Hotel del Luna’s Boss Walks the Cannes Red Carpet: IU

Part 4 of 6 in The Queen Who Said She Didn't Have a Celebrity Face: IU

Featured photo: IU at a Hotel del Luna talk session at tvN’s fan exhibition, December 2019. Photo: 월아조운 (MCJOUN) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Previously: Lee Ji-an of My Mister erased IU the singer, and a Japanese director who saw that face decided to put her in a film.

In the summer of 2019 she was the owner of a hotel for ghosts more than a thousand years old. Three years later she walked the red carpet of the Grand Théâtre Lumière at Cannes, and four months after that she became the first Korean female singer to fill Seoul’s Olympic Stadium on her own. Between them was an autumn when she lost a friend and stopped her album.

Summer 2019: Jang Man-wol of Hotel del Luna

In July 2019, in tvN’s Hotel del Luna, she played Jang Man-wol, an owner bound for more than a thousand years, as punishment for her sins, to a hotel that takes only ghosts as guests. Opposite her was Yeo Jin-goo as Gu Chan-seong. The September 1 finale averaged 12% and peaked at 13%, making it tvN’s highest-rated drama of the year, and it led its time slot for 16 episodes straight (Dailian, Sept. 2, 2019).

20.84 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

1.56 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

Also read: V's Elementary School Wall Holds a Starry Night: A BTS Mural Walk and Seomun Night Market in Daegu

Fall 2019: the delayed Love poem

That October she lost her close friend Sulli (Dailian, Oct. 20, 2019). Postponing the new album planned for November 1, she wrote to fans: “To be honest, I think I personally need a little bit of time. I’m so sorry, because this is a decision I made when I, as a person, couldn’t keep up with the responsibility I have as the album’s producer and as a singer who makes her own shows” (Dailian).

The first song released was “Love poem.”

누구를 위해 누군가 기도하고 있나 봐 Someone must be praying for someone — “Love poem” (lyrics by IU, 2019)

It is the song of someone cheering, from a distance, for a person getting through a hard time. On November 18, the day the album came out, she wrote briefly: “Go, Love poem. Everything I went through and everything I held on through, it was all thanks to you” (Sports Kyunghyang, Nov. 19, 2019). Every time I read those words, something in my chest aches. She finished the song even in her hardest autumn, and as a fan, all I can say is thank you. The title track “Blueming” took No. 1 on Melon, Genie and Bugs (Sports Kyunghyang).

28.45 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

210.5 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

May 2020: “eight” with SUGA

On May 6, 2020, she released “eight,” produced by and featuring SUGA of BTS. The title stands for 28, her age in Korean years, and the song closes her age trilogy after “Twenty-three” and “Palette.” It was her first song to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart (Wikipedia). In January 2021, when “Blueming” won Song of the Year at the Golden Disc Awards, she became the first female soloist to win a Golden Disc grand prize twice (Wikipedia).

195.9 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

2021: LILAC and “Celebrity”

“Celebrity” came out in January 2021, and in March, at 29 in Korean years, her fifth studio album, LILAC. It debuted at No. 1 on the Gaon Album Chart, and every track landed in the top 30 of the digital chart (Wikipedia).

198.4 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

120.4 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

May 2022: Cannes

On May 26, 2022, she stood on the red carpet of the 75th Cannes Film Festival, in competition with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker. With her were Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won and Bae Doona; she played So-young, a mother who leaves her son in a baby box. The screening ended with a standing ovation of about ten minutes (Seoul Shinmun, May 27, 2022). Kore-eda said he chose her after falling hard for My Mister while stuck at home during COVID-19: “She has great instincts as an actor, and she finds the answer extremely fast” (Etoday). She described Cannes as “feeling blessed” (Etoday).

1 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

September 2022: Seoul Olympic Stadium

On September 17–18, 2022, she played Seoul’s Olympic Stadium in Jamsil with her concert The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun. No Korean female singer had headlined there before; the only woman before her was Lady Gaga, in 2012. More than 80,000 people came over the two nights (Dong-A Ilbo via Daum, Sept. 19, 2022; The Fact). For fans who remember the 15-year-old who was asked “Did you even practice?” at her debut, those two nights felt like a dream.

19.63 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

12.03 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

In January 2024, a year and four months after the stadium shows, she released a music video she had made with V of BTS.

Where to watch (checked Oct. 26, 2026, via JustWatch) – Hotel del Luna (2019): U.S. and Korea Netflix · U.S. Rakuten Viki · Korea TVING – Persona (2019): Korea Netflix – Broker (2022): U.S. Kanopy (free with a library card), Tubi · Korea Netflix, Watcha

Sources

• Dailian, Sept. 2, 2019 — Hotel del Luna ends on its highest rating
• Dailian, Oct. 20, 2019 — IU postpones her new album: “I need time”
• Sports Kyunghyang, Nov. 19, 2019 — chart sweep, “the influence called IU”
• Wikipedia, “IU (singer)” — “eight” and Billboard, Golden Disc 2021, LILAC
• Seoul Shinmun, May 27, 2022 — Lee Ji-eun on the Cannes red carpet, Etoday, May 2022 — Cannes interview
• Dong-A Ilbo via Daum, Sept. 19, 2022 — first Korean female singer at the Olympic Stadium, The Fact — The Golden Hour in Jamsil
• Lyrics: “Love poem” (러브 포엠), lyrics by IU, 2019