Well, it looks like JYP is finally launching a new boy group. This is the first boy group that JYP has launched since DAY6 in 2015, and the first boy dance group since GOT7 in 2014. Stray Kids is a 9 member group. it was originally meant to be 7, but they decided to add 2 more members at the end of their reality show, as decided by JYP and the fans. This is a pre-debut EP that the group is releasing. Yes I did pre-order a copy of the mini-album. Yes you will be seeing a review on it after I actually get it in the mail. Today though, we are going to actually be talking about my thoughts on the music, track by track.
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What is E-Bates?
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Stray Kids Mix Tape, Track by Track:
- Hellevator: So this track was actually previously released before the reality show and the final members’ selection. So it has been out for a few months. Therefore, this will not be my first thoughts but what I have thought about this track as time went on. This track has made it into my playlist, and although I do enjoy it, it is not one of my absolute favorite tracks. It was written as a dance track, and that is definitely what it is. It doesn’t stand out to me as one of those tracks that you will never get tired of throughout the years, and it is definitely a track that might get skipped over if I am not in the mood. At the end of the day, I do enjoy this track, but it doesn’t make me want to dance around like a lunatic, and that’s what I usually go for in my life… lunacy… all the time.
- GRRR 총량의 법칙 The second track starts off with a really hard beat and it kinda reminds me a little bit of something that you would hear from a group like B.A.P, but a lot less refined and without whistles. This song is extremely rap heavy, and after listening to it, the group does have some pretty strong rappers. At the same time though, this song I think actually hurts my opinions of their vocalists because some of the notes that they are singing seem to be at the edge of their range. Also, this song doesn’t really have much going for it in the way of the bass range, and it seems to be very treble/tenor heavy. It doesn’t have a full rounded sounded that I like in my music.
- 어린날개 (Young Wings) This song is just okay in my opinion. I feel like I’ve heard something like it before coming from GOT7, but yet again, I would probably prefer it more if GOT7 did it.
- Yayaya Honestly, I really cannot stand this song. I don’t like the flow of it, and I feel like they are trying to mash too many different sounds together as it goes back and forth between more electronic and having a heavy guitar. Yet again, they also try to make the verses all rap, and if they are going to do heavy guitar, I don’t think mixing this with rapping was the right way to go. I don’t know what JYP was thinking here, but this song is just awful.
- Glow Another song on here that sounds like it could have been a GOT7 song like 2 or 3 albums ago. It’s one of those slow rap songs, and if you listen to it, you can immediately place which GOT7 members would have taken which part, and most likely the song was actually written for them, and then they didn’t use it, so they handed it off to their new group, saying here, produce something that we intended for someone else. I don’t agree with that. I don’t think it’s fair to the group because all I think of is GOT7 when I listen to this song.
- School Life OMG, I really do not like this song at all. It sounds so teeny-bopper it is ridiculous. Like it sounds like it should be the theme song for a kids’ TV show instead of music actually produced for a legit group. That’s all I’m going to say about this track.
- 4419 Yet again, we have another track that sounds like it was intended for GOT7 and never got produced, as yet again, I can immediately place which GOT7 members would have taken which part. You can actually hear it in your head as if it was Mark, Bambam, and Jackson rapping. You can also hear which parts were intended for JB, Youngjae, Yugyeom, and Jinyoung based on the ranges that each part has. Yet again, really JYP? If you are going to launch a new group, give them their own sound instead of your other group’s sloppy seconds.
K-Points: 10/5
The entire thing sounds like it is full of songs passed over by other groups, and none of it sounds original at all. Honestly, I’m actually kind of mad that JYP did this, as based on the turn around time from their selection time in the reality show to this (a month or less) this is all JYP’s doing. The boys have no decision in this matter. It sounds like the company didn’t put much thought or energy into the new release at all, and instead just decided to use the stuff they already had written for other groups to get something out to the public quickly and make some fast money. They didn’t give the members an original sound and instead made them sound exactly like GOT7 2-3 years ago. I just keep getting angrier as I write this post because it’s not fair to the 9 members to have them be compared to a group that has far more experience and far more fans than them. GOT7 has also had time to develop their own sound, as now they are producing a lot of their own music… which is awesome by the way.
Thankfully, this is technically a “pre-debut” EP, and I’m hoping for their actual debut album that they produce something original that gives Stray Kids their own image and their own music so they can make their mark in the industry. I want their actual debut to be the exact opposite of what I saw here because quite frankly, this was awful. It was slapped together in a hurry, and there was not much thought put to it at all. What I want is for all of the individual members to be able to shine. I don’t want to just approve of their rap skills in bits and pieces while being offended about a song clearly intended for another group. I don’t want to hear the singers sing songs at the edge of their range because yet again, the music wasn’t written for them and was written for more mature, older singers. I’m not mad at the members, I’m mad at JYP for doing this to them. This release should have been delayed a little bit longer to give the group a fair shot.
I still hope for big things for Stray Kids in the future, and I hope their real debut is great, K-Nuggets.
사랑합니다!
–Rachel
