The group Stray Kids has revealed the first concept photos for their new album ‘合 (HOP)’.

Stray Kids will be releasing a new-format album SKZHOP HIPTAPE ‘合 (HOP)’ and its title track ‘Walkin On Water’ on December 13th at 2 PM (0:00 AM EST).

In the revealed photos, Stray Kids capture attention with their free and confident poses and charismatic gaze. They mixed and matched props such as chrome masks, janggu, fans, and hats with objects that symbolize hip-hop such as boomboxes and speakers, creating an exquisite harmony between tradition and modernity.

SKZHOP HIPTAPE is a combination of the abbreviation for Stray Kids, ‘SKZ’, and hip-hop (HIP-HOP), presenting ‘SKZ‘s own new genre’. Their first work, ‘合 (HOP)’, is a combination of the eight members of Stray Kids’ union and ‘HOP’, the English name of the hip-hop genre, which has an ambiguous meaning. This time, all members, led by the group‘s producing team 3RACHA consisting of Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han, contributed to the credits and deeply infused the music.

Including the title song ‘Walkin On Water’, ‘Bounce Back’, ‘U (Feat. TABLO)’, ‘Walkin On Water (HIP Ver.)’, and the member solo stage songs performed on the group’s largest-scale world tour ‘Stray Kids World Tour ’, ‘Railway (Bang Chan)’, ‘Unfair (Felix)’, ‘HALLUCINATION (I.N.)’, ‘Youth (Lee Know)’, ‘So Good (Hyunjin)’(So Good), ‘ULTRA (Changbin)’(Ultra), ‘Hold my hand (Han)’(Hold My Hand), ‘Like That, Slowly, Us (Seungmin)’ are included as bonus tracks.

According to a recent announcement by the Grammy Awards through their official SNS channel, the soundtrack album for the movie ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’(Deadpool & Wolverine Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) which includes Stray Kids‘ new song ‘SLASH’(Slash) released last July has been nominated in the ‘Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media’(Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media) category at the 67th Grammy Awards. The 67th Grammy Awards, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the popular music industry, will be held in Los Angeles, USA on February 2nd (local time).

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com Reporter jhj@donga.com