🎵 2022-09-08 ​​14:04:06 – Paris/France.
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Stray Kids' Felix watches the arena crowd — a lock of jet black hair bouncing off his forehead — and turns his palms up. “The new generation is here. "
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For hours, the eight K-pop musicians had been eliciting screams during a breathless performance at the Prudential Center on June 29, the second night of two consecutive sold-out shows at the arena in Newark, NJ. Yet the response to Felix's statement is particularly deafening. Teens and tweens feverishly wave their orb-shaped glow sticks as their parents clap respectfully. “We're the next generation – we were born into this world like a cool rain,” Felix continued in a measured tone while explaining the uplifting hip-hop track “Muddy Water.” Group leader Bang Chan, clutching a bottle of water to recover from frantic choreography, picks up the thread with a playful smile: “So it's like we're the new soft water to wash the muddy water away. »
From left: Bang Chan, Hyunjin, Han, Lee Know, Felix, Changbin, Seungmin and IN of Stray Kids photographed on July 13, 2022 at The Ruins in Seattle. Ssam Kim
Stray Kids – with their high-flying dance moves, fast-paced rapping, lyrics and visuals that suggest eight superpowers form an unbreakable bond – are they positioning themselves as the heroes of a new K-pop wave? "It's a little too big for us," says Bang Chan, leaning forward in his chair during a band meeting in Seattle two weeks after the Newark show. “What I can say is that we definitely try to make a good impression and be as authentic as possible for the people who look up to us. That includes their millions of young fans, who call themselves STAY and have found a home amplifying the band's distinct talents and personal quirks. Stray Kids admit to feeling the burden of waiting, but welcome it wholeheartedly. “Since our inception, our goal has been to reach as many 'stray kids' as possible,” continues Bang Chan, “to spread our music and give strength to people who really need it. »
Korean pop music finds itself in a state of transition after a whirlwind and record-breaking half-decade. Interest in the United States continues to soar – consumption of world music, which includes K-pop, rose 26,4% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year, according to Luminate's mid-year report on the US charts. But BTS, the group responsible for nearly a third of all K-pop sales and streams in the United States over the past 18 months, recently halted the group's activities. loomed for some members – creating a sort of vacuum (at least temporarily) at the top of the genre.
Changbin Ssam Kim
In a market that often downplays individual personalities in favor of cohesive units, Stray Kids have become the right boy band at the right time by proudly letting their freak flags fly and inspiring others to do the same. oddtheir March EP which aims to normalize idiosyncrasies – and give each of the Kids ample room to shine – became their breakthrough project in North America, debuting atop the Billboard 200 with 110 album units equivalents in its first week, according to Luminate, and help Stray Kids reach No. 000 on the Artist 100 chart.
Felix Ssam Kim
Meanwhile, the group's Maniac World Tour shines a light on the respective personalities of the eight members, who are between the ages of 21 and 24, in different ways. In Newark, for example, Seungmin won applause when he covered Justin Bieber's "Hold On." Changbin dazzled as he landed a one-handed cartwheel. And Bang Chan gained credibility by wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. The tour played to sold-out arenas in markets large and small, with the younger crowd staying on their feet for the full three-hour Springsteen-esque run. Across five shows reported to Billboard Boxscore to date, the trek has sold 62 tickets, and its recent 000-show North American tour is expected to gross north of $10 million.
“It's a very committed fandom, and they're selling out arenas and big venues in minutes,” says Glenn Mendlinger, executive vice president of Republic Records and president of Imperial Music.
Han Ssam Kim
Stray Kids is now being propelled to global stardom by a pair of major labels on different continents, thanks in part to a strategic partnership between Republic, JYP Entertainment and Republic imprint Imperial Distribution. Republic's deal with JYP – a Seoul-based juggernaut whose groups GOT7 and TWICE have helped the company compete with HYBE (whose main group is BTS), YG Entertainment and SM Entertainment for the past 15 years – s expanded earlier this year to include Stray Kids and ITZY, having started in 2020 with TWICE.
