Stray Kids: Staying Power

Bang Chan, the leader of K-pop group Stray Kids, visibly recoils when I ask how it feels to be part of a global phenomenon. “Are we that big?” he laughs nervously, genuinely flustered by the suggestion as he twiddles the ring on his finger, his hair perfectly sculpted to look effortlessly messy. When I press the point, he concedes with a modest “OK” in a self-deprecating way that suggests he doesn’t really believe me.

Felix, the other Aussie member in the group alongside Bang Chan, is similarly stunned by the idea of the band’s immense popularity. “Taking over the world? No, no!” he says, shaking his long icy blond hair and causing dozens of tendrils to fall over his face, every strand seemingly falling with purpose. His distinctive looks have the air of an otherworldly character from a Renaissance painting.

Despite their protests, the eight-piece — consisting of Bang Chan, Changbin, Felix, HAN, Hyunjin, I.N, Lee Know and Seungmin — are arguably the biggest band in the world right now. It’s hard to keep up with their journey as they rack up milestone after milestone at breakneck speed. In between me interviewing them in July and Rolling Stone UK going to print, they have broken a record, becoming the first group to see their first five albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200 following the July release of their latest mini album, ATE. They have since performed for more than 250,000 fans over three concerts and as many continents, leaving a glittering trail of A-list celebrities and billion-pound brands fawning over them in their wake.

The first time I meet Stray Kids (often abbreviated to SKZ), I am standing in Milan’s breezy Bar Studios, protected from the blistering summer heat outside as a slight panic descends on me. I’m continuously refreshing my phone, worrying that the band’s Rolling Stone UK cover shoot has been rumbled before it has even begun. A Hyunjin fan account has just posted on social media that he is rumoured to be having a fitting with Versace before he heads our way, and I know that Stray Kids’ diligently devoted fans might follow these digital breadcrumbs to our location. In the magazine world, it’s imperative to keep the identity of the cover star — or stars — under wraps until the launch date, and I want to keep this a surprise for STAY for as long as possible. As the group share their schedules with their fans at all times, the internet is flooded with information about their every move, and it’s hard to keep things a secret.

Luckily, at the same moment, the group’s socials announce their world tour dominATE, (which started in August), effectively diverting attention away from Hyunjin’s current whereabouts. Instead, Stay (the name of the Stray Kids fandom) are busy speculating about the band’s European dates in 2025.

Back at the studio, the cavalry arrives in a smooth fashion, exiting a fleet of blacked-out sprinter vans that have silently whirred into the studio courtyard. Crew members wheel trunks and suit bags full of equipment, clothes, accessories and makeup through the studio. We have been told to expect around 30 people, but our presumption that the day will therefore be some sort of whirlwind of activity is quite wrong. In fact, it’s the total opposite — it’s all perfectly serene.

The first four Stray Kids members seemingly materialise out of nowhere, without announcement or fanfare. Leader Bang Chan is checking every detail of his storm grey Fendi outfit in the mirror, tweaking everything from his shiny hooded top to the layers of grey ribbed wool, via his hair. Rapper and vocalist HAN is already in hair and makeup and is watching something on his phone. Felix is chatting quietly to some of their team. Hyunjin, dressed in an oversized tee and skater jeans, is ambling around. His head tilted back, arms loosely by his sides, he looks up at the atrium ceiling, content in his own little Piscean world, oblivious of the scale of the production around him. They all seem relaxed and, a word not usually associated with Stray Kids very often, calm.

During our solo interviews throughout the day, occasional bursts of activity are heard as the vocal warmups of the second eldest member of the group, Lee Know, filter through and bounce off the lofty studio acoustics. The chipmunk-sounding laugh of Changbin, known to be the most exuberant of the eight, can be heard at times, and when I.N, the youngest member of the band (known as the maknae), begins chuckling heartily at something his fellow vocalist Seungmin has said, the noise causes a manager to rush over to the green room to shush him.

