Tag: Stray Kids

Stray Kids is nominated for Best Male Group, while Stray Kids’ rappers (HYUNJIN, HAN, CHANGBIN and FELIX) are nominated for Best Rap Performance. Their comeback single S-Class is nominated in a number of categories including Best Male Performance (Group), Best Electronic Song, Best Music Video etc. Support Stray Kids, S-Class and your other favourite acts from 2023 by clicking here to vote today.

Stray Kids have gone above and beyond again with their latest comeback, ROCK-STAR, and the title track LALALALA. In addition to the title track, Stray Kids have also unveiled the music video for MEGAVERSE, thus making it eligible for a song review – the reason as to why we are here today.

MEGAVERSE is quite an intense track, with the track being at its best when the intensity is at its peak. The song goes for some really dramatic synths that sets the tone of the track in a matter of seconds. The flute-y synth in the chorus is very memorable, giving MEGAVERSE that really defining element that instantly makes you remember the likes of MEGAVERSE if you were to hear it standalone elsewhere. But as mentioned at the start, the best part of MEGAVERSE’s instrumentation is towards the end when they really went in hard with the very wild and powerful synth concentration. As for Stray Kids, they did a really great job. FELIX and BANGCHAN’s opening line were so epic, while CHANGBIN, HAN and HYUNJIN’s rapping in the verses were so engaging and had great flow. LEE KNOW did a really good job fitting into the song, as well. SEUNGMIN and I.N were the members I had most concerns, given they shine brightest with more delicate material and MEGAVERSE doesn’t really reflect their wheelhouse. But I am happy to be corrected, as their vocals moments in the pre-chorus ends up being really nice moments of relief, which allows the song to ‘reset’ itself, so that the chorus drop can continually feel invigorating and less tiresome every time it comes back around. MEGAVERSE is a very strong opening track that really showcases who Stray Kids are and their style of music.

The music video opens up with a bored security guard, munching on some food and scribbling on an image of Stray Kids in the newspaper. Yeah… he shouldn’t have done that. Each member of Stray Kids make themselves known to the security guard in the video, with the group first appearing in the elevator on one of the guard’s screen out of nowhere. And without touching him, he faces the force of Stray Kids, who sends him flying into a glass wall and falling down a floor through the floor. This pretty much terrifies the guard, who tries to run away. But he can’t seem to do that, as he finds himself in a constant loop circling back to BANGCHAN, who we all know would go out of his way to protect his fellow members.  In the end, he snaps out of it after a fellow security guard interrupts what appears to be just a moment for the guard. That fellow security guard is TABLO from EPIK HIGH, who makes an unexpected appearance in this video. He is also intrigued by the newspaper. But rather experiencing what the other guard went through, he simply writes his name alongside Stray Kids in the crossword section of the newspaper (which interestingly has a “Next ‘X’?” title), which might be hinting towards a future collaboration between the two.

Ahead of the album drop, MEGAVERSE was performed as part of the group’s 5-Star Dome Tour. Said performance is very angsty and aggressive, matching up with the atmosphere that MEGAVERSE brings out and the delivery the group gives. It is a bold piece that definitely grabs your attention. And like the song itself, this might just become the very performance you might want to introduce non-fans to  Stray Kids.

Song – 10/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9.5/10

Stray Kids is officially back with a brand new single titled LALALALA, which is the lead single off their 8th mini-album, ROCK-STAR. This releases follows from an already busy 2023 for the group, which has consisted of a studio-length album (headlined by the single S-Class, which has been nominated for multiple awards in the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards), 2 Japanese comebacks (The Sound and Social Path – both of which has been nominated for an award in the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards, as well), the continuation of their MANIAC world tour and their 5-STAR Dome Tour (just to name a few key event/releases).

For me, the standout moment in LALALALA is its chorus. It is definitely a continuation of the dynamic and bombastic energy that the group have continuously presented to the audience in their choruses over multiple songs. LALALALA‘s beat translates into foot-stomping energy (which goes hand-in-hand with the performance), while the chorus lines were short, snappy and hooky. The shouty delivery does mean the chorus forgo melodies, but I am not too troubled by it. But nonetheless, it is a sequence that I would gladly go back to. Similarly, the outro sequence, featuring Seungmin and Lee Know’s vocals and Bangchan’s falsetto, ends LALALALA extremely well. On the other hand, the rest of LALALALA just doesn’t feel memorable enough – this comment only comes after a lot of listens to LALALALA under the belt. Yes, the rest of LALALALA (i.e., the verses and bridge) has everything you expect when it comes to a Stray Kids title track, such as powerful rapping and the energy from these sequences never lets up. And I wish to emphasise that the verses and bridge are not bad in any way. But there just wasn’t anything new in these sequences, which made LALALALA feel plain by Stray Kids’ standards and leaves me disappointed with LALALALA. Great centrepiece, but LALALALA could have been better had the rest of the song done more.

Once again, the cinematography seen in the music video is amazing. Particularly, the drone shots at the end of the video were epic and showcases the scale that is LALALALA‘s music video when everyone from all corners of the video are performing LALALALA with the group. From what I can gather from Stray Kids’ reaction to the music video, it begins with the marching band kids (a recurring set of costumes in Stray Kids’ music video) we see throughout the video feeling four types of emotions on stage – anger, happiness, sadness and pleasure, represented by the Hanja characters (and probably all the different settings we see in the video). But as the video progresses, 3 emotions (anger, happiness and sadness) disappear, leaving only pleasure (‘rak’ as pronounced in Korean) behind, highlighting that the kids ultimately felt pleasure whilst performing on stage. Stray Kids’ themselves also theorised that the eight kids on stage are younger versions of themselves (by drawing parallels to their height), which then provides the meaning that Stray Kids feels pleasure whilst performing on stage.

