Stray Kids

The idea was to put together the most talented kids in the country to create a brand-new band. The show was called Stray Kids — and once the final nine contestants made the cut, that became the name of the band itself.

Proving that the band could work together to make awesome music writing all of its own songs, JYP launched its career with album production and the video release for the song “Hellevator.” From there, the band came out with its first EP, Mixtape. Since then, Stray Kids has taken the world by storm, becoming one of the hottest international acts of the 2020s.

Currently, there are eight members of Stray Kids. Bang Chan is the leader of the group, singing, rapping, dancing and producing tracks. Han and Changbin also produce and rap, with Han also providing vocals. Lee Know, Felix and Hyunjin are all top dancers, adding vocals and rap licks as well. Seungmin and I.N. are focused on vocals. The ninth member who made it to the end of the show, vocalist Woojin, left Stray Kids in 2019 due to personal reasons.

While mostly born and raised in South Korea, two members, including leader Bang Chan, are actually natives of Australia. That comes in handy when the rest of the band need their press interviews translated into English, as the two Aussies do the honors.

Each of the members have their own individual personalities, allowing fans to focus on the ones they feel they have the most in common with, but they’re known to be introverted offstage. This is pretty much the opposite of their well-worn onstage personas, making them even more intriguing to fans. For example, Changbin is known for being “dark” on stage, but in his own life, he’s known to be a little more easygoing and even funny.

Since its debut in 2017, Stray Kids has made hundreds of appearances on other South Korean reality shows, often to support other aspiring artists competing for the limelight as it once did. The band has also shown up on popular Korean drama series, delighting the nation’s TV audiences, and making lots of music every step of the way.

In that time, it dropped two full-length LPs: 2020’s Go Live and 2021’s Noeasy, supporting the records with two world tours from 2019 to 2022, with another one on the horizon for 2023.

When the band is not busy making music and appearing on TV, it gets busy racking up loads of awards. It won dozens of official accolades for everything from best rookie band to best male artist to best video in top competitions like the Asian Artist Awards, Genie Music Awards and MTV Europe Music Awards. The time is now to find out what all the buzz is about because the Stray Kids have definitely been discovered.