IU and Her Album “Palette”

IU or Lee Jieun is a Korean solo artist who debuted in 2008. She could be described as an all-rounder— she is well known as a singer, songwriter as well as and actress. She is one of the top female singers in South Korea which is guaranteed by one of the biggest Korean music awards, the Melon Music Award. For the role of a songwriter, she was awarded Best Songwriter in 2017. Plus, in the same year, her album “Palette” was awarded Best Album of the Year. This album of IU, “Palette,” is not only proof that shows how talented she is as a singer or songwriter but also shows her perception of how she views her life through the concept of a palette.

IU reveals on the website Kpopbehind.com that when she was in elementary school, she saw the palette as one piece of art. Compared to a painting, the palette can be seen as the process of working whereas the painting connotes success. The way she values the palette can be interpreted that she values the process of working as much as success. 

The color in IU’s palette consists of various colors that express IU’s emotion, personality, and identity. Unlike the product we see in the advertisement, IU has various and different shades of color within herself which depend on place, time, or chance. The different shades of color themselves can be seen as the various talents of IU that are shown in this album. You might see her in a different color which depends on which aspect you have seen her from. 

Color, Branding, and Kpop Industry 

Color is essential in building a brand’s image. It plays an important role in digital marketing. Products that we have seen in the advertisement usually have a color that expresses the brand’s identity. This is to make the customer notice and make the products more remarkable. Imagine when we are in the convenience store, we could notice the products automatically by their color. For example, when we are looking for products like Coca-Cola or Pepsi, we would automatically look for their color red or the green package which helps us distinguish them from each other easily. Color is not only used in the product's brand but it can be used anywhere to express that thing’s identity. In the Kpop industry, color is being used as the representation of the artists and their fans’ branding as well. The most obvious one is the color of the light stick used to represent the artists and their fandoms as one branding; for example, the neon green light stick represents NCT, the red light stick represents Ikon, and the black and pink light stick represents Blackpink. These colors will help distinguish which fandoms are they, especially in concerts. Color, moreover, is used in the Kpop music video and album to present the story and give us a clue about the concept. In this review, we are going to explore the colors in IU’s album “Palette” and how the colors help express IU’s various emotions and personalities.

Each color would have a different meaning based on our perception—neon green might refer to joy or technology while red might refer to passion or intensity. It is quite subjective how we interpret colors; however, there is a general meaning of the color that people perceive. For example, white would symbolize purity and innocence, red means passion and power or yellow refer to joy and happiness. In art, color is used to express feelings and emotions which makes the art remarkable and unique. In IU's “Palette,” too, we will be able to see how IU uses the color to help express her emotion as well as her different personalities. 

The Concept of Expressionism Art in IU’s Palette

IU’s Palette is a retrospection of IU’s past twenty-five years of life. The concept of this album can be seen as an expressionism art that allows us to explore her personal experience and emotion. Britannica defines expressionism as “the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person.” Expressionism ideas appear in various kinds of work. Some examples of well-known expressionism art is Vincent Van Gogh’s painting called The Starry Night or Edvard Munch’s The Scream. Both works represent the subjective emotion of the artist. Expressionism art, like Edvard Munch’s The Scream, are likely to express the artist’s subjective emotion aggressively. However, IU’s Palette seems to present her emotion softly and colorfully.

 Color is used to express IU’s emotion a lot in this album, especially in the song Palette. IU’s palette is like a record of her growth that is presented through the color she likes and the clothes she wears as well as a record of her emotion that is presented through the background color in the music video. 

The record of IU’s growth can be seen in the music video where she sings, “I prefer dark purple over hot pink.”The changing of color she likes reflects the time that has passed and the changing of her age. Additionally, in this song, there is a mention to her age of twenty-five, “I like it. I’m twenty-five,” where she reveals that at this age, compared to twenty-three, she “became a woman who can clearly speak about what she likes.” (IU, 2017) IU’s personality is, too, presented when she sings, “I like what it’s easy these days.” This part in the music video is presented with a white background and IU in a plain white shirt which shows the present and simple IU. Plus, there is IU’s emotion presented during the part that says “I know you hate me. I got this. I’m truly fine” “I know you like me. I got this. I’m truly fine,” the background shifts from white to yellow. The sentence “I’m truly fine” showed in the music video in a yellow LED light. According to the website empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com, the color yellow “is the best color to create enthusiasm for life and can awaken greater confidence and optimism” which relates to the lyrics that goes “I’m truly fine” that presents the optimistic side of IU.

