IU spotted in Shanghai one day after releasing double-title single, 6th album pre-release

IU in Shanghai, single already out

Video of IU walking through Shanghai's Nanjing East Road on September 11 hit SNS and online communities within hours. The day before, on September 10 at 6 PM, she'd dropped a new digital single—her first music in roughly a year since Bye, Summer came out last September.

She dressed deliberately low-key: oversized gray shirt, denim shorts, sneakers, baseball cap, white mask, a brightly colored scarf wrapped tight around her head, and a luxury H bag. When fans approached and recognized her, she waved. If signing autographs wasn't an option, she pressed her hands together in apology.

Two title tracks, one for Yoo In-na

The single has two double title tracks: 이 별로부터 (From This Star) and 디어 마이 크레이지 솔메이트 (Dear my crazy soulmate). IU wrote both lyrics herself. They're pre-release tracks for her upcoming 6th album.

Dear my crazy soulmate names actress Yoo In-na as its recipient. The music video features IU, Shim Dal-gi, and veteran actress Kim Young-ok. The From This Star music video drops September 16.

The year behind the comeback

The roughly one-year gap since Bye, Summer overlapped with a publicly documented shift in IU's personal life. She and actor Lee Jong-suk ended their four-year public relationship in July; both agencies said they "would remain good colleagues." They first met as MCs on SBS 생방송 인기가요 in 2012, kept working together for years, and confirmed they were dating in 2022.

(Whether any of that shaped the new material is for the lyrics to say—and she wrote every word.)