Having seen hundreds of vlogs and social content of the band that include incoherent interruptions, joyful laughter and general confusion, I have come expecting chaos, but it never materialises. The octet appears poised and together. It might be the jetlag following the 14-hour flight the day before, but they definitely — both as a group and individuals — give the impression of being more grown-up, focused and measured. There are occasional bombastic outbursts. At one point, Seungmin and I.N scamper around, trying to remain undetected as they snatch a photo of Seungmin in his AMIRI outfit against one of the three shoot builds. Against a backdrop of mountains of glittering accessories, Stray Kids’ team are glued to their laptops and smartphones, scheduling every moment of the band’s lives for the next 18 months.

It’s easy to throw around the phrase ‘meteoric rise’ when describing any band that has achieved the fame of Stray Kids, which is perhaps why they shy away from the notion. If you haven’t been paying attention, they may seem to have appeared out of nowhere, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Their graft has been a long one. Bang Chan, for example, left Australia at the age of 13 to join South Korean record label conglomerate JYP Entertainment and endured a seven-year training period before he even debuted with the group. He’s been away for so long that he’s forgotten the concept of home and has to clarify what I mean when I ask him what he misses about being away from it. “Do you mean home as in Australia, or…?”

Even before their inception as a band, their lives have been broadcast, with the boys appearing on a reality TV show run by JYP Entertainment where a group of girls and a group of boys competed for the chance to debut as a band. The group of boys — who would become Stray Kids — won, and ever since that moment, they have barely been apart.

Until this summer, Stray Kids had not performed in the UK since July 2019 when they sold out Brixton Academy. It’s a destination that doesn’t often appear on their schedule; instead, they opt for the US and Paris when venturing west. Then, July saw them return to headline the final night of BST Hyde Park in London. With the venue’s 60,000 capacity, it’s an honour that has previously been bestowed on music legends such as Adele, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N’ Roses, Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift. The enormity of the gig is not lost on any of them when we discuss it at the July cover shoot.

“The festival in Hyde Park is so huge,” says Changbin, who writes and produces for the group and is known for his lightning-fast rap verses. “I cannot wait to see the reaction of the fans, and how the Stay in London are going to welcome me.” 

“It’s been so long since we have been in London,” says HAN, who during the group interview slouches in a relaxed pose with his mass of tousled messy hair covering his eyes. Even though his slight frame is sliding further and further down his chair, he pipes up every now and then to add his opinion. “Being there [in London] is something I am really looking forward to, but also the festival which we’re going to perform is such a huge event for me,” he says.

Lee Know plans to revisit some London landmarks after he came to the UK capital on his own in May. “I went briefly for the Gucci show in London, and I saw Big Ben during the nighttime and I was very struck by it,” he tells me in a softly spoken voice. “So, I want to see it again, and also want to visit London deeply.” He confesses there wasn’t time for much else on his recent visit apart from a session in the hotel gym, which at least had a decent view.

Non-Stay readers will have noticed Stray Kids popping up with more frequency of late as the group embed themselves as a global household name. Last year, they performed ‘S-Class’ at the VMAs (also picking up an award on the night in the process), and were spotted hanging out with Dua Lipa, Anne Hathaway and Paul Mescal at fashion shows in London, Paris and Milan. In a fairly bleak music landscape, K-pop groups like Stray Kids let us revisit the halcyon days of 90s and 00s high-energy MTV, with all the big-budget technicolour music videos and huge world tours that came with that defining era.

Not content with the mortal realm, SKZ even made inroads into the Marvel Cinematic Universe when the group’s music was featured on the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack. Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds returned the favour by featuring in SKZ’s music video for ‘Chk Chk Boom’. And then there was that novel interaction with former Avenger Chris Hemsworth when he ran into the group at the MET Gala in NYC and proceeded to physically lift several band members off the ground. “I just picked them up, gave them cuddles,” Hemsworth said of the moment. “I love them. They were just a bundle of energy and joy, and I was like, ‘I love you guys.’”

“The last person that Chris picked up was me and after that, he gave up: ‘Gotta stop now; he’s heavier than my hammer,’” quips Changbin. As the buffest member of Stray Kids, the group often joke about his physique.

