South Korean solo singer IU is on a roll.
Not only is she currently dominating the charts, landing five of the top 10 songs on the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 this week, but she is doing it with an album, "Modern Times" that stylistically is a million miles away from any of the artists she is competing against.
Ranging from acoustic jazz to American cabaret torch songs to Afro-Cuban rhythms, IU proves that pop music doesn't have to play by the rules in order to find mainstream success with "Modern Times."
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One great example of IU's daring sonic adventurism on the album, is the song "Wait."
Although it was the least successful track commercially off of "Modern Times" this week, debuting at a paltry number 41 on the Billboard K-pop chart, "Wait" should not be overlooked.
With a structure that is light on vocals and short on length (the song barely cracks the 2:30 mark), many IU fans getting into "Modern Times" may see the song as a sonic interlude or even worse, filler.
That would be a big mistake.
With a beat reminiscent of the jazz-hip-hop musical fusion of the early 1990s as pioneered by groups like Gang Starr, Digable Planets and US3, IU and producer Cho Young Chul create a song that is ready to hit the dance floor.
Most impressively, the singer does this while maintaining the grace and sophistication that permeates the rest of the record's more retro and organic songs.
With the prevalence of jazz and salsa styles on "Modern Times", many of the songs feature live musicians.
But when Cho drops the sequenced hip-hop beat in "Wait," IU shows she is ready to deliver.
But she also seems resolute to maintain every aspect of her musical identity, with a bit of the old, a bit of the new or whatever else seems right to this promising young vocalist.
Listen to "Wait" from IU's new album "Modern Times" RIGHT HERE
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