When do they rest?? Seriously, it seems like Stray Kids never have a minute to even reflect on the last major thing they’ve done. Hot off the heels of their world tour they’ve dropped an album, Karma.
Similar to Ampers&One, it’s wild to me that they are doing all of this stuff over here while simultaneously learning a new routine for a new song that they will then have to perform everywhere. I’m sure every minute of their days are managed by a million different people, but still. Kudos to their mental health. I wasn’t thinking that Karma was a full-blown album until I looked at the track list and saw that there were nine new songs there. Apparently this album is meant to be a sequel of sorts to Ate, which I loved, so I suppose I can see the similarities running through this new album.
The lead single was “Ceremony,” which really threw me for a loop the first listen. It seemed a little disjointed and hard to find a consistent beat, but the second time through I was committed. This song is endlessly catchy and I think anyone can sing “hip hip” with fervor. The video that came along with this particualr song had a sports theme, which is fairly fitting, at least based off of the title. The song itself sings of their achievements, so all around it was a good concept. When I went to listen to the whole album, it’s kind of a shame that the opening track, “Beep” didn’t have anything that really hooked me. All I could really pay any attention to was a really cringy line about a firetruck. Why?
I do believe they made the right choice with “Ceremony” as the single for this album, though “Creed” did end up being pretty good. I think this song is the most I’ve heard Felix sing that wasn’t a solo/duo song. At first I wasn’t wild about Hyunjin and Seungmin’s delivery in the song, but it really is cool. “Mess” kind of surprised me as it gave off really strong ATEEZ vibes. Like if I wasn’t as familiar with oth groups’ vocals, I would have assumed the song was ATEEZ’s. No complaints here, though! And Lee Know also had a rap verse in this song – how neat! “Halftime” had a nice groove, which just made it seem fun overall, and like something I could dance to.
For the strengths of this album, like most of Stray Kids’ music, for me at least, there are just some tracks that do not work. For instance, “In My Head” is the type of pop punk that I would definitely not listen to. And I love pop punk! There was certainly a catchy quality to the chorus, but gosh, the rest of it was just beyond corny. Similarly, “0801” was at a tempo I’m just not as familiar with. It did however give me a pretty strong One Direction vibe, which I am definitely not opposed to. Overall, I do like how the song is basically an homage to the group. You know, eight members, one team. And it seemed to speak to how they will always be there for each other. I certainly see that evidenced as their career keeps going.
I was a little worried that nothing was going to rival “Ceremony” on this record, or at least come close, but thankfully I was wrong! “Phoenix” adopts an 80s groove, which works so, so well here. Han’s vocals are supreme and the chorus is so damn catchy! Just when I thought this was going to take an easy secod place, “Ghost” comes along and decides it’s going to be a tie. I really can’t accurately describe the genre of music that’s represented in the intro of this song, but it rules. And then it morphs into a techno Latin beat. It’s incredible! These two tracks definitely took this album from maybe being a bit disappointing to pretty impressive as a whole!
Their career is a mystery to me, so I have no clue what’s next for them, but who knows, maybe something special will be going down when I’m visiting Seoul in a little over a month.