This week, JYP Entertainment has welcomed a brand new male group to their line-up, joining 2PM, GOT7 and DAY6. Stray Kids is a 9-member male group was formed from the reality show, Stray Kids. They released Hellevator in October last year a promotional track for the show. In January, the group released a pre-debut album titled Mixtape. Now, the boy group is back with their official debut mini-album, titled as I Am Not and the title track, District 9.

There are no surprises with the way the song turned out for me. If Hellevator and their Mixtape mini-album indicated anything, the group would be putting out a hip-hop/EDM styled song for their debut. District 9 is exactly that and it is quite intense from the very first second. The song seems to refocus on the rappers, with the majority of the song being quite rap-dominate (given how the verses, bridge and some parts of the chorus were raps). The chorus does provide some variety with the vocalists given their chance to shine in the rap-dominated song. What I noticed with this song is that there didn’t seem to be a buildup to the chorus. Instead, we were thrown into the chorus straight after the raps finished up for that part. I am not disappointed with this, however, because it felt flawless and amazing. I am personally not a big fan of the hip-hop side of KPOP but this song, combined with its dance elements, gives this group a huge advantage in the industry at the moment. It is an amazing debut song.

And this huge advantage might already be paying off. Stray Kids have become the group with the highest amount of views within 24 hours of debut. On top of that, they have accumulated more than 11 and a half million views within a span of 3 days. That is amazing, considering they just debuted 3 days ago. The music video shows the members being trapped inside a futuristic prison (that seems to be hidden from the public, like Area 51). The members seem to realize this and find a way out of the prison by crashing through the unseeable barrier and the real world (or what they dub as District 9). Kind of like how it alludes to their debut. It is a great video to watch, pairing well with the intensity of the song. The cinematography is amazing and you can tell the budget is well used with this music video.

The post-chorus sequence was really well done. The performance also went well with the song. They managed to be in sync all throughout the performance, particularly amazing me for the chorus. Their stage presence is quite large and if anything can come out of this performance is that these guys aren’t afraid to give some of the other groups a little competition when it comes to dancing.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9.3/10