Last week, I reviewed one of IU’s pre-release singles, Love Wins All, from her newly released mini-album The Winning. Following that, IU released another single from her mini-album, Holssi, which I will return to review at a later date. But for this review, I will be focusing on Tuesday’s release of Shopper, which coincides with the official release of The Winning.

Shopper has a message of ‘do not stop until you get what you want in life, no matter what stands in your way’. IU makes it a bit more complex by likening the above to a shopping spree in a supermarket, telling us to not worry about our greed and what other thinks as we put things into the trolley. A rather interesting concept and analogy. To present this musically to us, IU brings her usual sweet sounding vocals into a electropop rock mix. I liked the guitar flourishes in the background, which helps add a retro touch to Shopper. What I also like is with such a positive message, the music is incredibly bright and felt rather celebratory to help us realise that uplifting message. The melodies were just graceful, and I enjoyed the echo line that ends off each line in the verses. The soaring chorus was truly wonderful and is bound to bring a smile to your face if you hadn’t already started doing so earlier in Shopper. I do think she could have gone a bit further towards the end to really give Shopper an end that didn’t sound like a rehash of the rest of the song. But as it was, the end was still quite satisfying enough to enjoy.

Opening up the video is a narration from DPR IAN (who also appears in the music video alongside IU), which focuses on a mysterious magical shop and questions who has placed magical items around the store for people to find and unlock their powers (‘Was it a god? A fairy? Or maybe a thief?‘). The story then shifts an auction, where IU steals a magical bat. She is chased after the guards, and later holds DPR IAN’s character hostage and forces him to go on the run with her. While it was a hostage situation at first, it looks like DPR IAN’s character ends up joining her the road (though I have a theory that she might have purposely picked him – he was the only character to not be distracted by the money she throws into the air at the auction to be distracted). Not sure where she is going, but I am assuming she has to use the bat in the right place (which she does to party-fy the music video), those whom help her along the way (i.e., the stall owner in the desert and DPR IAN’s character) are gifted with an invitation to the magical shop to find those items and unlock their powers. The ending does have a fun and cute vibe to it, which matches up with the song quite nicely.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10