IU - Eight (feat. SUGA of BTS) Composer's Honest Reaction & Analysis

EXTENDED REACTION WITH LYRICAL ANALYSIS: www.patreon.com/posts/iu-eight-feat-106437755?Link&
Purchase a reaction from the shop: www.patreon.com/ohacade/shop
00:00 Intro
00:25 Reaction / Musical Analysis
09:35 Lyrics (Patreon Exclusive)
09:43 Conclusion
Check out my own band Valcata, our latest single 'Archangel': kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6DUpZuGg612aKcsi=8RESJXHsBXa6qiAo
View the schedule: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x85lHkYEb0_PQSDG-HlPvDHYQHrrkZS9BpayMU6hmuM/edit?usp=sharing
ORIGINAL VIDEO
kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipiypmNmgstmoassi=X6JUL1vkrcGwVh1k

[@ohacade408]

Having learned what the song is about from your comments, I've decided to make the full reaction on Patreon with the lyrical analysis free to watch. While I didn't nail the true meaning at the time, the sentiment of loss and sadness was truly apparent. www.patreon.com/posts/iu-eight-feat-106437755?Link&

[@yukuolee3562]

As a composer, I can appreciate your proclivity to zero in on the technical aspects of the music and vocal quality in the reaction. Nevertheless, it helps to know that IU is a genuine artist (and I didn't use the term "genuine" casually here) as she sings, composes, writes the lyrics and produces her own albums. Her work almost always represents an expression or idea that goes beyond a poppy tune on the surface, otherwise one'd overlook the true context of her music. The details in the MV and the music are purposeful, underscoring a trail of bread crumbs for the underlying message. You can easily find more on youtube if interested butI won't impose here. You are quite right about this is not just a happy song. As for IU's vocal ability, you should watch her performance of "Eight" in the Golden Hour concert. That would put away your remaining doubts on IU's singing ability. While we have the latitude with our own personal interpretation, I feel rather certain that the animation is not a substitute but the intended device for different perspectives. You may recognize that there are two different styles of animations here, one two-dimensional and one three-dimensional. Thanks for the reaction. Yes, I am an admirer of IU and she is a prolific artist with a legacy of artifacts for those who want to explore a Korean musical legend. PS: "Eight" is part of IU's age series. Both IU and Suga were both 28 by the traditional Korean system at the time of the release.

[@ccusto1914]

If you are doubting her live vocal ability, check out her live performance of this song here at her Golden Hour concert: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eandq5ptgZiLncU. IU's live vocals are no joke. Many would agree that her live vocals are even better than the recorded versions. IU is a huge artist in Korea and known as the "nation's little sister". She is well loved by many generations and has had a long, extremely successful career which continues through today. If you do check out this live version, please also check out her live performance of 'My Sea' also from her Golden Hour concert.

[@Firstname852]

IU has a killing voice video. You can get to know her through that.

[@mikeduplessis8069]

That last echoed verse of 'Are you happy now?' is asking the question to the online haters who had driven her friend Sulli to suicide. The early scenes in the country house IU is playing the role of her friend Sulli (as seen through her eyes).

[@Scones777]

Thanks for reacting! It's very bitter sweet! (Trigger warning) IU lost two good friends in the idol industry to suicide over a couple of years before this and it is thought that might be some of the inspiration for this song. From what I've heard fans speculate the girl and the lizard could be symbols of those people, but she has not come out to say it. The eight stands for 28 as her (and Sugas) ages when this was made. 8 might have more significane too I don't know. IU wrote and composed this, Suga is the producer and wrote his verse ofc. Another producer was also on the credits. IU singing this live is beautiful! ❤️ There is a very nice acoustic version.

[@HollyGolightly-lo5ez]

I love Eight. Lyrics and melody by IU, rap and production by Suga. An upbeat song with sad lyrics. ❤️‍🩹 Not too sure about autotune. IU famously sounds just like the recording when she sings live.

[@mkoose]

Hi Oha, yes IU, soo happy you react to her. Hope to see here at your channel in the future again !

[@josephlim4233]

Official videos related to this song. [IU] 'eight' Acoustic Ver. Live Clip: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnuwYax_l8xrn7Msi=l7e7Y49il8PW73f_ [IU] 'eight' Live Clip (2022 IU Concert 'The Golden Hour : Under The Orange Sun'): kzbin.info/www/bejne/eandq5ptgZiLncUsi=ivA3A3QolISWctVC

[@yousiri5921]

If you're wondering about her recordings, She has a behind-the-scenes clip from recording the song for you to watch. She recorded while having a cold. - IU 'Love wins all' Recording Behind - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iV7LdpV4jctnrbs

[@purplemelody3216]

Thank you giving IU a chance. Please continue reacting to more of her songs. You haven't dive into BTS up till now, right? I recommend checking out their music as it's really good and complex. Suga, who produced this track is a member of BTS and one of the greatest musicians I've seen so far. if you really care about music and vocals, then they are the ones you should really look into. I would recommend listening to BTS room live (festa2021) or BTS Tiny Desk Concert which is them singing medley of few of their songs live, rather than reacting to an MV as a first listen. As of IU, I'm sure other commenters had already talked about her greatness as a singer and what the song means. I recommend checking out the live performance of this song and another one her song called "love wins all" as her vocals shines in that song.

