IU Opens Up About Being a Solo Artist & the Charm of K-Pop | Billboard Global No. 1s

IU is named Billboard Korea’s No. 1 artist of the year for Billboard’s Global No. 1s series. IU shares the pros and cons of being a solo artist, her openness to collaborating with international artists and more!

Billboard is launching its inaugural Global No. 1s series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its 10-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who’s No. 1 in the U.K., Brazil, Korea and more!

IU:

Global. Billboard. No. 1. There’s a lot of glorious words attached to this selection, so I’m just grateful that they’re giving me another chance and it’s a little bit awkward and I’m honored, but I think it’s a very good feeling. 

If I had to say one thing, I don’t have any members to share the synergy on stage. In a group, each member has a role and I think the synergy that they have is amazing. It’s a little bit difficult to create any synergy because I have to do it by myself. And to talk about the advantages, on the contrary, I enjoy all the good things, whether it’s interest or love, by myself I think that’s the advantage of solo artists. 

In fact, there were many good and grateful suggestions, but I think I wrote it because I felt a little vague about collaborating with artists with different languages, so I used to refuse many times, but now I don’t. I am more open to collaborating with global artists than before, please feel free to reach out to me. Especially in South Korea, those groups are very popular on Billboard and loved by many fans, and I think as a listener who loves K-pop, even if I’m just standing there, there is a worldview in K-pop culture.

Keep watching for more!