Stray Kids, Episode 2: so don’t stop, we like this party

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(Written May 7, 2025)

Mission time, STAYs!  Now that our fearless leader, Bang Chan, has gotten his team to pre-debut status, he has to write and produce a song.  No biggie.  Let’s do this.

We begin at the dorm, where our boys are wheeling in their luggage and settling in.  Is that a bed in the living room?  I don’t know how these guys are going to get any sleep.

We get several minutes of everyone deciding on roommates.  This goes on for quite a while.  It’s such a tiny space for nine guys.  Beds are crammed into every available space.  If this group were any bigger, they’d be sleeping on the roof.  One of the rooms has six beds in it.

I’m sorry, but this alone would keep me out of K-pop.

JYP:  Congratulations!  Your group is going to debut!
Me:   oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god
JYP:  Here’s your dorm.  You’ll be sharing with eight other girls.  You get the top bunk two inches from the ceiling.
Me:
JYP:  (looking around) Where’d she go?
My bandmates:  She left.  She decided to be a delivery driver for Pizza School instead.  Dibs on the cot in the living room!

Once the boys settle in, they decide to name the rooms, because it’s not like they should be writing their first mission song or anything.  Nothing but time on their hands.  Then they check out the kitchen and discover that none of them can cook.  Well, Bang Chan offers to make Spaghetti Bolognese, but he doesn’t remember how.  Woojin knows his way around the kitchen, but we know he’s leaving the group at some point, so our boys will starve unless there’s a Pizza School nearby.

They play games in the living room, and seriously, why aren’t they writing a song?  When is this assignment due?  Back in the kitchen, three of our guys have started cooking, and I realize we’re about to get a mukbang segment.

Our boys slurp up the pasta.  Then they decide to clean up and go to an arcade.  I’m hoping “arcade” is Korean slang for “recording studio” because they haven’t written a single lyric and I AM STRESSING OUT.  (Why yes, I do have OCD.  Why do you ask?)

Off they go to the arcade, and this place looks pretty cool.

They have fun with basketball, archery, and soccer.  They’re bonding.  Despite my song deadline anxiety, I do enjoy watching this segment.  I could spend hours in that arcade.  Especially if it had Skee-ball.  Next, they head out to a road lined with food trucks.  I love how they call big cheesy hot dogs “snacks.”

Finally, we cut to the JYP Building.  The boys huddle to discuss their song.  Not only do they have to write it, they have to choreograph and perform it for JYP himself.  Of course, Bang Chan has already prepared some tracks.  I can’t believe I ever doubted him.

The boys like one of the tracks a lot.  It’s an ominous, moody piece called “Elevator.”  What I like about all the tracks is the dark, mysterious vibe they all have.  A couple are kind of scary sounding, reminding me of the Stray Kids song “Venom.”  So not only is Bang Chan our daring and fearless leader, he’s also responsible for the shivers down your spine when you hear “Side Effects” or “Double Knot.”

He now works on modifying the track to fit nine members.  I like watching this.  It gives us insight into his creative process and how his mind works.  He immediately starts looking for a melody in the sound.  He improvises a melody and then immediately discards it for not packing enough of a dramatic punch.  Meanwhile, Han and Changbin are in another room, working on lyrics.  They want to write about blood, sweat, and tears, and now the song “Spinning Wheel” is stuck in my head because I am old.

In keeping with the dark theme, our lyricists decide to change the song title to “Hellevator.”  STAYs know this song as the group’s first music video and digital single.  I watch the official video, and all nine members are in it, so it looks like we’re not losing Woojin during this show.

We’re now four days from D-Day.  Bang Chan has mixed everything and is ready to present it to his bandmates.  I love how everyone excitedly gathers around to hear it.

The show doesn’t let us hear the whole track.  When we cut to the end, the group is excited and ready to assign parts.  They’re a little nervous about the high notes on the chorus and ask Han to try it, along with the rapping.  Han is stressed out about taking both parts.  Is there no one else in the group who can hit high notes?

