Lilac (IU album)
Critical reception
Critical reception
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In evaluating *Lilac*, South Korean critics placed it in the broader perspective of IU's discography of the last decade, describing it as an album that incorporates "the many activities and various styles" she has challenged, the sounds of her twenties and the experiences of her own life, "unraveling the days that have passed so far from a variety of perspectives." Although critics Kim Hak\-sun and Lee Dae\-hwa regretted the lack of cohesion and freshness in the music, despite the album's high level of completeness, the choice to personally write the lyrics of all the songs served to "capture the organicity of the entire album", "eliminating the sense of imbalance". Shim Yoon\-ji of the *[Kyunghyang Shinmun](/wiki/Kyunghyang_Shinmun "Kyunghyang Shinmun")* felt that the "exciting yet lonely, lyrical yet ambiguous" lyrics revealed IU's strengths, and that, by recounting her growth through music, she had developed a record "that comforts young people who live in the contemporary age," concluding that the album's greatest characteristic was that it was "so different that it cannot be summarized in a single word."

Hwang Sun\-up of *IZM* called *Lilac* "a flower made of sounds" in which "the biggest change is the trendy sound transplantation based on multi\-person collaboration, commonly used in idol groups." While observing that it might seem "a composition that can be a bit cluttered because it feels like it contains various things without much calculation," this is overcome "by the sense of unity and immersion that career\-based storytelling gives," and concluded that "behind the seemingly glamorous work, the silhouette of [Lee Ji\-eun](/wiki/IU_%28singer%29 "IU (singer)"), a human being who overcame the confusion of the past and proved herself, bloomed more beautifully than anyone else."

Both *Newsis* and *Rolling Stone Korea* concluded there couldn't be a more perfect farewell.

Foreign critics focused more on the new musical direction, found by *[NME](/wiki/NME "NME")* "bolder, louder and more fun," with which "IU steps out of her comfort zone to offer pure pop escapism," swapping "her subdued brand of sun\-kissed pop for dancefloor hits." Chase McMullen of *[Beats Per Minute](/wiki/Beats_Per_Minute_%28website%29 "Beats Per Minute (website)")* praised the choice of leaning on external collaborators, commenting that they had given a breath of fresh air and that most of *Lilac*'s music sounded "weightless and playful," never straying too far "from what she knowingly calls 'the IU sound'," while drawing on the most disparate music and genres. He concluded that it is "an album of rumination, prideful bliss tempered by melancholy, and, above all, acceptance," in which IU "is both spectator and the spectated, the show is both pure performance and genuine, even fragile intimacy." *Rolling Stone India* spoke of it as a "grand celebration of all things summer and pop," in which "her artistry has only evolved and bloomed into something greater, more powerful and profound," and appreciated the choice to intervene on the album as a producer.

Instead, *The Chicago Maroon* praised IU's lyrical talent and found *Lilac* "an album about surveying the rubble of your twenties and picking at shards of memory, not just the glimmering fragments of your best past selves, but also the singed photographs of exes and old friends. It is about the queasy recollection of moments where you gambled and lost, and above all, the flat realization that you are here, now, looking back at the end of an era." While acknowledging the presence of more sunshine pop tracks such as "Troll" and "Celebrity," it felt they weren't enough to define the whole album "pure pop escapism" and "weightless and playful" as done by *NME* and *Beats Per Minute*.

Korean online magazine *Idology* named *Lilac* among the ten best albums of the year. *NME* included it on their list of the best Asian albums of 2021, while *IZM* and *Rolling Stone India* on their list of the best K\-pop albums of the year. It was also featured among the memorable music releases of 2021 according to *Allure Korea*. "Lilac" was included in the lists of the best K\-pop songs of 2021 compiled by *Rolling Stone Korea*, *NME*, *Billboard* and *Teen Vogue*. "Empty Cup" placed 42nd on the list of the 50 best songs of 2021 according to *Beats Per Minute*.


How does IU's discography over the last decade relate to the album 'Lilac'?