Back with their fourth full-length album “Karma,” Stray Kids kickstarted a nuclear bomb in the K-pop industry on August 22, 2025. With over 3 million copies sold in the first week alone, this album shattered the Billboard charts with an overwhelming number one. This seventh chart topper makes Stray Kids the first K-pop group to reach this achievement.
Stray Kids aims to deliver a fresh impact on the music industry. Some tracks beat in a dynamic and energizing rhythm, while others fuse callow romance and nostalgia. But each individual track still has its own unique story to tell.
Just like their previous albums “5-STAR” and “Dominate,” Stray Kids paints “Karma” with their eccentric persona. However, their emphasis on personal strengths rather than new approaches differentiates it entirely.
Karma’s tracks fall into two categories: electric and sentimental. In the former, the group mirrors their own journey through the K-pop community with a rebellious tone and a playful ambience.
Throughout their title track “Ceremony,” the catchphrase “Hip hip hooray,” an Australian celebratory phrase, reflects the celebration carefully sewn into the song. Stray Kids intended their album “Karma” to depict a ceremony for their beyond successful 7-year career, and this epitomizes the overall theme.
Main rapper Han Jisung sings “We did it, 소리 질러 (shout it out), wow,” to represent the celebration. As the track progresses, the vocalist I.N. sings, “You and I, let’s go celebrate, 이 상태는 엄청나 (It’s getting intense now) / 삐끗삐끗 터지는 emergency (flicker, flicker, alarms blaring emergency), We don’t care, show you 나 버젓이 (I’m standing firm).” The lyrics signify the pride Stray Kids carries in their revolutionary success in the music industry.
“Bleep (삐처리)” also wows listeners with StrayKids’ signature beat and meaningful lyrics. Throughout their career, Stray Kids faced malicious comments from K-pop listeners. 3RACHA, the group’s production unit consisting of Han, Bangchan, and Changbin, captures the members’ strong growth mentality that can shoulder off ludicrous accusations.
The album’s B-sides fiddle with the pathos of the listeners with songs that represent confining experiences everyone had to break through at one point in life. For instance, in “엉망 (MESS),” the fourth track of the album, the theme of lingering affection and anguish recurs throughout the lyrics. They repeat, “이젠 아무것도 없는 내 맘속과 (Now with my empty heart) / 조각난 채로 널브러진 감정 다 (and all the emotions shattered in pieces).”
This imagery of teenagers, too young for mature romance yet too old to ignore first love, depicts the implications of moving on and burying memories in the past. Main dancer Hyunjin sings to a nostalgic melody, “거추장스러워 미련 (lingering feelings are such a burden) / 대기 싫어 질척 (I don’t want to be stuck, clinging),” to emphasize the struggle.
Even though the track embodies fractured love between two people on its surface, it can also represent our lost passions. Giving up our personal endeavors due to external pressure, mental health, or physical limitations in our lives resembles the vanished love and frustration that “엉망 (MESS)” portrays.
Despite countless barriers and criticism, Stray Kids broke through, even snatching four awards in the TMA Music Awards, a program that honors major contributors to the worldwide popularization of K-pop. The comeback mashes the highs and lows of their career as a K-pop idol together with a phenomenal melody, creating a safe haven for anyone. Just as how the lyrics of “Ceremony” read, “No one, nobody can stop me,” nothing can stop Stray Kids from rising as a global K-pop icon.
