IU, who filled the whole world with ‘Good Day’ last year, is finally coming back with a new album for her fans. IU's new album [Last Fantasy] is a full-length album that she has released 2 years after her 1st album [Growing Up] and this album was produced by Cho Young-chul, who created the ‘IU Syndrome’ last year. Producer Cho Young-chul focused on approaching and expressing IU's musicality in more diverse ways through this album.
The meaning behind the title of the new album, [Last Fantasy], is that the album depicts all the thoughts, imaginations, and fantasies of IU as she looks upon the beginning of her 20s, in this moment at the end of her teenage years and the album contains various sides of IU that music fans want from her through her songs. This 2nd full-length album, which contains a total of 13 songs, attracts much attention with the participation of the best musicians and composers in Korea. Musicians who need no further explanation, including Kim Kwang-jin, Yoon Sang, Jung Jae-hyung, Lee Juck, Kim Hyung-seok, Jung Suk-won, Kim Hyun-chul, Yoon Jong-shin, Lee Min-soo, Corinne Bailey Rae, G. Gorilla, and Ra.D, all participated in IU's full-length album.
As this is IU’s first full-length album in a long time, she put in all her efforts and sincerity from many different angles, to make the album more perfect. In addition to putting her own self-composed song on the album, IU participated in writing the lyrics for a number of songs, showing a more mature side to her musical sensibility and carefully considered what the right tone would be for each song, as she did her best to improve the completion of the album.
First of all, the first track, ‘Secret’, is the work of composer Jung Suk-won, showing intense charm as a song that opens the door to IU’s second full-length album. Featuring an arrangement that emphasizes a clear story development and contrast, the song begins with IU's clear tone and a lyrical melody, then develops gradually with vocals that become more powerful and the grand sound of rock opera. Standing at the center of the song, IU showed powerful vocals that led all the music with her. The second track, ‘Sleeping Prince’, is the work of Yoon Sang, a composer who brought out IU's deep emotions with ‘Only I Didn't Know’. This song, which was brought to life again with an innocent charm that only IU can show, allows the listener to experience clear and bright emotions as if one were watching a fairytale. Just like how composer Yoon Sang felt that it was fortunate that IU sang this song when she was a teenager, IU's cute vocals and the warm arrangement meet to produce this high-quality song.
The third track, ‘Holding a Star in My Heart’ is a song by Kim Kwang-jin that conveys a deep sound that cannot be described with words. IU's vocals that sound like she is calmly reciting the song, together with the slow-flowing melodies, give a comforting feeling and Kim Kwang-jin's voice at the end of the song is touching to hear. The song, infused deeply with composer Kim Kwang-jin’s unique emotions, appeals to different generations. The fourth track, ‘YOU&I’, the title track of this second full-length album, is a collaboration between composer Lee Min-soo and lyricist Kim Eana, who created ‘Good Day’, and conveys IU's diverse emotions and upgraded musicality. ‘YOU&I’ is a song that once again showcases the charm of IU's vocals, with a mysterious and strange concept of a teenage girl who travels through time into the future. With a composition that crosses minor and major chords, a musical arrangement that stands out with its colorful and fantasy-like feeling of real sound using instruments rarely found in pop songs such as harp and horn, the song also allows you to experience IU's diverse vocal expression ability.
The fifth track, ‘Wallpaper Pattern’ is the work of composer Yoon Jong-shin, which shows IU's subtle emotions. It is a song that combines lyrical melodies with IU's warm tone and IU's interpretation of the song stands out as she perfectly interprets poetic lyrics that express ordinary emotions experienced in our daily lives. In particular, composer Jung Suk-won participated in the arrangement, giving it a more detailed sound. IU's song of encouragement for all the uncles in the world! The sixth track is ‘Uncle’ with composer Lee Juck. This song was completed with a discussion between IU and Lee Juck and IU's ‘aegyo’ (cute) tone captures the hearts of uncles along with the bouncy melody of the song. Lee Juck's rap made by IU's forced(?) request and IU's shout-out to her uncles are highlights to pay attention to in the song.
‘Wisdom Tooth’ is the work of composer G.Gorilla, who is loved by fans for his unique emotions, and is a song about the heart of a girl who suffered the heartache of her first love. As it is her first love, IU participated in writing the lyrics, to express more strongly the heartache from the perspective of a teenager in a pure and fun way and IU actually wrote the lyrics of the song after talking to her mother, expressing her honest feelings. ‘Everything's Alright’, the eighth track with a fast tempo and exciting feeling, is the work of composer Kim Hyun-chul. The song, which depicts the cold atmosphere of fighting with a lover, brings out that atmosphere by combining the warm sound of the actual performance and the harmony of IU and composer Kim Hyun-chul, who also featured in the song, and has a charm to it that leaves a lasting impression.
The ninth track, ‘Last Fantasy’, is the work of composer Kim Hyung-suk, and sounds even larger in scale than you would imagine a movie soundtrack to sound like. This song, which contains the grandeur of the 50-member orchestra, is a grand song that lasts more than six minutes and overwhelms its listeners. It is an impressive song that expresses IU's present state at the end of her teenage years with lyrics that ask someone to hold her hand so that she doesn’t fall into her dream when she opens the door to reality. The tenth track, ‘Teacher’ is by composer Ra.D, which IU also participated in writing the lyrics for. It is a song customized for IU from the start and a lot of time was invested in writing the lyrics to include all kinds of thoughts and concerns that 19-year-old IU had. The calm acoustic sound and emotional vocals of IU and Ra.D are combined to complete the charming song.
The eleventh track, ‘The Abandoned’, is a self-composed song written by IU. ‘The Abandoned’, which gives the feeling of a deep darkness, is a song that IU has worked on for a long time, and goes contrary to the bright side of herself that she has shown so far. This self-composed song by IU brings out her deep inner emotions that we never imagined her to have, instilling another kind of expectation from her fans with regard to her potential. The twelfth track, ‘4AM’, is a song by British singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, with lyrics written by IU and the song was completed with a collaborative effort between the two. The lyrics draw attention with their depiction of the unstable emotions at 4 a.m. and IU's deep vocals that she has not shown before allows the song leave an impression on the listener. IU sang this song by Corinne Bailey Rae, a musician she has said she loves the most since her debut, and that makes the song mean a lot to IU.
The finale of the full-length album, ‘L'amant’, is a song that allows the listener to experience the musical emotions of composer Jung Jaehyung as they are, through his work. IU’s mournful and thick vocals that flow through the sorrowful jazz melody add to the flair of the song. This song, which was fully completed with IU’s song interpretation ability, is a song that allows us to imagine the future of IU who shows that she can pull off a variety of genres. IU's second full-length album can be said to be a record that will remind the digital music generation of the ‘value of the album’ just by the team of participating musicians and the high quality of the songs. Let us all listen to the ‘charm of music’ that IU, who is highly anticipated by fans for her musical ability that combines musicality and popular appeal, will present through this album.
