K-pop stars Stray Kids prepare for comeback with upbeat London show

JYP Entertainment

14/07/2024 23:58

By Hanna Rantala and Natasha Mulenga
       LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - "This is a career
highlight," popular K-pop group Stray Kids said as they
headlined the British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park Festival on
Sunday.
    The eight-man group from South Korea debuted in 2018 after
being formed by JYP Entertainment through a reality show. They 
have won over fans around the world with their genre-mixing
sound and hit songs such as "God's Menu", "S-Class" and
"Maniac".
    Made up of members Changbin, Felix, Hyunjin, Lee Know, Han,
Seungmin, Bang Chan and I.N, Stray Kids returned to London after
nearly five years to make their UK festival debut.
    "It's a really big festival and it's a really big space.
It'll be really interesting to see how much the energy we bring
to it will change that," said Han shortly before the group took
to the stage to perform a high-energy one-hour-40-minute-long
set in front of a crowd of thousands. 
    Named by Time magazine as one of the Next Generation
Leaders, Stray Kids placed third on recorded music industry body
IFPI's top ten list of global recording artists last year. Their
third Korean-language studio album "5-Star" was last year's
second biggest-selling album globally, IFPI said.
    All eight members also walked the famed MET Gala red carpet
this May, wearing custom Tommy Hilfiger suits.
    Bang Chan said the group were grateful for their strong
streaming numbers and successes but added that the onus was on
bringing meaningful music to their fans, known as STAYs.
    "Lots of STAYs and a lot of people are giving us a lot of
attention, so I don't think we should sit still and do nothing
about it. That's why all the members are working hard in their
parts," added Seungmin. 
    Part of that is the group's "comeback", their new EP, titled
"ATE", which will be released on July 19. 
    ATE represents the eight members who have "eaten up" their
comeback, said Felix, adding that fans could expect new concepts
and styles.
    "It really means a lot to us. It's been a while since our
last album. With this album we really want to emphasize our
eight members, how genuine we are with music and we've also put
in a lot of styles of music for everyone out there to enjoy,"
said Bang Chan.
     "We're bringing out all we can at this time and that makes
us confident," added Changbin.

 (Reporting by Hanna Rantala and Natasha Mulenga; editing by
Diane Craft)
 ((Hanna.Rantala@thomsonreuters.com;))