Despite the group constantly orbiting the earth for various obligations that are carefully scheduled down to the minute, music remains the beating heart of Stray Kids. Masterminding creative concepts for each album, they are sextuple threats who can sing, dance, rap, choreograph, write and produce their own music — all skills that have been rigorously honed and sharpened by the unforgiving K-pop trainee system. Officially, the octet is split into three sub-units called ‘RACHAs’. 3RACHA, consisting of Bang Chan, Changbin and HAN, takes care of most of the writing and production; DANCERACHA, comprising Lee Know, Felix and Hyunjin, takes on choreography duties; and VOCALRACHA is made up of Seungmin and I.N, the designated lead singers. (There are unofficial units bestowed by the fans, including the affectionately named ‘PABORACHA’ — ‘pabo’ means dumb or foolish in Korean — whose esteemed members are Hyunjin, HAN and Lee Know, known for their chaotic and silly behaviour.)

RACHAs aside, band members’ roles can be quite fluid due to their multi-disciplinary training. Felix has co-written ‘Runners’, an English-language track on the new album, and Hyunjin wrote ‘Cover Me’ for their last EP, ROCK-STAR. It is entirely dependent on several, ever-changing factors.

Lee Know, for example, increasingly takes on more vocal roles in songs: “It’s always different according to what song we’re doing, and it depends on the schedules as well,” says Bang Chan. When it comes to songwriting, Bang Chan explains how if the group are on a tight schedule, they will gather beforehand and decide who does what. “Then, during our schedule, while we’re on the road and during our free time, then that’s when we get time to edit it,” he says. “So, it’s always different.”

Changbin adds, “When there is a tight schedule, everyone tries to do their own work. As for title tracks, three to four members have to meet up and do the work together. As far as individual work [goes], everyone can ask for help from other members.” Fans often witness the process when the band shares behind-the-scenes footage in the studio, with 3RACHA guiding members singing and rapping in the booth, meticulously tweaking their creations to make sure every element is just how they want it, collaborating on ideas and moulding the track as they go.

Felix explains that it’s a similar situation with the dance routines and concepts, “When it comes to performance, we always send our feedback about what we feel about the choreography, and we always try to match up to what is the best performance for this song. We talk about it with everyone too, as everyone is performing.”

Stray Kids’ sound has always been very experimental, spanning several genres, and ATE continues their sonic exploration. “It’s quite different to what we’ve done before, but we’re always open to new stuff,” says Bang Chan. As their mini album, ATE feels more grown-up, with the band having shed naivety from their lyrics. For instance, ‘I Like It’, an R&B track infused with trap-pop, explores the idea of a situationship: “I hope we don’t make a hasty mistake / Let’s take a long step back,” they sing. It’s a lyrically grey area that K-pop, which loves to deal in absolutes, doesn’t tackle often. ‘twilight’, written by HAN, slows things down, with a sparkling piano intro that sounds like it belongs in a Studio Ghibli film. The track cascades into a smooth, jazz, Bossa Nova style that examines the combustible nature of love, looking at what remains when an initial spark has burned too bright and been lost in a blaze of lustful glory, leaving only ashes behind.

The band’s bread and butter, though, lies in creating anthems, and both ‘MOUNTAINS’ and ‘Chk Chk Boom’ on this album fulfil that brief, with winding low electronic sounds and thundering choruses that are designed to be chanted back at them by the masses when they perform on stage.

Often the group will experiment with sound effects in their music. ‘ITEM’, a tune from their last album 5-Star, references the iconic Pac-Man video gamein its lyrics, and Bang Chan, Changbin and HAN played around with the production, lacing the song with retro arcade sounds. It has now become a popular track with the fanbase.

Following the popular K-Pop model at the moment of releasing new material almost biannually, Stray Kids won’t have time to dwell on this album for long. “We’re already working on new stuff,” explains Bang Chan.

I offer the idea of an acoustic album as something new for them to try, and the idea elicits a chorus of ‘oohs’ from them.

“That would be fun and another challenge for us,” says HAN, sitting up, his interest piqued.