Stray Kids really know how to put on a performance, and I feel that LALALALA‘s performance is testament to that. I really liked the vibration parts at the start the choreography and the foot-stomping in the chorus really channels the energy of LALALALA super well.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10

Finally, the final song review for the ★★★★★ (5-STAR) era. The song in question is titled Youtiful, which serves as the album’s 10th track. Including the title and this track, I have written a total of 6 reviews for this era, with the most recent being TOPLINE (ft. Tiger JK). This does not include an additional two reviews for two other tracks that were release prior to ★★★★★ (5-STAR). Following this song review, I will be posting the full album review for ★★★★★ (5-STAR) on the weekend. I do find it funny, however, that I will be doing this all over again for the next era that will occur some time in the remainder of 2023.

Youtiful blends the words ‘You’ and ‘Beautiful’ to create its title. And based on this alone, you can tell that the song is about how everyone is beautiful as they are, and that the track is directed to towards their fans and other listeners. It is extremely heartfelt and brings a smile to my face every time I listen to it. To reach an even wider audience, the entirety of Youtiful is in English. All of the members perfectly delivery their lines and sing wonderfully throughout the track. The combination of the piano and guitar backing and the members singing gives off such warm and comforting vibes. The melodies and instrumentation are very simple and straightforward, but this makes Youtiful an easy listen. Overall, I find Youtiful to be such an effective track and it does exactly what it is set out to do.

Youtiful‘s music video differs from the rest of the other music videos we got from this era, as it is more of a lyric video and it is also animated. It is also the only video to not feature Stray Kids in any form aside from their vocals. I find the animation to be cute, with the animation showing the lives of an ordinary people finding out news that space is coming closer to them. The news and the wider population sees the whole situation in a more upsetting sense, focusing on asteroids coming close to the Earth’s orbut. But a select few in the video sees the situation from a more beautiful perspective, focusing on the closer presence of the planets and stars.

Song – 9/1`0
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.6/10

You can probably guess by now that when I am covering the side tracks off an album that has a music video released alongside it, I am gearing up for their album review. And that is definitely the case of Stray Kids’ ★★★★★ (5-STAR). So far, I have covered DLC and FNF, as well as the title track S-Class. But there are a few more music videos released for the ★★★★★, so do expect a review for each of those associated songs over the coming weeks. Today’s review is focused on Get Lit, which is 7th track from their 3rd studio length album.

Loud and shouty are the exact words I would use to describe GET LIT. While that might sound negative, I use them quite positively in the context of GET LIT. I really enjoyed the bold energy of this track. The instrumental itself, which is a mixture of moombahton and bounce EDM, has a squeaky-like distorted effect that made it quite unique. The twangs in the instrumentation also kept it fun and playful. The loudness that I mentioned before stems from the instrumentation, as well. Again, squeaky and loud doesn’t sound appealing, but that is not the case with GET LIT. As the instrumental is quite loud, the vocals and rapping had to come off as shouty to work in the track. And it does. Both had to follow through, and I like the control and balance they strike. The rapping in the verses was very impressive and the shouty vocals in the pre-choruses and choruses still managed to bring a brief yet memorable melody into play. Altogether, the elements of GET LIT come together to exude the one thing that the title promises – an energetic and hyped up party vibe that doesn’t hold back.

The music video features both a fashion show and a party. The fashion show highlights the members’ amazing visuals and felt very appropriate given the group and individual members’ recent ventures into the fashion world with modelling work and the announcement of global ambassadorships for some big named fashion brands. The party itself felt very exclusive, coming off from the fashion show concept and with Bang Chan DJing in the midst of the party. The music video also does a good job of ensuring the video is lit, matching with the energy and title of the song.

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

It is time for another Stray Kids review and their 3rd studio album ★★★★★ (5-STAR) has an abundance of side tracks that have become eligible for a review with the release of a music video. So, today, I will be picking another track from album for a quick review. FNF is the 9th track on the album and is the third song review from ★★★★★ (5-STAR), following on from S-Class and DLC.

FNF stands for floral and fauna, and was written by Bangchan and Felix in honour of the plants and animals that lost their lives during the devastating bushfires that occurred over Summer in eastern states of Australia in 2019-2020. As for the song, it is very pleasant, with a bright and summery pop instrumental that instantly reminds you of the feeling of a nice warm day. The guitar work was very refreshing and I like how pure this element of FNF sounded. The beat that came through with the synths gives the song some bite to it. The vocals were very nicely pitched, and FNF also sees the members adding a slight delicate and emotional touch in their delivery of their vocals, which works well with the lyrics and other take on FNF‘s meaning. The melodies were also enjoyable and there was a decent flow to them. While FNF doesn’t stand out as the best track of the album, it was super appreciable and touching number to feature on this album.

I mentioned above that the song reminded me of the feeling a nice warm day. And that is exactly what we see in the video, which was shot in Australia. In the video, we get to see the members appreciate, the really nice weather that Australia has to offer in the cities and at the beaches. We also see the members being pensive throughout the video, which complements the other meaning of longing for someone who isn’t there anymore. Also, not a compliant and more of a suggestion, but I thought that the video feature more of the regional areas of Australia, where the floral and fauna are located in Australia given the inspiration of the song, For me and knowing what regional Australia has to offer, that is what I personally felt was missing from the video.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10