Albums Of The Year: Stray Kids Forge Their Own Path On MIROH

the initial line of "Boxer" is a brilliant introduction to Stray Kids: Translated, it goes, "Hello, I’m a young man who can fly anywhere." It's a confident declaration, at once cheeky polite, and it also speaks to the Korean boy group's signature tenacity. It's charismatically delivered by main dancer Lee Know, the intensity building with every word. Each person, attention!" He spits before the song erupts into a flurry of chaotic synths and brazen emotions. It's loud and relentless, representative of the bold sound Stray Kids have been cautiously honing since their pre-debut days in 2017 — and of the order itself: eight young individuals navigating the labyrinth of adulthood. (A ninth member, Woojin, left the group in late October 2019 for personalized reasons.)


That tempestuous coming-of-age journey is seeped into their ambitious March EP, Clé 1: MIROH. Inspired by the word miro, or "maze" in Korean, MIROH kicked off a confident new chapter for Stray Kids, starting to answer the introspective questions posed by their 2018 I Am... series of EPs, which focused heavily on the theme of identity. Who am I? Who am I attempting to be? And importantly, who do I want to be? With MIROH — the initial in the Clé trilogy, which also includes June's Yellow Wood and December's Levanter — these crucial questions persist, yet Stray Kids strengthen their resolve as they charge away from the systems that seek to control them and into the thorny, often scary unknown.


That maturity isn't just reflected in the lyrics and production, so thoughtfully crafted by the members themselves, however on Clé 1: MIROH as a whole. Released per year right after their debut, the group's fourth EP is their strongest and most cohesive body of work. Etched into these seven songs isn't just a story, or a concept, yet a collective journey from self-doubt to resilience. The album's intro track, "Entrance," invites you into the chaotic world of MIROH — wealthy in texture, pulsating beats, and ad-libs from other songs on the album — with assurance.


At first listen, "Miroh" sounds like a uncommon choice for a lead single. It's a cacophony of sounds, rhythms, chants, and animal noises that doesn't seem to follow any familiar song structure. There's no real melody, just powerful rap verses over a repetitive bass line. Yet the hook is massive; it's meant to be screamed at the best of your lungs, like the K-pop imagining of a My Chemical Romance headbanger — that is, if Gerard Way had been much less a fan of The Misfits and more into EDM. It isn't a song so much as a heightened experience.


In the greater K-pop landscape, wherein melodic sound is mainstream, "Miroh" is fearlessly defiant. It's unabashedly noisy, and its message is resilient. As Stray Kids rush into the maze before them, they do so with impenetrable confidence. However there’s no time to rest," Hyunjin smoothly raps on the next verse. "I’m alright, I’m holding on and I keep on going / I just need to look ahead and run."


Running is sort of their thing. Stray Kids have been releasing music at a tireless pace since "Hellevator" premiered in October 2017. The angsty pre-debut song traditional the JYP Entertainment-repped boy group's grungy fashion and affinity for explosive EDM drops. They made their official debut in March 2018 with "District 9," a genre-agnostic track about disaffected youth with in-your-face energy and staggering rhythmic intensity. Since then, they've released six EPs, particularly impressive for an audience who write and produce all of their music.


Members Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han — otherwise referred to because the production trio 3RACHA — are accountable for a heavy majority of the group's discography. They're credited lyricists and composers on every Stray Kids track to date and have been making music with each other since their teenage trainee days, uploading self-produced mixtapes to SoundCloud and YouTube. The other members also participate in the songwriting process; they all contribute lyrics to the mixtape songs that are segment of each physical release — like MIROH's "Mixtape #4," a rearranged version of 3RACHA's damaged Compass" about the significance of trusting yourself and following your own path, no matter how scary the road ahead looks.


Stray Kids challenge these fears while in MIROH. "Victory Song" is an anthemic rallying cry to move forward with confidence and bulletproof ego. "Who else is like me, there’s no one," Han raps. Although that bravado begins to crack on "Maze of Memories," a dizzying track that stimulates the feeling of wandering in hopeless pursuit of an end that's nowhere in sight. Right now I run for an answer that I cannot visualize Han laments. There's a uneasy cadence to the track as it switches between two tempos; it's disorienting and visceral, like the experience of growing up. "Chronosaurus" is equally introspective. The song, inspired by leader Bang Chan's own fascination with time, personifies the phenomenon as a monster they must outrun. "Day and night, daily Seungmin sings. "I am afraid / I think I'll get caught."


Time is a successive theme for Stray Kids. On the EP's standout track "19," written and produced by Han, they yearn to stop time. It's a confusing paradox, the wish to grow up however fearing the real meaning of being an adult. Yet the ways in which Stray Kids empathize with this conflict is precisely what makes them the voices of their generation. "Twenty years old that I wanted to be so badly," Han raps. "Did everybody go through this same experience or am I the only one that’s anxious?"


And while main rappers Changbin and Han get plenty of room to flex on the album — Changbin's aggressive bite is a brilliant match for Han's more melodic flow — MIROH smartly showcases rappers Hyunjin and Felix as a testament to their growth. Hyunjin's versatility is his strength. On "Maze of Memories," he switches up his flow effortlessly, a potent mix that leaves you breathless. Elsewhere, Felix delivers one of the album's smoothest verses on "Victory Song" with a newfound sense of confidence. Vocalists Seungmin and I.N also shine in unexpected ways; Seungmin's English language rap on "Maze of Memories" is a proper highlight, while youngest member I.N. Soars on "Chronosaurus."


Throughout the Clé series, the members of Stray Kids are running toward something that is never clearly defined. That's the point: the realization that the destination doesn't matter nearly much because the journey. Yet the journey isn't an easy one. Some days the voices indoor their heads get also loud, also consuming, and feel insurmountable. Yet that's what makes MIROH a seminal work from the young categorize — just because you can't visualize your way out of the maze doesn't mean you need to stop trying.