“I would love it!” Seungmin pipes up enthusiastically, visibly animated at the prospect. “I play the guitar these days! I’m practising!”

“Too loud,” interjects Felix, jokingly. “When I am sleeping, I’m like ‘This guy!’ (Laughs) But he’s a good guitarist.”

“I would love to perform acoustically,” muses I.N, the combination of his mass of bleached blond hair and black turtleneck channelling Andy Warhol. The youngest member of the group has one condition, though: “I would love it to be an acoustic song that I myself wrote for the occasion. If I were to imagine a song with all the members, that we have already released, whilst I play the piano, it would be our song called ‘Stray Kids’ from the new album.” The song looks at their journey as a band and the legacy they are striving to achieve together.

“The strongest friendships are honed with fights. now we can say our bonds are stronger”

— Changbin

The twin concepts of teamwork and togetherness are the bedrocks of SKZ. Their joint determination has been vital to their success. The gruelling trainee process, where wannabe pop stars train for upwards of 10 hours a day, six days a week for an indefinite period, comes with no guarantee that you will debut. This means that when a band does make it, they must be focused on their goals in order to maintain an upward trajectory.

Once debuting, it is customary for a group to live together. This makes life easier with their schedule, but it means that the members of SKZ are literally spending 24 hours a day with each other.

“It’s almost eight years since we started, and the trainee years, so it’s been almost a decade since I have been living with these people,” explains HAN candidly, not shying away from addressing the complex dynamics of a large group in such an intense environment. “Sometimes we have differences of opinions and sometimes we have conflicts, which is totally normal, but at first, I felt like they were my companions as they shared a dream and a goal to work together. Then that relationship turned more into friends that you keep for the rest of your life, and now it’s changing again. It’s almost brotherly [now]; they feel like blood [relatives], and when we’re together, it feels like it’s obvious to stay together. [And] sometimes, when we haven’t seen each other for some time, I miss them. It’s been a wonderful relationship to share.”

“I had zero difficulties living with the members, as since I was a student, I used to hang with the hyungs [big brothers],” Lee Know offers. “It was not hard for me at all — it was enjoyable.” As the second oldest of the group, he’s often much more measured when they’re all together.

Seungmin can’t help but crack a joke when I ask what it was like getting to know each other so quickly at the beginning and living in such close confines with each other. “Terrible,” he says with his dry delivery and wry smile, making everyone laugh. There is an element of reality in what he is saying. The group are very open when it comes to discussing their disagreements with their fans.

“The first phase was the most awkward one,” says HAN, who perhaps is best speaking on the subject. He has opened up in the past about how he and Hyunjin didn’t initially get on, which almost resulted in a physical fight during practice. “We had to meet and [get to] know each other. But once that first phase was over and we first lived together, it is a precious thing that we can enjoy. At first, it was very, very hard.”

Seungmin switches from comedy to philosophy with his take on the group’s relationship dynamic. “It didn’t change, but it got deeper. We live together, we play music together, we dance and sing together, enjoy the stage together. We talk a lot… about what we have been doing recently, what thoughts we are thinking about these days. These kinds of talks get deeper.”

Changbin articulates what is very evident: the band’s unwavering hive mentality when it comes to success. “Sharing the same goal and dream with seven other people is something that’s not small,” he says. “The strongest friendships are honed with fights. I’m happy to have gone through the process because now we can say our bonds are stronger.”

Throughout their time with Rolling Stone UK, their unspoken connection is evident. When they arrive on set and are told their mark, they each get into formation without discussion. It’s one hive mind that knows where to go seemingly telepathically. It’s fascinating to watch them move as if they are one organic being.

Their shared experiences have definitely brought the group together, and they have had to navigate some choppy seas. One hurdle for the band was the pandemic lockdown which began in 2020. The group were just catching light, but everything ground to a halt. “COVID was horrible. There were so many things that we couldn’t do because of lockdown,” reflects Bang Chan.

