Every musician fights with the balance between authentic artistic expression and clear commercial viability. With that heat, everyone is more exhilarated with a K-pop boy group like Stray Kids for negotiating the fast-paced, real time results-focused K-pop industry.
‘Stray Kids’ also known as SKZ is a self-producing boy group formed under JYP entertainment by a survival reality show with 9 trainees. Fortunately, all 9 of them officially debuted with a great song 'District 9' on 25 March 2018. Sadly in 2019, a member named Woojin left the group due to personal reasons. The concept of this reality survival show was a lot like ‘Sixteen’, which was also a survival programme that had female trainees from JYP Entertainment as the contestants, and the winners of which became part of the K-pop girl group ‘Twice’.
The members of 'Stray Kids', Bang Chan, Lee know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seunmin, and I.N, are so talented that even before debuting they caught fans’ eyes with a music video “Hellevator” which made more than 3 million in just a few days.
One interesting fact of this boy group is that on 1 August, JYP Entertainment announced the'Stray Kids' official fandom name on their social media channels in a video, STAY. This was a well-thought name because according to the group, it conveys the meaning of the members wanting their fans to stay by their side. In their names' first word 'Stray', the letter ‘R’ stands for Reason, which means that their fans are their reason and where they stay. The name was revealed through the text, “Where Stray Kids STAY.”
'Stray Kids' is rising up to global stardom for making music that is relatable to the youth of today, the voice of this generation. They inspire their generation to speak for themselves. Most of their songs have really deep meanings with great music videos. Like, their first song before debut ‘Hellevator’ is a story of being a lost person in this society but escaping the pain through hope. At the starting of the song, the lyrics are about their past dark days. Using the term 'hellevator' they described their life as hell, but then it is used as more of an elevator to a new journey of happiness. That's why in the end, there’s a special verse saying “I went up with the Hellevator and it took my hand to the new beginnings”.
Stray Kids' debut song 'District 9' fully revolves around how the government trains them closely in order to metaphorically and literally fabricate them as products for the benefit of the state. And then the members try to escape the facility and turn the view of society, to discover who they really are. They understand they are no longer the robots encased in an ordered society. Now, they are free birds, capable of changing, they understand their feelings and emotions. They get to break the frame and escape the system.
Their previous comeback 'God’s Menu' takes on a unique theme of cooking, linking the song to a dish that can satisfy every listener’s taste and is as special as God’s gift. Mostly the lyrics mean that they keep making and improving and no one can copy them. They also refer listeners that even if they go away for a moment eventually they will want Stray Kids again. There’s one line that is really iconic in this song saying “You ask that what our secret ingredient is but we don't even use one.”
At the very end of the 'God’s Menu's music video, the members of 'Stray Kids' were seen walking through a back door, which is also the title for their recent comeback title track. It shows us how much planning goes into their comebacks, especially when they are all interlinked like this. 'Back Door' is a song that invites you through the back door to join them. In the music video of this song, there were many actors from their previous music videos. Like there were the scientists, the masked people doing measurements, and the schoolgirls from 'God’s Menu'.
But why were there people from all walks of life? Because they wanted to show, anyone can be lost at a certain time in their life. No matter who you are, we all have felt lost at one point or another. It’s Stray Kids’ purpose as a group to invite you in and show you that you are not alone.
‘Back Door’ is featured in the repackaged version of their first studio album, 'Go Live', which has been renamed to 'In Life'. It also is thoughtful because if we connect the names of the albums we get the phrase "Go live in life". The repackaged album includes tracks from the previous album with an addition of eight new songs and with a total of 17 songs. 'Stray Kids’ member Changbin explained that they showed off the unique colour of their music in the previous album, so in this album, they tried to include songs like love songs that would make people realise, 'Stray Kids' can do this kind of music too.
Another member Han added that in ‘Go Live’, they expressed the fearless ambition needed to plunge into life. On another side ‘In Life’ expressed the various emotions that unfold when we go through life. Since it’s the follow-up track of ‘God’s Menu,’ they tried to create more exciting vibe in contrast to the powerful energy expressed through ‘God’s Menu’.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up but the most certain way to succeed is trying one more time. We should always believe that one person can change the world. If you have a thought or an idea, just let it out. Because who knows? You can also make the world a much better place. Don’t give up on anything.'Stray Kids' is with you till the end so go live in your life.
Rumaiysa M Rahman is a 9th grader at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka