senior's song on stage. To me she's a really good singer and it worried me a lot if I could do justice to this track so I was cautious. I had to come up with a lot of courage to sing this song and it's especially special to me, that's why it was a nerve-wrecking stage for me."
Don't worry, IU, the crowd entirely loved this medley, and the fact that you practically sang each song like it was your own, it was totally perfect.
As the night slowly came to a close, 'Lullaby', 'Through the Night', 'Sogyeokdong' and crowd favourites 'The Red Shoes', 'Above the Time', 'You and I', 'Good Day' and of course 'Love Poem' made an appearance. Famous for having multiple encore stages, IU performed 'Heart', 'Sleepless Rainy Night', 'The Night of the First Breakup' and 'Someday' on top of her endless set list. All of these tracks were random songs which the audience wanted to hear, which made it even more amazing since the band and IU could immediately perform each song as if they were originally in the set list.
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Today's concert lasted for close to 4 hours and what is most commendable is IU's ability to perform live for the entire duration. Her vocal stability and how she captured the audience's attention throughout still amazes us till today. Of course, not forgetting to mention her live band who seemed to be a tight knit team with amazing chemistry. Each small element, from the videos in between performances to the live band, to how comfortable the artist was with her fans really showed the attention to detail in preparation for today.
If you were lucky enough to have caught IU live in action today, you could definitely see how much she genuinely enjoyed being on stage and performing before her fans. Today's concert reminded us that happiness truly is contagious. The joy, warmth and sincerity she conveyed across today is one which will be remembered for a long time. Thank you, IU, for comforting us with your melodies, voice and words. It was as if she wanted to give us all a big hug and say "thank you, you did well this 2019". You've worked hard too this year, IU, we hope to see you again in 2020 and we'll be sure to greet you with smiling faces even then too.
We would like to extend our thanks to iMeSG for giving us the opportunity to cover this event!
Photos: iMeSG & Neo Jing Yu
Writers: Neo Jing Yu
If you were lucky enough to have caught IU live in action today, you could definitely see how much she genuinely enjoyed being on stage and performing before her fans. Today's concert reminded us that happiness truly is contagious. The joy, warmth and sincerity she conveyed across today is one which will be remembered for a long time. Thank you, IU, for comforting us with your melodies, voice and words. It was as if she wanted to give us all a big hug and say "thank you, you did well this 2019". You've worked hard too this year, IU, we hope to see you again in 2020 and we'll be sure to greet you with smiling faces even then too.
We would like to extend our thanks to iMeSG for giving us the opportunity to cover this event!
Photos: iMeSG & Neo Jing Yu
Writers: Neo Jing Yu
Bonus Photos from Day 2's Concert
Photos Credits: iMeSG
