iuEnglishLyrics.com is a personal project intended to help non-Koreans follow the lyrics of IU’s songs.
IU's clever choice of word sounds and expressive singing were all I needed to become a fan of her songs. But people kept saying how good her lyrics were, so I googled for english translations, subtitled videos, and lyrics videos – and felt I then understood less than by just listening to IU sing! Most are confusing because:
This is one person's attempt to avoid those failings, while keeping the lyrics as close as possible to the original. It's an impossible balance between matching the meaning, the emotion, the musical phrasing, and, where possible, the sounds. As I am British, I am sure there will be cases where I have misunderstood some Korean idiom or reference and, maybe, used an English phrase which is not widely used internationally. Hopefully, someone (ideally Edam Entertainment) will be inspired to do better! © 2021-2025 iuenglishlyrics.com
Titles like this: in 2025, I put even more effort into following the original word order, rather than using typical English phrasing, and in almost all cases it matches IU's singing better, as well as her meaning. (Also added annotations, hopefully helpful.)
Contact: if you have any suggestions or corrections, feel free to email comments@iuenglishlyrics.com
Some of the reasons people say you can’t translate IU’s lyrics are addressed in IU's Lyrics: For Koreans Only?. And for those who don’t see the point of following the lyrics, IU's Lyrics: Do They Matter?.
(IUteamstarcandy has many helpful translations of IU material, including lyrics – though not attempting to match musical phrasing.)