Stray Kids officially released their third Japanese mini album ‘Hollow’ on the 18th.

The new album ‘Hollow’ is Stray Kids’s first mini-album in Japan in about 3 years since their 2nd mini-album ‘CIRCUS’ in June 2022, and it is more special as it consists of all the tracks as original Japanese songs for the first time since their local debut.This time again, the group’s producing team 3Racha’s Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han participated in the production of all the songs including the title song ‘Hollow’, showing off their capabilities as an ‘in-house producing group’.The new album contains a total of five tracks, including the title song ‘Hollow’, as well as ‘Parade’, ‘Never Alone’, ‘just a little’, and ‘宿命’.

The title song ‘Hollow’ was named by combining the English word ‘Hollow’, meaning ‘empty’, and the Korean word ‘홀로’, meaning ‘lonely’ or ‘loner’.It is a pop genre song that captures the emotions of suddenly feeling empty or emptiness one day with strong synth leads, electric guitar, and emotional piano touch.Stray Kids first performed ‘Hollow’ on stage for four days from May 10th to 11th and 17th to 18th in Shizuoka, which attracted a total of 220,000 audiences, marking their first stadium entry into Japan.

Stray Kids pre-released the digital single and music video for “Hollow” on the 11th, a week ahead of the official release of their album.The digital single topped various local music charts, including Recochoku Daily Single Ranking and AWA Real-Time Rising Songs Top 100, and topped the Japanese iTunes Song Chart.It also topped the iTunes Comprehensive Song Charts in eight regions, including Mexico, Sweden, and Poland.The music video, which boasts things to see such as the performance of the chorus that visually expresses the sorrowful lyrics and members Hyunjin and Seungmin’s wire action, topped YouTube’s Music Video Trending Worldwide on the afternoon of the 11th, the day of its release.It boasted global popularity, ranking among the most popular videos on YouTube in Japan, Brazil, the UK, and other countries, including 4th in the US.

Along with the release of their new album, there is also some good news.The second track on the album, “Parade, “ has been selected as the theme song for the movie “BODY FINDING THE LAST NIGHT, “ which will be released in Japan on September 5th.”Parade” is characterized by its edgy sound based on hip-hop and overwhelming beats, and is expected to make the heart rates of those watching “BODY FINDING THE LAST NIGHT, “ a loop-type horror movie that depicts fear that never stops approaching, soar.In particular, this is the first time that Stray Kids has been in charge of a movie theme song in Japan.Leader Bang Chan commented, “I’m glad that the released trailer and the mood of the song go well together, and I think we will be able to solidify the worldview of the movie.Please show lots of love for ‘Parade.’”

Meanwhile, Stray Kids will appear on Fuji TV’s music variety program ‘Weekly Nainai Music’ to perform ‘Hollow’ on the afternoon of the 18th, and will talk about their new album on TBS’s late-night variety program ‘Yoruno Brunch’.



Reporter Yang Ju- juyeon@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.