IU's new song 'Love Wins' stirs queerbaiting controversy

A poster to IU's new song "Love Wins" / Captured from Internet

IU’s new song “Love Wins” is facing a “queerbaiting” backlash ahead of its release, as the K-pop singer-songwriter allegedly appropriated and modified the political context of a slogan strongly linked with the LGBTQ community.

EDAM Entertainment, IU’s agency, revealed, Thursday, the artist’s handwritten introduction to the song, in which she explained that “Love Wins” stems from her personal journey of overcoming hatred directed at her with the love and support of her fans.

“Some people say this is the time of hatred … From my personal experience, hatred is always alone when it seems to be winning, whereas love is always with us, even when it’s running away and falling apart in the dark. Love has a chance (to win),” she wrote.

IU's handwritten introduction to her new song "Love Wins" / Captured from internet

The song’s title, “Love Wins,” has been used by the LGBTQ pride and solidarity movement for years.

It was widely used to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June 2015 to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples.

The term has also been used to mourn the victims of homophobic attacks and support the LGBTQ community since it was used in the memorial of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The queer-centric slogan, as well as the term “time of hatred” that the artist used in the intro, has been widely used in local pride festivals and conveys LGBTQ references.

Against that backdrop, related phrases, including “Love Wins,” “IU song,” “sexual minorities” and “time of hatred,” are trending in Korean on X, formerly known as Twitter, with over 35,000 related posts.

“I feel like our slogan was stolen,” one user wrote, while another said, “She shouldn’t have used the phrase of sexual minorities like that, especially when we are exposed to so much discrimination, including risk of homicide.”

“When someone who seems so innocent yet has big influence acts so naive against social minorities, small worlds (of minorities) perish while hatred grows,” another wrote.

Meanwhile, others argued that the artist is referring to the general message of love.

“This is a common combination of words anybody can use and I don’t understand why sexual minorities claim the phrase for themselves,” an online user wrote, while others said, “It’s too early to criticize before the song is released.”

According to Lim Hee-yun, a culture critic and K-pop specialist, the critical discourse stems from IU’s and K-pop’s growing cultural influence.

“In August 2018, popular American country pop singer Carrie Underwood released a song of the same title. The song doesn’t mention any support for LGBTQ and talks about gun violence and overcoming prejudice,” Lim said, explaining the song only received minor criticism online.

Although he believes it is yet too early to discuss the song’s meaning in detail, “a good song and good art tend to make people sympathize with the message and convey meanings in several aspects,” he said.

IU’s new song “Love Wins” will be released on Jan. 24.