Photo credit: JYP Ent

[Review] Stray Kids – ODDINARY

Stray Kids is back with their new EP ‘ODDINARY’. Let’s dive right in because I’ve been super curious.

ODDINARY

We start off with ‘VENOM’. The instrumentals go hard as hell. The track plays so well with tension and tempo. It’s a wild ride to listen to it. You’re going to feel this one in your entire body. What a great opening!

Next up is the title track ‘MANIAC‘. This is a track that displays the balance between letting loose and having restraint. There’s a lot of energy bubbling under the surface. Such a vibe. The chorus is such a MOMENT. It’s so catchy!

‘Charmer’ brings a new sound we’re not really used to hearing from Stray Kids. I like it! We’re still heavy on the rap but the instrumentals are not something we’ve come across often. Honestly, Stray Kids does rap so well. The drums are so cool. The flute adds such a fun element to this.

Next up is ‘FREEZE’. This type of EDM reminds me a lot of the early 2010s for some reason. What a vibe. The bridge creates such a lovely pause in the heavy EDM meets dubstep. The ending feels quite abrupt but it fits with the ‘FREEZE’ as in freeze in time shout.

Next up

‘Lonely St.’ slows things down a little bit. The interesting ballad where autotune and cool electric guitars meet is such an unusual listen. I had to replay it a couple of times. The lyrics are honestly amazing. I do wish they had dialed down the autotune a little. I really want to hear a proper – piano and string ballad version of this, I think it’d be a very emotional moment.

After that we get ‘Waiting For Us’ which is by the sub-unit Bang Chan, Lee Know, Seungmin and I.N. and this time we are getting a lovely rock ballad. We get a lovely display of their stunning vocals, something that deserves everyone’s full attention. If you need a cry, go ahead and read the translated lyrics.

The closing track is ‘Muddy Water’ which is by Changbin, Felix and Han. We’re going oldschool 90s hip-hop. What a vibe. The amount of talent is insane. The lyrics go hard and I need a black and white music video like yesterday.

Overall, ‘ODDINARY’ by Stray Kids is another really solid mini-album to add to their discography. They just keep re-inventing their own sound without losing that typical Stray Kids touch. I’m very impressed and will definitely be listening to this mini for a long time to come.

You can listen to it here on Spotify.

If you want to read about their previous release, you can click here.

Ilse Van Den Heede
A writer with a slight coffee addiction and a tendency to find K-Indie gems in the YouTube rabbit hole.