2023 proved a head rush of a year for the
Stray Kids
: pushing their already wild sonics in new directions with
5-STAR
and
ROCK-STAR
, the K-pop noisemakers entered a new era of global acclaim, landing back-to-back number one albums globally amid polarized reactions from existing Stays. Fortunately for more traditionalist fans, their first project of 2024 runs a little closer to their roots:
ATE
negotiates between the group's original sound and their recent comebacks, a sonic rush peppered with references across their career.
It would be hard to discuss
without launching right at its title track, "Chk Chk Boom," which makes a compelling case for being the group's all-time greatest title tracks. A saccharine compression of Latin sonics with strong individual performances from each of the group's members, the track is everything that makes
tick -- loud, dynamic, and rule-breaking at every step. Of course, the kind of kitschy one-offs that infect most of K-pop's relationship with Latin music are here ("La vida loca," "amigo," "vamos"), but their play with reggaeton is surprisingly fresh, teasing the similarities between dembow and EDM drum patterns before exploding fully into reggaeton by the second chorus. With verses as strong as
Changbin
's here, it's hard not to get swept up in the ride.
The mini-album's eight tracks follow the same rough progression of 2023's
, opening with headstrong anthems before bringing the pace down with B-sides "Twilight" and "Stray Kids." "Mountains" traces its titular peak with strutting bass guitars and stadium-status choruses; the track's jagged "mountains, mountains" refrain, split between seven of the group's members, solidifies it as a vital opener. While drill and drum'n'bass race against each other on "I Like It" and "Runners," it's "JJAM" that makes for the most unique genre-bend here, whipping between rap and electronic styles amid harmonies of "peanut butter jelly time" and "sticky, sticky, sticky jam." It's the kind of track that only K-pop can deliver.
For the long-standing Stays, there's a whole breadcrumb trail of throwbacks here: "JJAM" interpolates the hefty sounds of 2021's "Domino," "Stray Kids still gonna rock on the Hellevator" offers an affirming toast to their origins, and the one-liner "I know, you know,
Lee Know
" proves a personal favorite callback to "The Tortoise and the Hare." But it's the lofty "Stray Kids" that offers the best reflection of the group's journey thus far, assuring Stays of the group's future ("there ain't no last step out"), rallying behind shouts of "Stray Kids" and nodding to "Blueprint," "Backdoor," and the Clé series in its nostalgic promo video. It's only fitting that
Bang Chan
, who chose each of the group's members individually back in 2017, delivers the last lines here;
brings things full circle on the group's colossal, and well-deserved, success. ~ David Crone