IU debuted on Mnet M! Countdown on September 18, 2008 with her debut single "Lost Child". It was later released as the title track for her debut mini album Lost and Found on September 24, 2008.
However, she did not gain mainstream popularity until her follow-up and debut studio album Growing Up. On April 16, 2009, IU launched her first full album, titled Growing Up, with the lead promotional number "Boo". Within three weeks, "Boo" went up to the No.
1 contenders for SBS Inkigayo, and her name also went up twice on Take 7 together with other notable artists like SG Wannabe and Younha. The song also did well on KBS Music Bank K-Chart, on Mnet M! Countdown chart, and on various online music charts.
In 2009, IU sang the ending title song, "Araro", as well as the song "Wind flower" for the acclaimed MBC drama Queen Seon Duk. IU was recommended by the director, Sam Kim, citing her "clear tone and her lyrical sensibility". IU was also featured in Mighty Mouth's album Love Class in the song "희망사항".
In late 2009, IU recorded MC Mong's song "Love Letter to You" featuring SHINee's Key as the rapper. IU recorded the song "Nagging" with 2AM's Seulong for the TV show We Got Married. On June 27, 2010, IU won her first award since her debut on SBS Inkigayo for "Nagging".
On July 2, 2010, she won another award for the song on KBS Music Bank K-Chart. Soon after, IU was chosen to sing the main OST song for the MBC drama Road No. 1 titled "여자라서" (Because I'm A Woman).
IU's other collaborations include duets with Yoo Seung Ho ("사랑을 믿어요" (Believe in Love)), Sung Si Kyung ("그대네요" (It's You)), and BIGBANG's Seungri ("I Know"). IU worked with some of South Korea's most famous musicians and producers for her third mini-album, Real, released in December 2010. Lee Min Soo and Kim Eana, the creators of IU's previous hit "Nagging", helped produce her award-winning song "Good Day".
IU received three SBS Inkigayo Mutizen Song awards for her performances of the song (on December 18 and December 26, 2010, and January 2, 2011), three awards from KBS Music Bank K-Chart (on December 24 and December 31, 2010, and January 7, 2011), and one award from Mnet M! Countdown on December 23, 2010. IU often covers other pop artists' songs with her guitar and features her friend Thunder from MBLAQ, most notably renditions of SHINee's "Julie"Lies", SUPER JUNIOR's "Sorry, Sorry" and Girls' Generation's "Gee".
IU starred in KBS2's drama, Dream High as Kim Pil-sook from January 3 to 28 February, with a special episode on March1. Pil-Sook (IU) and Hye-Mi (Suzy from Miss A) having lunch In January 2011, IU's song "Someday" from KBS's drama Dream High was released. Netizens immediately noticed a similarity to "To My Man", sung by Ash, and accused songwriter Park Jin-young of plagiarism.
Songwriter Kim Sin-il filed a lawsuit against Park for plagiarizing "To My Man", in which he eventually won. Soribada, an online music service provider, combined the music downloads and streams from January 1 to March 30, 2011, to name IU's song, "Good Day" as the number one song of the first quarter. "Someday" and the ballad "Only I Didn't Know", from her Real+ mini-album, placed 4th and 7th place, respectively – showing that IU took 3 of the top 10 digital spots for the first quarter.
Her first original composition, "Dreaming" was used in the drama Dream High, but it was not released officially. On June 18, 2011, IU held her first official fan meeting and mini-concert at AX-Korea. It also marked the 1004th day since she debuted.
IU also sang a self-composed OST called "Hold my Hand" for drama series The Greatest Love. On November 29, 2011, IU's second full-length album Last Fantasy was released and achieved an ‘all-kill’ as all 13 songs immediately swept most of Korea's charts. The track list for the album was previously revealed on November 22, 2011.
On January 24, 2012, IU held a live showcase at Tokyo's Bunkamura Orchard Hall. At the time of the showcase, it was n...
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