#JJAM MV WAS VERY NEEDED

[skzworldz]

STICKY!

[thedeliverygod]

Stray Kids ATE review

I've listened to it 3 times so my opinions are still open to change I guess but here goes

Mountains: honestly... I was a bit disappointed by the unveil and upon listening to the album a few times, it's still only just "okay" to me. It's just kind of...boring? It has SKZ's sound but its just... meh for me. Honestly I feel this way about a good chunk of the IN Life album too, for example, so I'm kinda glad I got into skz later on. This seems to be a very unpopular opinion from what I've seen but oh well lol. But I do get what SKZ is saying when they they can picture fans chanting lines from it.

Chk Chk Boom: It's a bop; the MV is great and it's catchy as heck. However, I will say that personally it doesn't hit as hard as LALALALA or S-Class. I think I didn't want to admit that as first because of course I always want to hype new albums up as much as possible but I think that's the truth I've come to.

JJAM: I loooove this one. I love it's playfulness and how the song breaks down the subunits or the rachas as we call them. I didn't hear the squelch sound effect until my very last listen though and I feel like that was kinda unnecessary lmaoooo but oh well

I Like It: My fave song on the album tbh. I like that it has kind of the more mainstream sound they mentioned that they played with but kind of backed off from in the intro video. But also it has that like very odd/spooky instrument that gives it those "off vibes" so it is like kinda the musical representation of the red flags the lyrics are giving off LOL. I'm with IN on this one; I totally don't see why people would enjoy situationships but this song is enjoyable as hell for sure.

Runners: The aussie bros wrote this song so I feel like I'm biased right off the bat for that [also the fact that you know the song is 100% English and I don't have to search for lyrics]. The pre-chorus has my entire heart; both in terms of sound and the lyrics themselves.

Twilight: such an unexpected song!!! What a smooth, classic listen. Everybody's vocals shine and it's just another masterpiece by Han.

Stray Kids: so I've only been a Stay since late 2022, but I've watched the survival show & Kingdom & a fair ton of other content. Obviously there's still a lot that I've missed, but this song still makes me emotional regardless. I'm so excited that I've joined this journey with them and I can't wait to see where they go from here. Also it was mentioned that this could be a closing song at concerts during the intro video and I think that would be perfect.

Chk Chk Boom (Festival Ver): tbh I think it would be more fair to call this a club remix or something like that cuz lolol. It will definitely get people hyped. Also, as a nerd, I feel the need to mention part of the song reminds me of some parts of NEO: TWEWY's soundtrack but that's just me.

[ilistentogirlinred]

okay my thoughts on chk chk boom:

i like it! it's not my all time favourite stray kids title track but it's fun. they tried something different and it turned out well. it kinda sounds like an ateez song, largely because of the last chorus, but it does have a somewhat ateez-y sound - which i like!

the instrumental is fun and the song is structured well. the verses are good and i like the topline melodies. not a huge fan of the prechorus but i like the chorus a lot. i don't think it has the best line distribution but everyone seems to have the same amount of cool/memorable bits? i like the choreo a lot. also good for them for getting ryan reynold and hugh jackman in the MV!

i'd give it a 7.9/10? id say currently it's in my top five skz title tracks? in 5th place, below thunderous, maniac, god's menu and back door.

thoughts on the ate EP as a whole:

i really liked mountains! b-sides that could've been title tracks are always my favourite skz songs (i.e megaverse). it's VERY stray kids. i'd give it a 7.5/10? i liked the refrain bit (head above the clouds etc) more than the chorus and the chorus was the low point in the song for me.

i don't like jjam that much, it feels like a messier version of item. i do think it would be very good live, and i think my thoughts on it could change. but i found the lyrics kinda cringey and annoying. it's a 5/10 sorry

i like it is very radio friendly. i didn't playlist it and the chorus feels a little funky. i do know that this is one of the songs that they were trying something different with, and i think they did well with something that's quite far from what they're usually used to, but skz has done pop-y songs before that i like more than this one (see like half of han's solo songs). 6.5/10, it's not cohesive enough for me. instrumental is cool though

runners is a lot like domino honestly, until the chorus. it's quite good but it's not playlisted. the production is fun! i bet it'll have super fun choreo. it kinda reminds me of social path too? it's very season two shounen anime opeing. 7/10 i think

twilight is amazing obviously. han's songs always slay. sonically, it's like if want so bad (lee know and han) and that song by jeonghan and wonwoo from seventeen that i forgot the name of had a kid and the kid is friends with mingi and yunho's song. (i need the skz player/replay/whatever the heck it's called songs on spotify). solid 9/10 hanpop never fails us

i... don't like the self titled song much. for a song called stray kids, it's not the most stray kids sounding song. this song also reminds me of social path and is giving last season of a sports anime opening when they're in their third year and are going to nationals and its sad but also happy or whatever. the references to their older songs were cute. 7.5/10, it's a nice sounding song but it's also not playlisted. fitting that it released just after the contract renewal news came out! i hope they're all happy with the contracts and stuff

the chk chk boom festival version is garbage. what the fuck happened to the instrumental. it sounds sped up but its not and its what panic and fear sound like. i want it removed from my memories. 2/10

overall, it was a good project! it's a solid EP and i think it'll be good live (hoping i can get tickets lol). from the mini documentary thing they did, it seems like they were a bit creatively burnt out and also quite tired while working on this, and i think they wanted it out sooner than it was? regardless, it's a great release and considering how busy they've been the past year, it's very good. i would give it a solid 7.5/10 overall.