SEOUL, Sept. 5 -- IU is finally ready to return to the music scene. Her label, EDAM Entertainment, announced Friday that the singer will unveil a new digital single next Thursday - a release that effectively ends a year-long pause brought on by a stubborn ear condition that disrupted her schedule.

The agency shared a brief teaser clip on her social platforms but kept everything else under wraps, including the song's name and concept. The drop will be her first new track since Bye, Summer, which arrived in September last year.

IU, 33, had been preparing a pair of solo concerts in Goyang earlier this month, but the shows were scrapped when she suffered a flare-up of patulous Eustachian tube, a disorder that leaves the ear canal unusually ...