“The weird thing was after performing in front of so many people, then having a concert without people was hard,” adds Felix. “We were performing in front of cameras. That was one of the moments that was really hard for us. And now we’re finally performing in front of fans.” That first time they performed in front of a crowd again at the end of 2021 instantly galvanised them. “It was amazing and so different. It’s like we got all shy! It was like, ‘Ohhh, a crowd! What do we say? What do we say?’”

Unable to follow their usual unrelenting schedule, the group used the period to spend a lot of time online, cultivating a relationship with their fanbase, which is now very loyal and active. The connection forged has proved to be iron-clad.

K-pop ‘idols’ (the term for a music star in Korea), as the name suggests, are treated like demigods by their fans, and the group have to strike a tricky balance between being unattainable yet also relatable. There is a whole ecosystem that Stray Kids exist in, producing content to allow their fanbase to connect with them. Like The Truman Show, they document every aspect of their lives. But unlike the Jim Carrey movie, Stray Kids are in on the whole thing and carefully curate what they show of themselves. Nearly every member struggles when asked to share something that we don’t already know about another band member. Quite simply, they have already laid all their cards out on the table. 

SKZ’s connection with fans goes way beyond TikTok videos and Instagram Live chats. YouTube is home to an entire video series that follows a gameshow-style format where they play games with forfeits, dunk themselves in swimming pools and dress up in costumes. They open their birthday gifts and blow out celebration cakes (usually alone) in front of their fans and have late-night chats with them, answering scores of questions while eating room service alone in their hotel rooms. It lends a very intimate feel to their celebrity, bolstered by shared confessionals that act almost like a therapy session where they dissect their relationships with each other and work through any hurdles. All this helps consolidate their pristine on-stage and music video personas.

Sharing a constant flow of information appears to have developed into a sort of stream of consciousness for them — so much so that they forget that everyone knows their every move. Hyunjin is genuinely shocked that I know about him losing Felix’s bank card in Paris a few months ago. He laughs and lets out an “Arghhh… you saw that?!” His head snaps back and he laughs, before sheepishly grinning and saying, “Erm… I’m sorry to Felix…”

When I ask Felix about a particular video where he is told by an expert that he doesn’t suit his favourite tone of icy blue, he launches into his answer, before double-backing like Hyunjin, surprised that I would have ever known about it. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah… oh, you’ve seen that!?” The RACHA LOG video I am referring to has been viewed 2.3 million times in the past few months. But if they do forget that the cameras are almost constantly on them, Bang Chan tells me that their youngest member is always lurking, checking in on what their fans are up to: “I.N, he’s always monitoring everything that’s going on. He’ll send us the link on the group chat. All these memes and stuff.”

Their private jokes do not go undetected either: a current favourite with the group and the Stay is “That’s not very noice” delivered in a thick Aussie accent. I.N, with his evergreen smile and low chuckle, explains how it started. “That was Felix,” he says, before Felix takes up the story.

“I was recreating a moment where I was talking with my mates. If they would say something funny or in a funny way, dissing like ‘That’s not very noice,’ as a joke, then this guy,” says Felix pointing to Hyunjin, “picks it up, that way of saying it, and then everyone starts saying it too.”

“Noiceeee… Aussie accent!” Hyunjin parrots, almost instinctively, and just as you do with best friends, the rest of the group descend into a chorus of “very noice” that sounds like a flock of seagulls.

“We show a lot of brotherly love,” says Felix. “Fans can see us as neat and calm and cool, but even off-camera it’s two times more crazy. We are more physically active. We’re more [the] brotherly, kind of wrestling type!” 

They display this on set when the photographer asks the group to do some more rough and tumble movements for a particular shot, instantly snapping out of their icy cool poses to tussle, laugh and joke. It ultimately ends with Seungmin purposefully jostling Changbin out of position, eliciting a strangled cry from him that soon turns into laughter.

“when I think of England, the first thing that comes to my mind is rock and punk. So, I want to dive into the culture”

— Hyunjin

When I next meet the group, almost a week later in London, it’s the day of their gig at BST Hyde Park. I am guided through a gate at the opposite area of the vast grounds and wade through barrier after barrier blocked by pass access, as well as groups of fans who have been waiting there since early afternoon (the earliest time they were allowed). Finally, I arrive at the meeting point, hoping I am not late. It’s a very covert operation as I am ushered backstage.

