Artist Highlight: Stray Kids
Although their debut was only a year ago, Stray Kids has kept busy by constantly releasing new songs, albums, and many music videos all while going on tour, and have even announced a new tour starting this January. Stray Kids’s music is known for using a variety of influences, followed by powerful lyrics. They have begun to incorporate more EDM styles into their music, which is clearly seen in their newer songs such as “Side Effects” and “Miroh.” Their recent release, Clé: Levanter, is their fifth mini-album that gives us a variety of songs and is the finale for their Clé series.
The Beginning
Stray Kids is an eight member group consisting of Bang Chan (leader), Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. They were formed under JYP Entertainment in 2017 through the reality show Stray Kids. In September of 2017, Stray Kids released the song “Hellevator” and had their official debut with the album I am NOT in March 2018 with the title track “District 9.”
Stray Kids became well recognized for self-producing all of their songs as well as creating their own choreography. The producing team, also known as 3RACHA, is made up of members Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han. There is a team that creates the choreography which is made up of Lee Know, Hyunjin, and Felix.
Clé: Levanter: The Finale
In this mini-album, Stray Kids wanted to showcase a variety of music genres. Through the announcement of this album, the group released music videos for “Double Knot” and “Astronaut” as a countdown for the release of the title track, “Levanter.” There are eight songs featured in this album, including:
“STOP”
“Double Knot”
“Levanter”
“Booster”
“Astronaut”
“Sunshine”
“You can STAY”
“Mixtape #5” (CD Only)
When asked about Clé, meaning key in French, leader Bang Chan mentioned that the “clé” that made Stray Kids is each other. It is important for Stray Kids to be able to rely on each other and spend time with each other. Their teamwork is a significant aspect that has allowed this young group to make such an impact in the K-Pop music industry and will have people eyeing them to see what may come next.
Check out the title track “Levanter” and their recent song “Mixtape: Gone Days” below!