IU appears in the music video Palette in various styles that represent IU and her different personalities and age—IU in Blue dress with pink hair highlight represents the playful IU, IU in a Pink dress with black long hair represents a young IU, and IU in a black blazer with dark bobbed hair represents matured IU.

The Retrospection from IU’s Diary to a Colorful Story

Various colors represent various emotions as well as the various stories of IU that are lined up in the same palette which becomes one impressive piece of art. In the first scene of the music video Palette is IU opening her eyes which can be interpreted that she is going to retrospect her past life. Continuingly, IU appears in different hairstyles and dressing which refer to IU in a different age—IU with short black hair, IU with long curly pink highlighted hair, IU with black long hair. 

The arrangement of the songs in this album —“Dlwlrma,” “Palette,” “Ending Scene,” “Can’t Love You Anymore,” “Jam Jam,” “Black Out,” “Full Stop,” “Love Alone,” and “Dear Name” tell a continuing story. The album opens with the song “Dlwlrma” which is IU’s Instagram name account. When I first listen to this song, it seems like she is telling the listener her secret. However, it is more likely to be the message she wants to tell her younger self to enjoy the present. According to critic Brianna, the word “dlwlrma” is a keyboard transliteration of the Korean word that means “right now.” The younger self of IU might be worried about the future that she might forget to enjoy the present. “Palette” is the continuation of the song “Dlwlrma” that IU begins to retrospect her life. From this song, we can know more about her opinion and perspective towards her past life. In this song, you will be able to see the voice of IU talking to herself and the voice of the collaborated singer G-Dragon talking to IU. After we listen to IU wandering in her mind, there is a rap of G-Dragon interrupting the song. His rap in this song is rather a saying given to IU. The stratification of voices of IU and G-Dragon in this song both reveal their subjective life experiences from the vision of a woman at the age of twenty-five and a man at the age of thirty. The following songs “Ending Scene,” “Can’t Love You Anymore,” “Jam Jam,” “Black Out,” and “Full Stop, ”  is the shift from the overview picture of IU’s life to a subjective topic on the relationship that shows IU’s vulnerability side as an imperfect human being. “Ending Scene” is a sad song that portrays the ending of a love relationship. You will see the voice that IU imagines paralleling with IU’s honest response. “Can’t Love You Anymore,”  “Jam Jam, ” “Black Out,” and “Full Stop” are the continuation of the “Ending Scene” where she still cannot get over her relationship. The album Palette ends with the songs “Love Alone” and “Dear Name.” Chronologically, “Love Alone” and “Dear Name” is the lesson she gets from the unhappy ending relationship in the previous songs. The later songs are less lively than the first half of the album. Compared to the first half of the album, the color IU’s Palette seems to be fading. 

            To end this review, I would rate this album 8.5/10 due to the concept that successfully portrays IU’s retrospection that allows us to explore her personal experience and emotion.

Sources 

Expressionism. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/art/Expressionism 

Benjamin, J. (2017, May 20). IU's 'palette' proves the power of Personal k-pop. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/7800948/iu-palette-album-analysis-review-power-of-personal-kpop

Brianna, -., & I don't always have a lot to say. (2017, May 03). IU paints a masterpiece with "palette". Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://seoulbeats.com/2017/05/iu-paints-a-masterpiece-with-palette/

Rivkin, J. and Ryan, M. (Eds.). (2004, 2017).​ Literary theory: an anthology​. Malden:

Blackwell Publishing.

KpopBehind. (2017, April 21). IU talks about her collaboration with GD and kim soohyun. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.kpopbehind.com/2017/04/iu-talks-about-her-collaboration-with.html

The color yellow. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-yellow.html