Stray Kids slow it down on 10th mini album 'THIS & THAT'

Stray Kids released their 10th mini album 'THIS & THAT' on August 7. The title track is a mid-tempo hip-hop song, a deliberate step back from the fast, hard-hitting style that earned the group its "mala" — numbing-spicy — nickname in Korea.

A quieter setting, the same handwriting

At a press conference in Seoul on August 6, Changbin said the group wanted to show "a more relaxed and practiced side" instead of the playful, high-energy version fans knew. The choreography follows the same idea, trading sharp angles for looser curves.

What did not change is who made it. 3RACHA — Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han — wrote and arranged all eight tracks, including "Run It," "Farming," "I Do," "Way Out," and "After You." The members picked "After You," which opens on guitar and turns into EDM, as the biggest departure on the record.

Photo: JYP Entertainment

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Eighth year, and a Grammy question left open

Stray Kids debuted in 2018. Since 'ODDINARY' in 2022, eight straight albums have entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 on release — the first act in the chart's history to do that. Last year's dominATE tour played 56 shows to 2.2 million people. This year's 'RUN IT' tour includes Tokyo's National Stadium, and in September the group headlines its own festival, STRAYCITY, in Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City.

The Grammys have added a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, and Stray Kids are widely named as a likely first winner. BTS has said it will not submit. Asked about their own plans, Hyunjin said the group has never worked toward an award or a record; they have not ruled out submitting either. Forbes recently noted that their in-house production is the kind Grammy voters tend to reward, and that their chart and touring numbers are hard to pass over.

Photo: JYP Entertainment

The read: the tempo moved, the authorship didn't

The change on this record is a setting, not a direction. The same three writers are on all eight tracks, as they have been for years.

That distinction is the commercial one. Eight consecutive No. 1 debuts were built on in-house writing, not on a single sound, and a slower lead single tests whether the audience is following the writers or the intensity.

It also runs against what most K-pop groups do in year eight, which is escalate — bigger concepts, harder production. Stray Kids went the other way while moving up to a 70,000-seat stadium.

The risk is straightforward. A mid-tempo lead single is harder to convert into first-week volume, and staying quiet on the Grammy question leaves them positioned inside someone else's story. Neither is fatal, and both show up in numbers soon enough.

Open question

Does 'THIS & THAT' make it nine straight No. 1 debuts on the Billboard 200? If it does, the streak belongs to 3RACHA's writing rather than to the aggressive sound. If it stops here, the tempo change is the first place to look.

NEXT — the late-August Billboard 200, and whether Stray Kids submit to the new Grammy category.

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