New Stray Kids’ album ‘ATE’ set to devour summer charts

All eight members renew contract with JYP

By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop sensation Stray Kids has returned to the music scene with ambitions to devour the summer charts and leave no crumbs with its new mini-album “ATE.” The excitement is bolstered by the surprising news that all Stray Kids members have renewed their contracts with their current agency, JYP Entertainment.

Now heading into its seventh year since its debut, the eight-piece act — consisting of Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. — has been actively expanding its global presence through extensive overseas promotions.

On July 14, the group headlined the BST Hyde Park music festival in London, the U.K., following their electrifying performance at I-Days Music Festival in Milan, Italy just two days earlier. The group is now looking forward to perform in the United States at Lollapalooza Chicago in August.

Building on its momentum, Stray Kids has now returned with “ATE,” just eight months after their Billboard-topping album, “ROCK-STAR.”

A few hours before the album’s release, the JYP stars gathered for a press conference at a hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday, to discuss the secret to their global popularity.

“Even though we attend numerous overseas festivals, it still feels surreal that we’re so popular,” Changbin, the group’s rapper and primary producer, noted.

“It’s amazing to witness fans singing along to our songs in Korean, even when we’re performing overseas,” he said. “I think our secret to success is that we’re confident in creating music that’s truly unique to Stray Kids.”

Hyunjin also offered insights into his enthusiasm for performing internationally.

“I love being on stage and enjoy the excitement before going on. No matter how hard the practice is, thinking about the excitement and the fans’ cheers makes me give my best,” he said.

The new mini-album “ATE” captures this unrelenting passion unique to the group. Its title track “Chk Chk Boom” in particular showcases Stray Kids’ new musical capabilities with its Latin-style hip-hop rhythms.

“It was fun preparing, and this is the album I am most excited about the results. We will work hard so that people will say we literally ‘devoured’ the music scene with this activity,” Lee Know said, expressing his excitement.

According to Han, the title track has more of a “toned-down charm” compared to the group’s previous works.

“While our previous songs illustrated our explosive and expressive energy, the new title track is more restrained but still not boring, showcasing a different charm,” Han shared. “The other tracks on the album are also filled with a variety of genres to reveal new sides of us.”

A day before the album release, JYP had also announced that “all members had renewed their contracts ahead of their expiration early next year, based on strong trust and a shared vision between the group members and the label,” through an official press release.

The move is considered notable, especially in the K-pop industry where the trend increasingly sees renowned artists opting not to renew contracts with their original companies in favor of solo endeavors.

“We made the decision because we wanted to share our future together with STAY (Stray Kids’ official fandom) and our company, who have given us such great support,” the group’s leader, Bang Chan explained during the press conference.

“Above all, I’m so grateful and touched as the leader of the group because all the members had the same heart and mind. There are many things we want to showcase in the future. We think of the full contract renewal as a new beginning and will strive to show many sides that we haven’t unveiled before,” he concluded.