The guys from Stray Kids are back with their new mini-album ‘ROCK-STAR’. We’re super stoked to be hearing new music from them, so let’s dive right in!
ROCK-STAR
We start off with ‘MEGAVERSE’. This is such a dope opening. The layering is insane and the tempo changes are fun. The growls and the flute samples are cool additions. This is the type of quality I’m expecting from Stray Kids.
‘LALALALA’ comes up next. This title track lives up to the hype. It’s powerful, has an insane music video and a crazy level of production. The Afrobeats rhythm with the melody makes for an interesting blend.
‘BLIND SPOT’ follows along. Stray Kids hopes to give courage to the fandom with this track. I like this blend of EDM with a soft core. It’s a cool listen and I very much liked the balance between the vocal parts and the intense rap verses.
After that comes ‘COMFLEX’. The name references a mix of ‘complex’ and ‘flex’. We’re going for flexculture in this one and it’s kind of a vibe. There are no humblebrags in sight. Stray Kids fully owns their stuff. I dig it.
Next up
‘Cover Me’ was co-written by Hyunjin and Bang Chan. We start off with an acoustic instrumental moment before gently sliding along with an electric guitar to increase the tension. This is an emotion rock ballad and is a very pretty listen.
‘Leave’ tells the story of a painful break-up where you let go of the other person as to not cause them more pain. It’s emotional, feels a bit raw and has a very interesting guitar riff in the instrumental.
Next up is the track ‘Social Path’ featuring Japanese singer LiSA. This is a cool rock track with a lot of power. I’m kind of hyped about this collab. LiSA is very famous in Japan and has a lot of Anime OSTs.
The closing track is the Rock version of the title track.
Overall Stray Kids did a fantastic job with ‘ROCK-STAR’. There’s a lot of interesting tracks on the album and is super well produced. Go listen to it here.
