It has already been a month since Stray Kids announced their ninth mini album “ATE”, and now it is finally here. The wait was worth it: the album contains seven brand-new songs and a festival version of the title track “Chk Chk Boom”. We have already introduced you to the different versions of the album, but today we want to focus on the songs.
As always, the entire album was written by Stray Kids themselves. The members of the producer trio 3 RACHA took the lead, of course: Bang Chan, Changbin, Han. They have been supplying the boy group with unique songs since their debut and once again wrote a few fantastic hits for their fans. But Felix also got involved. He worked together with Bang Chan on the lyrics and the melody for the song “Runners”.
“ATE” TRACKLIST:
- Mountains
- Chk Chk Boom
- Jjam
- I Like It
- Runners
- Twilight (또 다시 밤)
- Stray Kids
- Chk Chk Boom (festival version)
Stray Kids are known for strong beats, intense rap parts and powerful vocals. The new album has more than enough of that, too. But there are also soulful songs like “Twilight” or “Stray Kids”.
Twilight: The song is about grieving a lost love that you can't forget. The calm piano intro creates an emotional mood right from the start of the song and keeps it up until the very end.
Stray Kids: The title already hints that the song is something very special, after all, it's the name of the world-famous boy group. It also starts out calm, but quickly picks up speed. Still, the song is more emotional than “Twilight”, because the lyrics are about the history of the boy group.
Bang Chan, Hyunjin and the others sing about the hurdles Stray Kids had to overcome and declare that they are proud of their name. They never want to stop and want to ride the “Hellevator” all the way to the top. “Hellevator” is of course a reference to Stray Kids' very first song, which was released before their debut.
We especially like the line: “The time we spent will be remembered forever, ever”. Translated, it reads: “The time we have spent will be remembered forever and ever.” That applies to Stray Kids as well as their fans, who have supported them from the very beginning.
Chk Chk Boom: The title track is shaped by influences from hip-hop and Latin American music. It all comes with a laid-back choreography and great visuals!
FAMOUS GUESTS IN THE STRAY KIDS MUSIC VIDEO: HUGH JACKMAN AND RYAN REYNOLDS
The music video is drawing attention not only because of Stray Kids, but also because of the appearance of the two world-famous actors. They bring a good dose of humor and even wear their iconic superhero suits.
The interaction is unexpected, but it didn't come out of nowhere. Back on July 5, Stray Kids announced a collaboration with the Hollywood stars with a photo. In the photo, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds are sitting next to Bang Chan and Felix. Two days ago, the secret was revealed: Stray Kids will release a soundtrack called “Slash” for the new Marvel movie “Deadpool & Wolverine”!
Today, the interview during which the photo was taken has finally been released as well!
It was uploaded to the YouTube channel “MarvelKorea” a few hours ago and is almost 15 minutes long.
In the interview, the four talk about Stray Kids' music video, the upcoming Marvel movie and the past interactions between Ryan Reynolds and Stray Kids.
Ryan first noticed the boy group back in 2021. The reason was a Stray Kids performance in the music competition “Kingdom: Legendary War”. The performance is a mix of Stray Kids' song “God’s Menu” and Blackpink’s hit “DDU-DU DDU-DU”. In the intro, Felix wears a Deadpool mask.
Ever since, Ryan Reynolds has been following the group on Twitter. After only interacting online until now, the stars finally met in person this year.
As Ryan Reynolds has already noticed, Stray Kids won't let him into the group just because he wears a Deadpool suit. But maybe this project is the beginning of a close friendship.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” hits theaters on July 26!
Sources: Stray Kids social media channels, Ryan Reynolds Twitter, Marvel Korea, Kingdom: Legendary War
