Stray Kids is back with their third full album 5-Star and as a Stay, I had to give it a listen and share my thoughts on the new songs.
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame is an interesting song since it serves a purpose beyond just being a b-side since it is the first song of the album. It sets the tone for the album, which it does well since the first half of the album has similar themes. And as a stand-alone track I enjoy it.
S-Class
It is a solid and sort of fascinating title track. I have said in the past that Stray Kids tends to follow a formula with their title tracks, and initially S-Class was doing the same. But as the song progressed they started to play around more, adding beat changes and new genre influences, as well as changing up who sang versus who rapped. It is nice to see the deviate from the expected a little bit.
ITEM
Not gonna lie, I had to look up why this song is called Item, and once I got the explanation everything made so much more sense. Basically, an “item” in this song is referring to how items in video games can aid a player and enhance their skills temporarily, like in Mario Kart for example. And Stray Kids are saying they don’t need these items to succeed. That knowledge really helps you realize how clever the song is plus explains the video-game-like sound effects that pop up throughout the song.
Super Bowl
I think we were all expecting a Super Board part 2 in this song. But it is more like if Super Board and God’s Menu had a child, which was unexpected. And I didn’t expect them to refer to food instead of American football, given the name. Stray Kids never really does the expected though. This is another example of how clever they are when writing their music.
TOPLINE ft. Tiger JK
Of these first set of “We’re Awesome” songs, this one is probably my favorite. The addictive beat and the strength of the rap are just so good. It also has some of the cleverness that I also enjoy from Stray Kids.
DLC
I am glad that the topic and theme of this song finally deviates from the “We’re Awesome” side of things. I really enjoy the beat, but there is something about the lyric flow that I don’t really like. There is nothing interesting in how they sing this song, so it feels a little bit like a filler track. I would still let this song play if it comes on, but it isn’t going to be a favorite of mine.
GET LIT
I really, really wanted the beat for this song to go crazy at the chorus. It just didn’t get lit enough for me. Even if it was just the last chorus it went wild, that would have been great.
Collision
I really like this song and already wanted to listen to it again after the first time. Using the idea of colliding stars to relate to a “meant-to-be relationship is rather interesting. I also enjoy the soothing beat.
FNF
Felix sounds so good singing in this song! The song as a whole sounds great and I really enjoy it, quickly adding it to my playlist. I will say it is quite similar in theme to Collision, so I find it interesting that they are back to back.
Youtiful
I don’t tend to gravitate to this style of song, but I do really enjoy that they have a vocal-focused song on the album since most of their discography is very rap focused. It is a pleasant song to listen to, I just won’t listen to it much outside of this.
The Sound (Korean Ver.)
The Sound is originally in Japanese, which I gave a quick take on at its release, so since I am already familiar with that version, this one just sounds a little off. I’ll stick to my originally rating of the song though.
Mixtape: Time Out
Time Out originally almost a year ago, so you can read my rating of that song on its original quick take. I will briefly say that I still really enjoy this song, even a year later.
Overall Rating
Overall, 5-Star was close to being a no-skip album for me. They excel when their tracks focus on topics of greatness and success, but they need to regain their footing on tracks that differ from that. None of the songs are bad, but some could be turned from good to great.
Have you listened to Stray Kids’ new album? Tell me your favorite track below!
