Stray Kids seeks to gain foothold at home

By Jung Hae-myoung

Although the K-pop boy band Stray Kids has been receiving attention from abroad, they have only just held their first concert in Korea last weekend.

The group debuted in 2017 after appearing in the namesake television show “Stray Kids” which aired on Mnet. They released their debut album in 2018. The name “Stray Kids” implies they are boys who are lost, seeking their own way.

Instead of a boyish image, they present a tough image. At the concert “DISTRICT 9: Unlock” held in Seoul on Sunday, they made a charismatic appearance with fireworks, wearing black leather jackets.

The team originally consisted of nine members, but one of the members Woo-jin withdrew from the team in October this year.

“We have been going through many things dynamically, but we thank our fans STAY who have been actually staying with us,” Han said.

“We always look back on ourselves to check if there is anything we are missing, but I think for this concert we gave it our all. Watching the videos that showed what we went through at the concert, I looked back on what we have achieved. There were some problems from time to time, but we were able to overcome them with our fans,” Hyun-jin said.

The members said they have been waiting for a long time to hold a concert in their own country. “All of our members have been waiting for this moment. We are thinking about what we can share with the audience and improve ourselves,” Seung-min said.

Chang-bin also said the team members have been holding onto each other during the hard times. “I think we should have strong mentality and aspiration during the music career. We promised ourselves we would never cry even if we feel we are falling apart. It is only on stage we feel that we are loved.”

The Sunday concert kicked off their world tour. On Dec. 9, they will also release the new album “Cle: Levanter.”