IU’s advice to fans about making friends: 'Try to focus on a few'

South Korean singer and songwriter IU is one of the country’s leading vocalists, lauded for her talent and mellifluous vocals. Recently she came forward to detail some of her personal struggles around making friends and being a socialite.

The conversation began when the singer received a fan question via GQ. It read, “It’s hard to make friends. How can I reach more people?”

IU touched upon the sensitive issue by revealing some of her own personal struggles. She was quoted saying, “I was like that, too. This one’s a hard one.”

“It’s actually quite hard for people with that kind of personality to reach friends easily. My personality in my early 20s was full of difficulties talking to others, comfortable being alone.”

IU went on to explain how difficult it was for her to change herself back in the day, “I tried hard to change my personality and it’s a lot better now. For me, I personally tried to think from the other’s point, considering what kind of question would make it easier to answer and let the talk go on. If you wanna reach closer to that person; that person’s gonna have several features, right?

“That person could be wearing a certain style frequently, might like this brand, might like this food. Try to notice these points and reach out to them with these topics. Custom questions are rather better to suggest than formal questions.”

She concluded by reminding fans, “But I think you don’t have to put too much effort on many people. Because if that’s hard for you, focusing on a few people is a good idea too.”