Stray Kids is nominated for Best Male Group, while Thunderous is nominated for Best Male Choreography (Group), Best Electronic Song and Best Music Video, and Changbin and Seungmin are nominated for other categories. Support Stray Kids, their members and Thunderous by clicking here.

As mentioned in my most recent review (i.e. Christmas EveL), Stray Kids have returned with a double title track comeback. In this post, I will focus on Winter Falls, the second title track of the comeback, as the music video for this dropped the day after Christmas EveL. This new release follows the group’s second studio album comeback, NOEASY and Thunderous‘, and their Japanese comeback, Scars.

Winter Falls is very different track to Christmas EveL. Whilst the other title track is a hip-hop themed Christmas track, Winter Falls is a lot more traditional with its approach. I must note that this particular track isn’t Christmas themed (there was no holiday references in this song), but rather just a Winter ballad-like single about holding onto past love. Winter Falls manages to still deliver a punch though, as the song technically doesn’t conform to the typicalness of a ballad. I really like how the acoustic touches in the instrumental, and the upbeatness the pop influences add to the song. However, the punch comes from the melodies that the group delivers, complimenting the emotional weight of the lyrics and the sentimental tone of the song. The ‘Winter Falls‘ and the subsequent ‘Fall‘ (and its echo) we get in the chorus was very memorable. It also helps that the melodies were very warm and inviting in this song, further adding to the appeal of the track. Bringing those melodies to life are the vocals. I mentioned in the review for Christmas EveL that I am not a fan of the hip-hop direction that vocalists follow as they don’t do the vocalist justice. Well, Winter Falls definitely compensates for that. And if I had to name a member who shined, it definitely had to be Seungmin who was effortlessly stunning throughout Winter Falls. They still managed to throw in rapping into the song, and expertly weave it into without it being too disruptive to the song’s melody, though the shouty line in the first chorus could have been omitted. I particularly like the rapped lines that is between the ‘La La La‘s at the end of the song. It helped create a nice outro that wrapped with the song well. Overall, Winter Falls is a very strong track with a stunning showcase of vocals and melody that I cannot put down.

Like the song, the music video takes an emotional approach. You can tell so from just the colours of the video, which were predominately grey. Definitely not exactly a white Christmas in this video. The members appear to be in this limbo, holding onto the memories of their past relationship. They are in the phone booth calling their past lovers, and their facial expressions show that their mind are heavy in such thoughts. The video ends with the phone booth on fire, which I assume represents that they are moving on. We don’t see who lights it up or how it came to its burning fate. But it tells us that they won’t be able call their former lover anymore. Lee Know also drops the necklace he was holding onto for most of the video, further fueling the change for the members. I don’t mind the video, and thought their acting portrayed the emotions well.

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