On first hear, the third studio album from Stray Youngsters will make you’re feeling such as you arrived at a celebration that’s already in full-swing – the environment is electrical if not somewhat intoxicating, the air thick with energetic chatter and heavy bass that thumps in your chest, whilst you wander from room to room looking for your bearings. ‘5-Star’ is disorienting in that means. However as soon as your senses adapt to the frenzy and your physique syncs to the rhythm, you lose your self in its luminescence.
Since forming in 2017, Stray Youngsters have adopted a “play exhausting, work more durable” mindset. Producer trio Bang Chan, Changbin and Han, generally known as 3RACHA, have purposefully crafted the group’s personal distinctive sound, creating a lot of their prolific oeuvre and increasing their numerous sonic palette throughout style strains. Their music is usually outlined by its depth, wittiness and propensity to blow your eardrums – a tidal wave of joie de vivre served with a aspect of grit.
That real vitality has scored the octet two (happening three) No 1 albums on the Billboard 200, making them one of the thrilling, and highest-selling, acts in Okay-pop. Their greatest energy, nonetheless, has all the time been their willingness to experiment whereas staying true to their bespoke model. ‘5-Star’ demonstrates this skillful balancing act by means of a stacked lineup of tracks that emphasize the scale and scale of Stray Youngsters’ ceaseless ambition.
Maybe no music represents this new period higher than the lead single, ‘S-Class’, a mishmash of seemingly incongruous components fused collectively by 3RACHA’s shapeshifting manufacturing prowess. It’s an intricate puzzle of booming rap, thrumming bass, sultry electro, ’90s hip-hop, glowing pop and dirty membership, a sonorous Rubik’s dice as advanced as it’s enthralling.
On ‘S-Class’, they liken themselves to probably the most particular star within the sky (its Korean title, ‘특’, means “particular”). “The odd one, that’s me,” they shout, a continuation of the themes explored on final 12 months’s ‘Oddinary’. In celebrating their celestial singularity, they’re inviting you to do the identical: “Be the one to shine as a substitute of chasing after what’s shiny,” Han raps over a boom-bap beat, a testomony to the group’s personal ethos.
By no means ones to comply with tendencies, Stray Youngsters exist in their very own area the place their solely competitors is themselves. This dedication to be on high programs by means of standout tracks ‘Corridor of Fame’ and ‘Topline’, the latter of which encompasses a easy help from legendary rapper Tiger JK. Opener ‘Corridor of Fame’ is an exhilarating journey, from its whirring synths and heavenly vocal melodies (I.N sounds particularly pretty) to its gritty percussion and distorted prospers. As compared, “Topline” locations their impenetrable confidence amidst a laid-back circulate. Casually cool of their supply, Stray Youngsters have by no means sounded extra composed.
There’s a degree of cohesiveness on ‘5-Star’ that has evaded the group beforehand. ‘ITEM’, one other heavy-hitter on the album, continues to shine a lightweight on Stray Youngsters’ tenacity. “Began from the underside, I made it mine,” Seungmin sings on the attractive pre-chorus. The observe opens with a synth riff that sounds straight out of a online game and instantly barrels into the hook, delivered by Changbin with staccato power. “Even when I am going all-in, I’ll by no means see loss,” Hyunjin raps with finely tuned dexterity. “Flex my expertise, what I need is in each arms.”
The success of English observe ‘Tremendous Bowl’ – surprisingly, the unique ‘God’s Menu’ – rides excessive off the group’s interstellar charisma. Solely Stray Youngsters may make a lyric like “Finger lickin’, yeah, we cookin’ up a Tremendous Bowl / Within the kitchen, Michelin, irresistible” sound charming. Whereas some artists would possibly change their identification to evolve to a brand new music market, Stray Youngsters fearlessly double down on the cheese.
Han flexes his pen on ‘Get Lit’ and ‘Collision’. Sonically, they couldn’t sound any extra totally different, however you’ll see Han’s fingerprints throughout them. ‘Get Lit’ is a rowdy party-rock anthem with an existential edge, whereas ‘Collision’ is the album’s most grownup providing – a gently sensual tackle misplaced love, the remnants of which linger within the sky like scattered area mud. This mixture of refined lyricism and R&B is the place Han shines, and it may make for a compelling playground for Stray Youngsters to discover additional in future releases.
3RACHA’s expertise extends to the album’s softer moments too. ‘DLC’ is pure piano-driven dance-pop with Euro influences courtesy of Changbin; ‘FNF’ mixes sparkly EDM with social consciousness (written by Australian members Bang Chan and Felix, the music is devoted to the character and wildlife misplaced within the 2019 bush fires); and ‘Youtiful’ is sentimental with out being too candy.
In Changbin’s personal phrases, they make music that’s so “funnily annoying that it blurs your sense of judgment’. Their sound is the aural equal of Kombucha Woman or the sweltering month of August: a jarring push and pull between euphoria and WTF. But, in a crowded business that’s more and more embracing sparsity, polarizing artwork calls for a response. Constructive or unfavourable, it doesn’t actually matter as soon as they have already got your rapt consideration – Stray Youngsters are flying so excessive above the gang that they’re in a galaxy of their very personal, the place the events are infinite and the vibes are all the time five-star.
Particulars
- Launch date: June 2, 2023
- Report label: JYP Leisure
