IU Sends Off ‘Bye’ to a Star, Forever Soulmates with Yoo In-na and Uaena

September 11, 2026 596 views Source: 뉴시스 Translated and reviewed by the KOTourLive Editorial Team

New single released on the 10th… ‘From This Star’ reaches No. 2 on Melon Top 100

[Seoul = Newsis] IU. (Photo = Provided by EDAM Entertainment) 2026.09.08. [email protected] *No redistribution or database use permitted[Seoul = Newsis] Reporter Lee Jae-hoon = What remains where love has swept through is not merely the debris of emotion. It is also the unique language shared only by two people, secret names, and blueprints of time that they drew together but ultimately left unfinished. The double-title single released on the 10th by top singer and actress IU (IU · Lee Ji-eun) after one year is both a record of a courteous eviction, fully bidding farewell to the world of a certain era, and the firmest vow of solidarity, welcoming each other’s flaws with their whole beings beyond the grammar of the world.

The first title track, ‘From This Star,’ begins with a double meaning. Rather than reducing the event of separation to a simple emotional severance, the lyrics replace it with the extinction of the entire planet called ‘this star’ that the two people cultivated during a certain period. To love another person is not merely to accept that individual; it is to newly build a microcosm with its own climate and unique gravity, belonging only to the two of them. Thus, the end of love is not limited to the psychological event of feelings growing cold, but is closer to an ontological occurrence in which an entire universe completes its function and goes dark.

In this song, IU neither succumbs to grief nor dwells on resentment. Instead of relying on conventional words such as longing or lingering attachment, she calmly builds the narrative as if organizing the belongings of that star. After naming, one by one, the concrete and seemingly trivial yet dazzling fragments—the background music of their first kiss, their private terms of address, and the rituals of reconciliation—she declares:

“All that we loved / Once, all that was ours / From this star that belongs only to us, now finally disappearing.” This composed sorrow is not the struggle of someone desperately trying to forget the other person, but the finest courtesy that can be offered to a space that was once a complete universe. It is an attitude of leaving everything in the star of that time—not wasted or damaged—and finally walking away empty-handed. The gentle, refined sound woven by Cloud and SUMIN persuasively supports the idea that the farewell IU has created is not a defeat, but a dignified goodbye to a completed world.

[Seoul = Newsis] IU and Yoo In-na. (Photo = Capture from the YouTube channel ‘Lee Ji-geum’) 2026.09.10. [email protected] *No redistribution or database use permittedMeanwhile, the other title track, ‘Dear my crazy soulmate,’ heads straight toward the deeply private recipient identified in the album notes as ‘To Yoo In-na,’ lightly transcending the framework of normative relationships endlessly reproduced by popular music. Just as actress Yoo In-na—the soulmate who serves as IU’s safest refuge—and the name of her fandom, UAENA, which supports her musical world, form a magical rhyme, this song delves into the mystery of a relationship in which the two people stand unconditionally on each other’s side.

Bridging the generational gap between nineteen and thirty, the friendship of two people who have shared the volume of their lives for more than a decade reaches the realm of an ‘ethical companionship’ in this song. To deeply affirm someone is not to approve of that person’s competence or composure. It is to unconditionally welcome the most angular and fragile parts of another person—their ‘strangeness’ that cannot be explained by the grammar of the world.

The confession in the lyrics, “You confess your strangeness again today / Along with the words, ‘You were disappointed, right?’ / You can be strange in front of me for the rest of your life / That’s why I like you even more,” demonstrates a different dimension of acceptance. The world constantly demands the orbit of usefulness, productivity, and normality (“WORK, HATE,” “MAN, LOVE”), but within the two people’s microcosm, flaws and vulnerability are not stigmas; they become unique signs by which they recognize each other.

[Seoul = Newsis] Na Moon-hee and Kim Young-ok. (Photo = Capture from the YouTube channel ‘Dear my crazy soulmate’) 2026.09.10. [email protected] *No redistribution or database use permittedThe point at which the ultimate landscape they dream of moves beyond the preservation of eternal youth toward an old age declaration—“My dream is for us to become two strange grammas”—is dazzling. Growing old is not the loss of beauty, but the process of acquiring the freedom to become wholly strange as oneself, without being bound by the world’s evaluations. In the music video starring two iconic Korean older actresses, Na Moon-hee and Kim Young-ok, the solidarity of older women who seek each other even by throwing stones, lightly neutralizing even the cold institutional walls of a prison, precisely overlaps with the song’s vow to willingly play a ‘prank’ for you even amid the catastrophe of a collapsing world. It is a tenderness that promises to become an ‘accomplice,’ willingly breaking the rules of the world to ease another person’s pain and loneliness.

This single proves that lyricist IU’s perspective on forming relationships with others and putting them into words has matured further. On one side, she performs an utterly pure rite of eviction toward a fading star; on the other, she enters into a lifetime contract with someone who will stand beside her to the very end, until the world gives up on them. The maturity to honestly mourn a love that has ended and the warmth to wholly welcome an imperfect other ultimately grow from the same roots.

Having dignifiedly organized the ruins of loss and confirmed a spiritual home through solidarity beyond the world, IU now heads toward the next chapter with a firmer stride. The music video for ‘From This Star’ will be unveiled on the 16th, followed soon after by the release of her sixth full-length album. IU’s growth has always been directly proportional to the breadth with which she embraces others through music. ‘From This Star’ rose as high as No. 2 in the Melon Top 100 Top 10 dominated by popular K-pop groups such as RESCENE, BIGBANG, and CORTIS, as of 11 p.m. that same day, just five hours after its release. ‘Dear my crazy soulmate’ also ranked relatively high at No. 14 on the same chart. IU is the soulmate of Yoo In-na and UAENA, never separating artistry from mainstream appeal.

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