"Social Path," the penultimate track on Stray Kids' latest EP, 樂-STAR (ROCK-STAR), opens with a punchy guitar riff and a bit of soul-baring. "Gave up my youth for my future," the members chant, an admission delivered with equal amounts of intensity and pathos. The collaboration with Japanese singer LiSA, first released in Japan in late August and re-recorded in Korean for this album, sounds anthemic — as most Stray Kids songs often do — and lyrically reads like a Tumblr post. That is to say, it's vulnerable and direct, the preoccupation of someone who lived through it to get to this moment.
Written by leader Bang Chan, "Social Path" partially encapsulates the group's past: how they trained together at JYP Entertainment as adolescents, burning the candle at both ends to achieve their shared dream of making music. "Look back, the ashes prove my passion always burns eternally," LiSA sings, before charging forward: "No regrets, I love this feeling." In many ways, 樂-STAR (ROCK-STAR) evokes just that: the feeling of joy music creates.
It's right there in the name. The Chinese character in its title, 樂, translates to "joyful" or "music" in English, depending on how it's pronounced. In Korean, it can be read as both "락" (rock) and "낙" (joy), making the phrase 樂-STAR and its lead single "락 (樂) (LALALALA)" a clever play on words. Such incisive wordplay exists at the dexterous hands of producer trio 3RACHA, a moniker for members Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han. As the primary architects of Stray Kids' bold, boisterous sound, 3RACHA take on much of the heavy lifting musically and lyrically on the EP with assists from a motley assortment of producers, including Millionboy ("Comflex"), Cubeatz ("LALALALA"), Willie Weeks ("Blind Spot"), Jun2 ("Leave"), and longtime collaborator Versachoi. Dancer Hyunjin earns writing and production credits on "Cover Me" — his first for a Korean album. With a variety of perspectives, ROCK-STAR finds Stray Kids broadening their creative palette while revisiting their more rebellious roots.
"LALALALA" captures the taut explosiveness and sharp lyricism of their 2020 single "God's Menu" as well as the relentless pace of 2019's "MIROH." Yet it's not concerned with proving their own self-worth or cleverness; "LALALALA" is a celebration. More explicitly, it's an exclamation of joy. (In Mandarin, 樂 can be pronounced as "lè" — another nod to 3RACHA's penchant for polysemy.) "Blast away the silence and negative energy," Han urges, making the track's springy chorus even more potent: "Just feel the rock." (You can feel it even more viscerally on the "rock version" of the single, which is featured on the EP.)
On "Megaverse," the EP's eclectic opener, they utilize all of the toys in their sandbox to create an amalgam of their signature sound — the booming bass, the elasticity of the rhythm, and the powerful delivery. It's odd but palatable, a small taste of what they're truly capable of. Lyrically, it gives Stray Kids another opportunity to flex their ingenuity. "Our composition brings the competition but we've already won in this megaverse," Bang Chan asserts. Stray Kids like to say that they're only in competition with themselves; numbers and charts don't matter as much as their own satisfaction does. Lyrics like "my place is at the top" might suggest otherwise.
Their fixation with their own success will strike familiar themes for those who've followed the group's work through the years. Their music tends to toe the fine line between confidence and arrogance, pride and self-absorption — a natural evolution from where they started. Since their 2018 debut, they've positioned themselves as outsiders, strays who don't fit in or follow the status quo. Naturally, they gravitated toward a harsher sound to fit their image as young disruptors disillusioned by the systems around them. Their earlier discography is tinged with rock, crunchy guitars, and biting rap verses; they experimented with thundering EDM, hypnotic trip-hop, and skittering psytrance. The release of "God's Menu" in the summer of 2020 — a breakthrough moment they consider a career turning point — solidified a sound that was louder, more bombastic, and less bothered, dispatches from artists who stopped sprinting toward the future and learned to enjoy the moment.
They're at their best, however, when reality seeps in. "Blind Spot" emphasizes the hard work and mental toil that goes on behind the scenes. "They only look at the results and success, blinded by our glowing process," they sing over a bouncy drum beat and distorted synths. "What you see isn't everything." Hyunjin's tender ballad "Cover Me" — which finds him teaming up with Bang Chan and producer Nickko Young again — asks, "Why do I feel so lonely in this night?" It's the kind of vulnerable midnight musing one might expect from Hyunjin, amplified by the moving vocal performances of the members. (Seungmin especially shines during the track's soaring bridge.) "Leave" is the EP's sole love song. The melody is nostalgic and its emotions are timeless: "I'm afraid, I'm in pain, I'm okay."
Meanwhile, "Comflex" is Stray Kids at their most playful and erratic with punchy rap verses and a brash, in-your-face attitude. Like "S-Class" before it, it's another song in which they "flex" their complexities, where Bang Chan can make even the most braggadocious line feel sincere: "Too bright, I'm so flashy. Differеnt? No, I'm unique. That's right, I'm so classy. Nobody can stop me."
Truthfully, no one can stop Stray Kids. They are on an upward trajectory and show no signs of slowing down. ROCK-STAR is just a stepping stone to the next milestone. But even the greatest rock star employs performativity to bolster their narrative, casting an impenetrable image. They exist in their own world, unbound by reality. It makes a song like "Social Path" all the more alluring in the group's recent discography. It's emotive and powerful, a reminder that self-love and confidence can only get them so far until those cracks eventually start to show. No matter how hard Stray Kids try to remain unfazed by their success, reality will catch up to them.
