IU accused of sexualising five-year-old book character in song lyrics
SEOUL: Singer-songwriter IU, previously considered K-pop’s sweetheart for her innocent image and vocal talents, has been mired in controversy over allegations of paedophilia in her song lyrics.
At the centre of the controversy is Zeze, a track on the young starlet’s latest album, Chat-shire, released last month. The song was inspired by 5-year-old boy character Zeze in the novel My Sweet Orange Tree, written by Brazilian author Jose Mauro de Vasconcelos.
The song Zeze, written from the viewpoint of the orange tree, includes lyrics that some claim are sexually suggestive, such as: “Zeze, hurry and climb up the tree / kiss the leaves,” “If you hurt the tree, bad, bad,” “Take the youngest leaf here / Pick the only flower / Climb up me / Climb up me,” “You’re very naive / but certainly sly,” “You might seem transparent like a young child / but something about you is dirty” and “tomorrow night, will you come see me again.”
Explaining the song, the 22year-old singer has said: “Zeze is innocent but cruel in some aspects. He is a character with many paradoxes, which is why I felt he was charming and sexy.”
In the story, which is featured in the Korean sixthgrade curriculum, Zeze is an imaginative but misunderstood five-year-old boy who is physically abused by his family and comes to befriend an orange tree.
Korean commenters online as well as critics, academics and artists are largely divided over the issue, with some defending the young starlet’s freedom of artistic expression and others claiming a line must be drawn when it comes to literary interpretation suggestive of paedophilia.
Dongnyok Publishing Co., the publisher of the Korean translation of My Sweet Orange Tree, called IU’s interpretation of the child character “wrong” and raised concerns over a young character being portrayed as a sexual being.
“It is a great pity that (IU) considered the five-year-old Zeze to be a sexual subject.
“Freedom of expression has to be achieved in light of public sympathy,” the company said in a statement.