“This is a career highlight,” popular K-pop group Stray Kids said as they headlined the British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park Festival on Sunday.
The eight-man group from South Korea debuted in 2018 after being formed by JYP Entertainment through a reality show. They have won over fans around the world with their genre-mixing sound and hit songs such as “God’s Menu”, “S-Class” and “Maniac”.
Named by Time magazine as one of the Next Generation Leaders, Stray Kids placed third on recorded music industry body IFPI’s top 10 list of global recording artists last year. Their third Korean-language studio album 5-Star was last year’s second biggest-selling album globally, IFPI said.
All eight members also walked the famed Met Gala red carpet in New York in May, wearing custom Tommy Hilfiger suits.
Bang Chan said the group were grateful for their strong streaming numbers and successes, but added that the onus was on bringing meaningful music to their fans, known as Stays.
“Lots of Stays and a lot of people are giving us a lot of attention, so I don’t think we should sit still and do nothing about it. That’s why all the members are working hard,” added Seungmin.
Part of that is the group’s “comeback”, their new EP, titled ATE, which will be released on July 19.
“It really means a lot to us. It’s been a while since our last album. With this album we really want to emphasise our eight members, how genuine we are with music, and we’ve also put in a lot of styles of music for everyone out there to enjoy,” said Bang Chan.
“We’re bringing out all we can at this time,” added Changbin.
