IU, the Queen of K-pop and K-drama

Part 1 of 6 in The Queen Who Said She Didn't Have a Celebrity Face: IU

Featured photo: IU at her Seoul Olympic Stadium concert, September 2022. Photo: MCJOUN via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Winter 2010: the 17-year-old who said she didn’t have a celebrity face

In December 2010, 17-year-old IU described her own face to an interviewer. “I think it’s a face with no distinguishing features. Honestly, it might not even be a face for a celebrity…” (Sports Seoul via Seoul Shinmun, Dec. 23, 2010). Sixteen years later, people who work in Korean advertising and marketing voted that same face Korea’s No. 1 female ad model for the third year running (MAD STARS Busan International Advertising Festival, July 7, 2026). The face Korean advertisers reach for first belongs to the woman who once said it wasn’t a celebrity’s face. As a fan, I can’t help smiling whenever I set those two sentences side by side. I’d love to tell 17-year-old Ji-eun: sixteen years from now, yours will be the most loved face in Korea.

The numbers say the rest. Forbes Korea called her “the Queen of K-pop and K-drama” in 2025 and put her at No. 1 on its Korea Power Celebrity 40 that year (cited by Wikipedia). Gallup Korea’s 2025 surveys named her Singer of the Year (No. 1 among people in their 30s and younger) and No. 2 TV Actor of the Year at the same time (Star News, Dec. 17 and 22, 2025). She has more No. 1 songs than any other artist in South Korea, 31 of them (Wikipedia), and Billboard ranked her “Good Day” the greatest K-pop song of the 2010s (Billboard, 2019).

68.6 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

The beauty she is remembered for is less glamour than the girl next door. Three years into her career Korea gave her a nickname, gungmin yeodongsaeng, “the Nation’s Little Sister,” and she called it “more love than I deserve” (Seoul Shinmun, Jan. 10, 2011). Her range is wide: singer, the lyricist and songwriter behind most of her own songs, the lead of My Mister and When Life Gives You Tangerines, and longtime host of SBS’s music show Inkigayo. In fall 2026 she has just released a new single, “Unknown Planet,” and is preparing her sixth studio album and a return to the stage in early 2027.

Also read: K-pop News Today (Oct 26, 2026): A2O LITE's 4th Win, BABYMONSTER's 31M, RIIZE 'Insomnia'

Until 2007: twenty failed auditions

Lee Ji-eun was born in Seoul on May 16, 1993 (Wikipedia). She auditioned at JYP and a string of other agencies and, by her own count, failed “about 20 times.” She was blunt about why: “Partly what the company wanted and I just didn’t match. More than anything, I wasn’t pretty back then” (Seoul Shinmun, Dec. 23, 2010). In 2007 she became a trainee at LOEN Entertainment, and ten months later she debuted (Wikipedia).

September 2008: “Did you even practice?”

On September 18, 2008, 15-year-old IU sang her debut song, “Lost Child,” on Mnet’s M Countdown (Korea Times). It was a ballad backed by violins. As soon as she sang the first line, insults came from all over the audience. One of them: “Hey, did you even practice before coming here?” She later described that day on SBS’s talk show Strong Heart: “I felt like I’d lost all hope. Popular or not, I thought that if I sang, the audience would at least listen” (summarized by Xportsnews, Oct. 17, 2021). Those words hurt every time I hear them. And I’m so grateful that 15-year-old didn’t give up.

970,000 views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

3.27 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

The debut album didn’t sell. A few years later she said, “My first album failed, but I’m grateful for that” (JoongAng Daily, Jan. 6, 2011). What came out of it was a singer nothing in a crowd could shake: “No matter how little reaction I get on stage, I’m fine. If anything, even a tiny bit of cheering gets me excited” (Xportsnews).

June 2010: the first No. 1, “Nagging”

After “Boo” and “Marshmallow” made her name in 2009, IU hit No. 1 for the first time in June 2010 with “Nagging,” a duet with Lim Seul-ong of 2AM, and stayed there three weeks (Wikipedia). She was 17.

December 2010: the three-step high note

“Good Day,” released December 9, 2010, held No. 1 on the Gaon Digital Chart, Korea’s official chart, for five straight weeks (Wikipedia, Gaon). At the end of the song her voice climbs a half step three times in a row, and Korea named it the 3dan goeum, the “three-step high note.” Lyricist Kim Eana and composer Lee Min-soo credited those three notes for the hit (Chosun Ilbo, Aug. 11, 2011). Karaoke rooms and variety shows across the country tried to copy them, and that winter IU became the Nation’s Little Sister.

5.82 million views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

140,000 views as of Oct. 26, 2026.

It had been two years and three months since a crowd asked whether she’d even practiced. In December 2010, while “Good Day” held the top of the chart, she was on the set of the KBS drama Dream High.

Sources

• Seoul Shinmun (Sports Seoul), Dec. 23, 2010 — IU interview
• Xportsnews, Oct. 17, 2021 — IU’s debut-stage account on Strong Heart
• Wikipedia, “IU (singer)” — birth, debut date (citing Korea Times, Jan. 25, 2012), first-album quote (JoongAng Daily, Jan. 6, 2011), “Nagging,” “Good Day” on Gaon, three-step high note (Chosun Ilbo, Aug. 11, 2011), Nation’s Little Sister (Seoul Shinmun, Jan. 10, 2011), 31 No. 1 songs, Forbes Korea 2025
• Billboard, Nov. 2019, “The 100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s: Staff List” — No. 1 “Good Day” (via Wikipedia, “Good Day (IU song)”)
• Daum (Financial News), July 7, 2026 — Korea’s top ad models chosen by industry professionals
• Star News, Dec. 17, 2025 — Gallup TV actor of the year, Star News, Dec. 22, 2025 — singer of the year