Stray Kids have released a new album Cle 1: Miroh.

It is an 8 track album including:

1. Entrance
2. Miroh
3. Victory Song
4. Maze of Memories
5. Boxer
6. Chronosaurus
7. 19
8. Mixtape #4

The JYP group have been slef-producing innovative music since their debut a year ago.

The group though new, has their own unique sound, their music filled with bold and boisterous music and lyrics.

The new album “Miroh” is a play off of the word “miro” (maze).

Their previous three part album I am... experiments with ideas of self identity. This new album follows suit, navigating through our complex world.

“Miroh” the title piece, is a creative song filled with rhythms, chants, alarms, and animal sounds creating an impressive cacophony of sound. This intensive rap is the brainchild of 3RACHA -produced by Bang Chan, Han and Changbin.

This song is quite repetitive in its form bringing back the same chorus over and over. While this is in part a criticisms it made the music more accessible and gets it stick in your brain for days… I know it did for me. Going beyond the obvious reasons for the repetition, they redeemed themselves by making something musically interesting with this repetition. After introducing this thematic material in the “post-chorus” interlude they move into the first verse where Hyunjin and Changbin are rapping. Behind the foreground that is the rapping line, the rest of the group are repeating

Woah-oh-oh woah-oh-oh woah-oh Higher
I’m going up over there
Woah-oh-oh woah-oh-oh woah-oh Higher
I’m going to fly higher
Woah-oh-oh woah-oh-oh woah-oh Higher
I’m going up over there
Woah-oh-oh woah-oh-oh woah-oh Higher
I’m going to fly higher

This creates a musical background for the instrumentals to harmonize as well as creating texture to the music through contrast; Rapping versus singing.

In this song, you see principal rappers Changbin, Han, and Hyunjin laying down some sick raps, while Bang Chan is leading the song with vocals. While the use of a rap line to create different textures in the music is not a new concept, their rapping styles are each unique and enticing. Changbin is by far the harshest sounding. He creates intensity and darkness in the music with his speed, sharpness, precision, and raspiness of his voice. Following the style of Bangchan, Han matches in intensity and speed but sounds less like the devil is crawling out of his soul (in the best way possible). He also tends to rap a little bit higher in the register. Both these voices show extreme contrast when paralleled with Hyunjin’s softer style of rapping, and when they alternate between the two styles so quickly it creates an interesting musical texture.

The song’s powerful message of “it’s not hard in this rough jungle” is an act of rebellion as the group declare their confidence. The song starts with only a few references to the jungle with the roar of the lion, but as the song becomes more intense musically and lyrically they begin adding in a lot of different sounds of animals, creating imagery of going deep into the jungle where the sounds can be overwhelming.

The choreography is heavily inspired by Haka, Māori culture a ceremonial warrior dance. Besides the visual quotation of the Haka they also use the music to reflect this by adding the yelling (used in the Haka) intermittently.

The song ends not with a conclusive cadence but drifting off repeating their thematic chorus material.

While I fell in love with this band for the diversity of their music, their recent albums have leaned to a more serious side. Overall, this album gives the impression that they are identifying themselves as a serious music and we might not see as much “Get Cool” style songs.

I know I mainly talked about “Miroh”, but listen to all the other songs too! For some super cool rhythmic metre changes listen to Maze of Memories!

Also- Felix’s deep voice is highlighted beautifully in the new album and we can’t stop listening to it! Featured especially at the beginning of Miroh and throughout Victory Song look out for his deep, dare I say, sensual voice.

Also listen for the french- I mean it could be a Canadian thing- but its SUPER SEXY

Check out this unique album following the Stray Kids coming of age story.

What do you think of the new album?

What is your favorite song?

Who is your Stray Kids Bias?

Let us know in the comments!