But Han is game to try it and starts rehearsing.  He’s struggling with the vocals, but at least he’s got great style.  I want this sweater.

Now we cut to two days until D-Day.  Choreo rehearsal.  Lee Know is leading the group.

The routine looks exhausting, with the group doing formations while lying flat on the floor and slowly rising.  From the dramatic music to the demanding vocals to the very physical choreography, these guys are not phoning it in.

The pressure must be getting to Bang Chan again, because he gets frustrated with I.N, who is having trouble with some of the moves.  Everyone is getting tense.  I can’t believe I’m suggesting this, but maybe they should all go back to the arcade.

As the hours tick down, they practice nonstop.  Finally, we’re at D-Day.  They report to the performance room, looking like they’re about to face the firing squad, and in a way, they are.  Here he comes now.

JYP is smiling and trying to put the boys at ease.  He’s a bit confused by the title of this song, which tells me this man is NOT prepared for the beast idol group these guys will become.  To his credit, he does like the title, once they explain it to him.

Next, he says, “I also asked you to think of a team name.”  What?  I must have missed that part.  This should be VERY interesting.  Especially since group names are usually revealed to the group by the company in the series finale.  I’ve never seen a company let the group choose their own name.

Our boys look very excited.  Bang Chan counts to three (“hana, dhul, set!”) and they all bow and loudly introduce themselves.

“Hello, we’re Stray Kids!”

 

I get a thrill out of this.  It’s a historic moment for the fandom.  And I love that they don’t introduce themselves politely like so many groups do.  They belt it out like you would expect a gang of stray kids to do.

JYP looks intrigued.  Bang Chan tells him, “The meaning is we’re lost kids who are still finding our dreams.  We’re still seeking our goals.”

JYP likes it, but he’s concerned that it’s a long name.  I check the JYP Entertainment roster, and yeah, I’m looking at ITZY, Day 6, NMIXX, GOT7, and of course, 2am and 2pm.  However, the roster also has Wonder Girls and Xdinary Heroes, and Stray Kids is a shorter name than both of them.

If I may digress for a second while looking at this roster, why do so many K-pop band names look like typos?  Jus2, Vcha, NiziU … and I just finished recapping the survival show for idid, a name I really, really hate.  So I’m glad Stray Kids stuck to their guns here.  My spell checker is working overtime, underlining every other name on the roster.

Okay.  No more stalling.  The name of the group won’t matter if the performance isn’t good.  Showtime!

It’s good.  I can see there are issues (mostly the high notes), but I see the strong energy, wild choreo, and serious attitude all starting to come together.  They need more confidence, and they need to bring the notes down an octave or ten.  Speaking of which, I can hear that Felix is starting to use the lower register of his voice.  It’s not ocean deep yet, but it’s deeper than it was before, in the showcase. 

When it ends, JYP doesn’t speak for several minutes.  When he does, he says the song is really good.  The title, lyrics, arrangement, and melody – he likes it all.

Now for the bad news.  He pulls up a keyboard app on his phone, which is so cool and I want one.  He plays a line from the melody and asks Bang Chan why he wrote it in a “female key.”  (As an alto, I feel like I caught a stray.)

“The range is ridiculous!” he says.  “This would be the end of our country’s best singing ability’s range!”  Weirdly, I understand what he means.

He tells Bang Chan to fix the key.  Then he pauses and says, “Right now, only one person is up to my standards.  Jisung [Han] did better than I thought.”  He praises Han for singing as well as he raps.  Han tries to smile, but he feels bad for the rest of his bandmates.

Bang Chan gets the same criticism as before – he needs to show more charisma.  And then the other shoe drops.  JYP reminds them that any member who can’t keep up with the others will be eliminated.  We get this dramatic godlike shot right after he says it.

Gulp.

Well, that ended on a downer.  Even though I know how this turns out in the end, I still feel scared for them right now. 

See you next episode, where I’m guessing we’ll eventually see Bang Chan get more charismatic and learn to write notes for boys (and for me, apparently).  Bye for now!

Episode 3:  kicking the leaves in the autumn breeze

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