Stray Kids' Han compares having JYP and Republic in their corner to working with "two Nick Furies" guiding their respective K-pop Avengers team. Whatever Marvel reference is appropriate for making it happen, Mendlinger envisions the partnership has a common goal for Stray Kids: "world domination."
Hyunjin Ssam Kim
It took five years and several projects for this opportunity to arise. Teenagers in 2017 via a reality show of the same name hosted by JYP, Stray Kids consolidated its current lineup of Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and IN by the end of 2019. (A ninth member, Woojin, left the group that year for personal reasons.) Stray Kids spent years releasing EPs and rehearsing for their wider commercial debut under the tutelage of veteran artist-turned-artist JY Park. manager and superproducer who founded JYP in 1997. Park is a K-pop industry titan known for his demanding approach to his bands, the Kids say the label frontman gave them the freedom to use their voice in the creative process, especially since they have found their sea legs as a collective.
“We made music even before our debut, but in the beginning there was a lot of feedback compared to now,” says Changbin. “We were immature in some ways. Now [Park] fully trusts us, the stories we want to tell with our music. Hyunjin – who has been embroiled in controversy over bullying allegations and took a four-month hiatus from the band after a formal apology in early 2021 – adds that “his comments were really helpful on how to put in place. stage, our future. He cares a lot about everyone's mental health.
In Ssam Kim
The extended development period has also helped Stray Kids evolve artistically: all of its members contribute to the songwriting process, while Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han make up 3RACHA's in-house production team and help dictate the group's musical direction. As Stray Kids began touring internationally — they were performing in U.S. theaters for the first time in early 2020 — this hands-on creative approach underscored an authenticity they could showcase on stage. "They create their own music and add their own personal messages to their music," says Shannen Song, Executive Vice President/General Manager of Division 1 for JYP, who has worked with Stray Kids since 2017 and watched them grow to early twenties. “People can tell who has sincerity in their music… It's the greatest strength for their music and for them. »
As Stray Kids' international profile has grown over the past year, they've naturally been compared to other K-pop groups, most often BTS. Yet we listen odd would demonstrate to casual fans that Stray Kids is nothing like BTS, which broke boundaries for Korean artists in North America by crossing disco pop hits like "Dynamite" and "Butter" before announcing a temporary hiatus from the group in June. Stray Kids, meanwhile, approaches pop through rap, rock and electronica, exploring trap, G-funk, punk and even a little industrial. Those expecting standard fare for a boy band would be surprised to hear "Lonely St." sounding Warped Tour-ready or that "Muddy Water" is closer to Odd Future than *NSYNC.
"Genre-wise, they're a bit more edgy and edgy than some other K-pop groups, which can be a bit sweeter," Mendlinger explains. “We felt there was a huge opportunity in the US market because of this small tilt. »
Bang Chan Ssam Kim
Stray Kids was in Seoul on March 28 when they discovered early that morning that odd debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, still shaking off sleep and needing a few moments for the accomplishment to sink in. "We were overwhelmed and a bit shocked," Felix recalls. For Mendlinger and his team at Imperial, however, they were aiming for a number one debut for the project within six months of its release.
The team's priority was to amplify Stray Kids' presence at US big box retailers, which was virtually non-existent prior to the JYP-Republic partnership. Collector's packages have become crucial in modern K-pop – with physical sales having as much, if not more, influence on an album's performance than its audio streams – and odd arrived with seven total CD configurations containing memorabilia like posters and photo cards, including exclusive editions at Target and Barnes & Noble. An independent retail blitz, direct-to-consumer initiatives and autographed physical editions by Stray Kids for the first time in their careers have helped odd bowed out with 103 album sales in its first week – the biggest sales of the year at the time.
The No. 1 debut was part of an ongoing “renaissance” for K-pop at North American retailers, Mendlinger says, with different configurations of Korean-made collectibles being shipped overseas to meet demand growing and finally appearing on store shelves for the week's release. Mendlinger notes that U.S. manufacturing of physical products, including vinyl, is expected to increase in the future. For now, Imperial is focused on distributing the tons of treats sent from overseas. “We import so much physical product,” he says, “that we actually lease and book 747 cargo planes and fill them with product to come…
SOURCE: Reviews News
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