[@tifaa1313]

IU, the queen of korea, she is such an artist I can't believe you never heard of her. I hope you check out more of her, and of Suga and BTS, I'd recommend Love Wins All (kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJ3IoHSmpcarn5I) for IU, or People pt. 2 (kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4enXoydr6mtr7s) which is another song IU and Suga made together but is Suga's song so more focused on him (under his other stage name for solo projects: AgustD)

[@SilverFang95]

More BTS?

[@michaelfoley5295]

Just a little bit of research on someone new to you might help prevent you from making silly and embarrassing errors. In all my years of listening to IU I have NEVER her anyone accuse her of using auto tune. This includes at least one channel of a sound engineer who points out the use of auto tune and shows it to you through the usecof electronics. And he has never detected any such use by IU. There was one channel who claimed that she was lip syncing her song Blueming in a live clip of her 2019 Loce Poem tour. It was the most ridiculous claim. The part they claimed was when she was actually holding her mic towards the crowd for then to sing with the backing track. It is the only time I have ever seen someone accused of lip syncing when they weren't even actually singing. And hopefully by now you know your KZbin reaction to Eight was not even close. Although coming into this song without any background it is understandable. But just in case you have not been informed about the meaning of the Song I will give you as short a version has possible. IU released this song on May 6th of 2020, six mo the after she completed her Love Poem tour. At the start of her tour she learned of the suicide death of one if her best friends Sulli, who was a singer and actress as well. The had known eachother for 8 years having meet on a TV show they cohosted. Sulli was the 2nd friend that IU had lost upto that point. The 1st was Junghyun of Shinee who committed suicide in 2017. And during the 2nd night of her tour in Seoul she learned of yet another friend who had taken her life as well Goo Hara. IU had difficulty finishing the concert. There is a fan cam video of her talking to her fans about the news and her struggling to sing her final song. Within the context of these events she wrote this song as she struggled to deal with these events. The video, like many IU MV's has a lot of symbolism, images and metaphors contained within it that it you are lacking the background information you will certainly miss and may miss even if you are well versed in topic. The lizards, dragon, items in the house, the house itself, the animation scenes are all very significant and help tell the story. Looking at the lyrics from this point of view makes them very clear. It is not a space ship but rather a memory recording device. As the songs tells us her memories are wearing out and she doesn't want to forget her friends. So she is recording her memories where her friends will remain forever young. There are explanation videos of this and other IU songs on KZbin that do a pretty good job of pointing things out and telling you of the connections, but not even these videos capture everything going on. This song is part of her age series. Which lead some to believe early on that the song was about her reflecting on her past. Using the Korean age system were you are 1 at birth and your age changes at the 1st of the year, ON January 1st of 2020 IU was entering her 28th year. The title has several references. To her Korean age of 28, 8 placed on its side being the infinity sign meaning forever, and the number of years she had known Sulli. In the video she is seen with 27 pearls glued to her arm. This signifies that the events she is struggling with occurred during her 27th year. At the end of the video the E in Eight, the 3 legs split off leaving the I and forming the U meaning IU has for now split off from her friends to continue living as IU. There is so much more still in this MV, but I will leave it at that. One more thing IU has done using her lyrics and MV's to tell stories. And that is she will use multiple songs and MV's to tell a story in multiple parts. The best example of this starts with her song You & I which was released in 2011 and is about the boy she loves being in a coma. So she builds a time machine. In the MV she sets the future date of .Dec 31st 2019. In Dec of 2019 she released the MV for her song Above the Time. Which picks up the story. She also released Blueming which is part 3. Then in Sept of 2021 she released a single Strawberry Moon which is the final part completing the story over 10 years. IU is a generational talent. Rolling Stone added her their list of the 200 greatest singers of all time in January of 2023.

[@ohacade408]

Generally I approach every reaction with little research, so I can take the music and lyrics as is, and give a truly raw interpretation. I then enjoy reading comments to educate me further and provide background, as you have done, which I very much appreciate. I don’t intend pointing out the autotune as an accusation. Tuning vocals is standard practice in pop music (and most other genres) and is expected, especially in studio recordings. As I said, while I noticed it here, it’s not very excessive compared to some other stuff out there. I look forward to checking out more of her music soon :)