''I U'' (stylized as ''I□U'') is the first Japanese extended play by South Korean singer-songwriter IU, released on December 14, 2011. It was IU's first release in the Japanese domestic market and was a selection of remastered versions from her original Korean discography of Korean-language songs released between 2008 and 2011.

Background and development

IU first performed in Japan at two charity concerts for the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six mi ...

: on May 15, 2011, and the ''Seoul-Osaka Music of Heart 2011 Fighting Japan!'' concert on June 8, 2011.

LOEN Entertainment Kakao M (; formerly Seoul Records, YBM Seoul Records and LOEN Entertainment) was a South Korean entertainment company established by Min Yeong-bin in 1978. It is currently one of the largest co-publisher companies in South Korea. The company op ...

signed IU with Japanese music label

EMI Music Japan , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. When ...

, now a sublabel of

Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in the country regarding music distribution. The company is resp ...

. Her Japanese debut was first announced on November 16, 2011, along with the announcement of the extended play. The album was a first step into the domestic Japanese market, and was marketed as a ''pre debut album''. IU later debuted properly in Japan in March 2012, with a Japanese version of her song " Good Day" serving as her debut single. The extended play was released 15 days after her second Korean-language studio album, ''

Last Fantasy ''Last Fantasy'' is the second studio album by South Korean singer-songwriter IU. It was released and distributed on November 29, 2011 by LOEN Entertainment. The album features a total of thirteen tracks, including the lead single " You & I". U ...

'', was released in South Korea.

Writing and production

The extended play features material mostly from 2010 and 2011, but also includes her debut song "Lost Child" from her debut extended play ''

Lost and Found A lost and found (American English) or lost property (British English), or lost articles (also Canadian English) is an office in a public building or area where people can go to retrieve lost articles that may have been found by others. Frequen ...

''. "Nagging", a duet with

Im Seulong Lim Seul-ong (Hangul: 임슬옹; born 11 May 1987), also known by the mononym Seulong, is a South Korean singer and actor. He debuted as a singer in 2008 as a member of the K-pop boyband 2AM. He made his acting debut in 2010 in the Korean dram ...

of the South Korean boyband 2AM, is featured on the album, along with the single's B-side "Rain Drop". Neither song had been released on an IU album before. "Good Day" from ''

Real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

'' (2010) and "The Story Only I Didn't Know" from '' Real+'' (2011) also feature on the album. The title track from ''

'' (2011) was added to the album as a bonus track. All the songs had English names except two which were given Japanese translated titles, "Nagging" which was called and "The Story Only I Didn't Know" which was . The DVD of the single features a documentary entitled ''I with U: The Story of IU'', directed by Kim Do-yeon. IU also worked with a Japanese design team on the photoshoot and the booklet. Japanese versions of the songs "Good Day" and "Rain Drop" were released as her debut Japanese single on March 21, 2012.

Promotion and release

IU held her first Japanese concert, ''IU Japan Premium: Special Live'', on January 24, 2012, at the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Bunkamura Orchard Hall to an audience of 4,000. The concert consisted of five songs sung in Korean and English, along with "Good Day" sung in Japanese for the first time.

Chart reception

The album debuted at number 15 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

's albums chart, selling 7,000 copies. After charting for seven weeks in the top 300 albums, the extended play sold a total of 12,000 copies.

Background and development

Writing and production

Promotion and release

Chart reception

Track listing

Chart rankings

Sales and certifications

Release history

References