IU [Loen Entertainment]

<#10LOGO#> So are you sort of putting a distance between yourself and them?
IU: Yes. I wouldn't get hurt even if someones came up to me and said things in my face. I get hurt when someone I likes tell me, 'I'm disappointed in you' but I really don't pay attention to people that I'm not that interested in. And I think that's why I'm okay even when I see malicious comments about me on the Internet. I don't have a heart that's big enough to make the haters like me. If someone hates me, all I need to do is not like them either.

<#10LOGO#> It's not easy to have such a mindset at your age. Is there a reason you know how to protect yourself like that?
IU: I think I'm just born this way. [laughs] There are people who pay attention to each and every person around them, if there's a misunderstanding they'll rush to solve them, and don't make enemies. But I'm not really like that. That's why I have anti-fans as well but if I leave things the way they are, I won't get hurt and they won't get hurt.

<#10LOGO#> I felt that you seemed overly composed as well when you talked about your childhood on MBC's "Come Play" a while ago.
IU: People told me that I seemed very dogged because of that. Also because I was so calm when talking about something that I should have been crying over on SBS' "Strong Heart" as well. But I really wasn't fazed or was going through a hard time back then. I sort of had a confidence for some reason. I felt what I'm going through will be only for a moment and that I'd become a singer and sing my whole life so I wasn't swayed by the situation I was in back then. Plus it's something I had already overcome so I had no trauma over it which was why I was probably able to smile while talking about it. I probably wouldn't have talked about it on television if I hadn't overcome it.

<#10LOGO#> Wasn't it hard to have to make a lot of decisions on your own after debuting at such a young age?
IU: Not really. I rather preferred it. I debuted when I was 15 but that's the age that you want to be an adult and make all the decisions. So I was happy that I could decide things the way I wanted them to be. And even if I regretted a decision, I didn't let it get noticed because I made the decision, not because someone made me. I'm also quite stubborn as well, since I was a baby. [laughs] Because my parents raised me in a way that I'd be able to do things on my own.

<#10LOGO#> But the range and impact your decisions will have will grow the more popular you become and that'll mean you'll have more responsibility laid in your hands.
IU: I think I just need to tell myself that I don't need to be scared of anything and that nothing is difficult. I may be dogged and strong-willed but on the other hand, I also sometimes get hurt and cry over nothing. So I don't really get scared when I tell myself that even people who look strong and cold on the outside, at the end are all the same as me. I've started thinking this way from a certain point on. That I'm dogged and strong and will never become intimidated! [laughs]

<#10LOGO#> So you're constantly hypnotizing yourself.
IU: Before I made my debut, a lot of people told me that I have to have strong faith in myself to become a celebrity. That I'll be able to sing in front of the camera only by thinking of myself as great and cool. But I have always lacked that. A lot of the time, I still go on stage without certainty in myself. I dont' think I've learned how to enjoy myself on stage. I think I'll gain confidence with experience because I have more confidence now than I did when I debuted.

<#10LOGO#> You'll probably reveal more of yourself starting from when you're in your twenties. Have you thought about what you'd be like in the future?
IU: A detailed plan... is something I totally do not have. [laughs] I don't desire to have my album become No. 1 nor become the best singer of our country. I just really want to be good and have fun with what I do. And because I don't have a clear goal, I'm not scared nor have high expectations. I'm okay with going back to my old self as Lee Ji-eun if something should happen someday. Someone once told me that I seem like a kid who has packed her stuff and is ready to leave where she is whenever the owner comes and tells her to.

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10 아시아 Reporter : Lee Ga-on
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