Hyunjin gives an enthusiastic wave while standing on his tiptoes, beaming at me when he spots me as if he has just seen an old friend. Before I know it, I’m enveloped in a huddle of incredible energy. I can see what Hemsworth was on about when he met them at the Met Gala.

“Oh, look who it is!” jokes Bang Chan.

“Long time no see,” Felix chimes in.

I.N smiles and Lee Know gives me his best movie-star sparkle as we chat. This warmth is part of an intangible quality that makes Stray Kids so special. The authenticity they have cultivated with each other over the years has manifested in such a way that their fans feel it through some sort of osmosis. What is noticeable more than anything is that even though they have said that they are nervous, they are completely ready. They look confident and calm and smile back at me when Bang Chan jokingly says, “You’re joining us on stage, right?”

Felix chatters about their amazing Milan show. It’s evident that perfectionist Bang Chan has some notes for improvement on their performance, but he keeps those to himself. They have had no time to take in any of the London sights they were excited about seeing, but Lee Know mentions that they did manage to grab the Korean food that they had been longing for.

Seungmin had hoped to perform in the rain. “I visited the Coldplay concert [in Seoul] when I was a trainee. That moment was the most memorable concert I have ever been to. I really want to visit a Coldplay show on a rainy day. I dream of a rainy stage. We had one a long time ago, but it was a show with other groups — not our own.”

After I say goodbye and wish them the luck that they do not need, I snap a photo and look out over the crowd of over 60,000 Stay waiting for their idols to appear. They’re bathed in the golden light of a glorious July evening. It’s a perfect setting, and clearly Seungmin won’t be granted his meteorological dream. The crowd have begun chanting their favourite songs even before SKZ are on stage. Then, a huge red banner unfurls with the Stray Kids Logo and the group finally appear.

Their set is nothing short of electric, and as they perform, I’m reminded of what Hyunjin said about the spirit of rock’n’roll. “Obviously, when I think of England, the first thing that comes to my mind is rock and punk,” he said. “So, I want to dive into the culture and experience this style and the people I am going to meet, that’s why the festival that I am going to enjoy with the band is something I look forward to, and I can’t wait to be invested in England’s culture.” 

With electric guitars and bass to ramp up the rock elements in their music, all eight members seem to relish the performance. Their sound blends multiple genres — most notably, trap-pop, hip-hop and electronic music — and translates exceptionally well from the studio to live performance. Embracing the noisy style that they were once criticised for, they’ve reconfigured it to work perfectly on stage, full of riffs and booming bass. Anthems such as ‘Topline’ and ‘MIROH’ really come into their own in a concert setting like Hyde Park’s, where the huge audience are singing along.

Often, one member will dart off-stage. Running through the throng, they’ll spray water on themselves or over the crowd, all the while weaving in dance breaks and maintaining exquisite vocals. Connected by a seemingly invisible string, they all seem to find their way back to one another to perform incredibly intricate choreography.

Felix is particularly hyped up, bouncing around so much that his voice is hoarse when he bids farewell to London. The togetherness that they have all spoken of and their brotherly bond is evident on stage.

As Stray Kids look out over the crowd, after doing a six-song encore, drenched in sweat, exhausted but exhilarated, you can see in their eyes that they’re drinking in the moment where all their hard work, late nights and jet lag is finally paying off and, most importantly, they’re climbing to the top of the music world together.

As I told Bang Chan when we had our quiet moment during the photoshoot, stadium tours will surely follow, as well as more record-breaking milestones. It’s clear that they see this as only the beginning, and they have no intention of stopping until they reach the top. It’s quite the sight to behold, watching Stray Kids in full flight, hurtling towards their collective destiny.

Words & Creative Direction Joseph Kocharian
Photography: Kosmas Pavlos
Photography Assistant: Luke Johnson
Digital imaging: Alexandra Heindl
Location: Bar Studios Milano barstudios.it
Translator: Beomjun Kim