Celebrating my 18th birthday—my family and I were playing “Guess the song.” My sister, knowing I was a fan of Stray Kids’, started playing some of their songs, which I recognized almost immediately. However, my curiosity was piqued when I started hearing a song I didn’t recognize. Looking at the description and checking the release date, my jaw dropped. “GIANT” had been posted only seven hours before it managed to pop up in my recommended videos. To my utter astonishment, the new song wasn’t a single but an entire album entitled “GIANT.” This discovery was a nice birthday surprise that was quickly unwrapped.
Brushing off my feelings of guilt for not knowing they were releasing another album, I looked through the new album. “GIANT” consists of seven new songs, two of them being translated to English—a rare occasion for a K-pop group. The album took me about a half hour to finish, and I was not disappointed. The entire album was amazing, and each song was catchy and lyrically creative.
My favorite song is “Falling Up.” The song includes lyrics saying, “I shed my blood, sweat, and tears; head to the top; I give it my all; I got no slump.” The meaning behind the song is obvious and relatable, and the singing impressive. The vocals only highlight the track instead of drowning out the nice hip-hop rhythm.
Another favorite of mine was “Christmas Love.” Even though it’s just a quick Christmas song in the spirit of the holiday season, it really stands out among other holiday songs. It’s in a major key, making it sound happy and peppy. “Christmas Love” gets me in more of a Christmas spirit than Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas.” While that may seem like an exaggeration, “Christmas Love” is about how Christmas should be about sharing joy and love to others. While both songs get the same point across, I like how soft but still happy the “Christmas Love” is compared to “All I Want for Christmas.”
Straying from the norm, “GIANT” is in Japanese instead of Korean. Writing and singing in Japanese can be unusual for a K-pop band, but especially Stray Kids, because they aren’t fluent in Japanese. One of the reasons Stray Kids is so enjoyable to me is because of how much effort they put into their art. Every song is beautifully constructed with catchy lyrics and an enjoyable track. Searching for the meaning in each song is something that also drew me to K-pop, as I like to search for the meaning in my music.
It is no doubt that Stray Kids’ are giants in the K-pop industry, but “GIANT” explains their struggles of not feeling like giants. The pre-chorus of “GIANT” is, “They call us “God of Gods,” To use our powers that we hold, For their own desires, watch them explode, I’m known as a giant No no no, I am but I deny it, We’ve got places to go, we’ve got places to flow I am not satisfied, I want more.” Despite being viewed as giants, Stray Kids’ is determined to be the best they can be and reach their goals. Stray Kids reiterate themes of striving to reach their goals through their album. They believe if you haven’t met your personal goals, then what you’ve accomplished can feel small in comparison.
My only criticism of “GIANT” is that it can be hard to relate to feelings of wanting to do better and always striving for more despite having already achieved great accomplishments. Everyday people aren’t seen as giants or gold medalists, so this can be a hard theme for an audience to relate to.
If you’re new to Stray Kids’ or K-pop in general, “GIANT” is not an album I would recommend because all of it is in Japanese. Instead, I would recommend Stray Kids’ Oddinary album and listening to the English version of “Falling Up” and “NIGHT” as a simple way to ease into the genre and Stray Kids’ music style. Overall, GIANT is just another example of how talented and inspiring Stray Kids’ music is. As for me, it was the best birthday gift I have received.
