IU Releasing “Strawberry Moon” At Midnight Proves She Values Artistry Over Results — Here’s Why
IU is slated to make a long-awaited comeback with “Strawberry Moon” on October 19, 2021. However, unlike most releases these days, IU is choosing to drop the single at midnight. Ever since the changes made to the music charts in recent years, artists have switched to dropping their music at 5 to 6pm KST. The reason for this is simple.
After the changes to streaming sites were made, only music launched between 12-6pm KST on that day itself would be reflected in the real-time charts for that day. Due to this, if one releases a song after the 6pm period, your music will not be reflected in the charts until the next day. This will affect the streaming rank severely. For non-fans, they usual receive cues for music through the music charts. This blackout period would then be detrimental for most artists, especially rookies.
However, this is not the first time that IU has sacrificed results for artistry. Previously, with her “Autumn Morning” launch, she has specifically released it at 7am instead. This was for a special reason. Her company explained, “7am is a time that does not have any influence on charts at all so people rarely release songs at this hour. This song is like a gift to fans that IU conveys here sincerity with as she wants to repay fans by letting them have a beautiful autumn morning without any concern about results.”
Back then, IU shared that with “Through The Night”, it had been released around 6pm KST, something she had felt upset at. Although the night mood suited the song better, she had no choice due to the chart rankings. On the other hand, with “Autumn Morning”, she fought tooth and nail with her company for a morning release. IU explained that she wanted to be free from the competition on the charts and would continue to do so in the future.
It looks like IU got her wish! “Strawberry Moon”, a song fit for the dark sky when the moon is out, will be released at midnight KST. Coincidentally, she also timed it to match the full moon cycle!
We can’t wait!
