The boys from Stray Kids are back with their latest mini-album ‘ATE’. We’re beyond stoked for this, especially with the announcement that Stray Kids will have an OST on the latest ‘Deadpool’ film.
Let’s jump in!
ATE
We start off with ‘Mountains’. We’re going for a grand and powerful opening track. The grungy guitars, the strong vocals and the growling make for a very impressive opener.
‘Chk Chk Boom’ is a Latin style hip-hop track with SO much charisma and power. This is literally so much fun and a fantastic vibe. The chorus goes hard and is a total earworm. I also like the alternating hook, as it creates a fun momentum.
Changbin’s verse was fire! I loved the little Neil Armstrong pun.
‘JJAM’ is up next. This is another hard track with a fast pace and a lot of EDM influences and strong synths. This is a hype track and I can already imagine how hard it will be to control my speed while listening to this as I’m driving.
‘I like it’ is a bit softer than ‘JJAM’. We’re going for pop dance in this one but we’re enforcing that with a drill beat. I like (pun intended) the balance between the vocals and the rap verses. This is catchy as hell.
The opening for ‘Runners’ immediately captured my attention. This one is co-written by Bang Chan and Felix. I love this futuristic synth sound. The panning between the headphones on the ‘zoom’ lyric was awesome. I liked this line from the album description: “This song powerfully and sensually conveys the ambition to ‘run forward’.”
‘twilight’ is a beautiful mid-tempo ballad that focuses on the members’ vocals and delivers an emotional interlude. I really enjoyed the jazz moment during the second half of the track.
Next up is ‘Stray Kids’. We’re getting a biography of the journey Stray Kids have had on a drum and bass instrumentation. “This song is for everyone who has been with them until they became who they are today.” This is super wholesome.
The closing track is the Festival version of the title track ‘Chk Chk Boom’.
Go ahead and listen to ‘ATE’ by Stray Kids on Spotify here.
