Stray Kids have been taking the ladder to the top. Last year, these guys dominated with the release of God's Menu and Back Door along with their albums Go Live and In Life. They were the top favorite of 2020 on the blog. This year, Stray Kids won Kingdom which was a competition show to see the best boy group. They beat out some stiff competition like Ateez and iKon. With all of these successes under their belts, these guys are ready for world domination and have finally have released a follow-up to last year's albums with No Easy.
No Easy can easily be written off as an album that claps back to haters. Songs like Cheese and the title track Thunderous do a good job of doing that. But No Easy is more than just a simple clap back album. No Easy is Stray Kids defining themselves as leaders for the next generation of K-Pop groups.
This album has some of the best Noise Pop moments K-Pop has to offer. Cheese with its heavy guitar riff and pounding drum beat, Thunderous with its heavy instrumental that has some hard synths, SSICK with its kitchen-sink instrumental all showcase that noise is Stray Kids' forte. These guys aren't afraid to play around and put whatever sounds they could possibly want in a song. These songs really show their courage in experimenting and they truly succeed.
But with all the loud, noise pop moments on this album, there is an equal amount of soft moments that are also worth your time. Sorry, I Love You and Secret Secret are songs that really showcase their vocals pleasantly. Both songs have a calming instrumental which really highlights the talents of the boys. There's also the incredibly sexy (and fan favorite) Red Lights. This song features a sexy beat and heavenly vocals from members Bang Chan and Hyunjin. It's got a nice build-up and sexy guitars that really hone in on your sex appeal. There's also the fun, summery tune The View which is a great tune for the remaining weeks of summer.
Stray Kids are always written off as construction music or noise for the sake of noise, but No Easy really shows the world what they are capable of. These guys aren't afraid to experiment with sound and they succeed. If you want loud, boisterous songs, they can do it. If you want soft, emotional ballads, they can do it. Fun summery songs? They can do it. No Easy shows that these guys are to not be easily written off.
Watch the music video for the title track Thunderous below and check out No Easy on your preferred streaming service!
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