Last week my preorder of Stray Kids ATE arrived. Let’s get to the unboxing!
Stray Kids is one of my favourite music groups within K-pop, next to BlackPink, BTS and Le Sserafim. In 2022 Oddinary was my first comeback as a fan of Stray Kids and I think it is such a cool mini album. Oddinary will therefore always be a very special album for me, but ATE has definitely conquered a place in my music heart!
I absolutely love the way Stray Kids goes on about creating their albums. Last year they came out with 5-star, which also sounded like 5 stars, and Rock-star is a mini album that is unashamedly Stray Kids! It is so incredibly pure, production-wise it is well put together, they work with both nostalgic features and completely new works. All this makes it an incredibly powerful album in which you see that Stray Kids are continuously developing as artists and keep improving.
So how could ATE top that? By just having fun and creating meaningful lyrics. An album that is tour proof and shows the strengths of all the members working together. ATE also sounds like the number eight. It was not a coincidence. Gotta love a group that loves playing with words just as much as I do! The day before the album release the entertainment company announced that Stray Kids has signed a new contract and they will stay together for a long time to come. Meaning: they will stay in an eight member group for a while.
The ATE comeback is Stray Kids’ ninth mini album. ATE has many different versions of the album, but for convenience I will only discuss the standard albums. There are two “normal” versions, in addition there was a limited edition. Just like with previous editions I went for the limited edition, because as the name suggests it is limited and there are more things in it than in the “normal” version. And… the three photoshoots of the other versions are all in the limited! Of course there was a selection, because otherwise it would have become a large book, but it is nice that the limited version contains different types of photos.
I ordered this album from my favourite Dutch K-pop website: Kyeopta! They take care of the albums so well, send out plastic free and I am also very grateful for their customer support. It’s in the details, but for example they sended out the pob pc in a black envelope with a small reference to their shop. It isn’t something they need to do, but they do it and go the extra mile.
So first up what I found during the unboxing was the Changbin pob pc. By opening the outer box there were many goodies, but the stickers were one of the preorder benefits.
Same goes for the poster that came with the album. I am really happy that the poster was in style with the main theme of the photobook. The walking sticks you see are designed by the members themselves and reminded me of their Maxident album when the members designed the hearts themselves. I think it gives photoshoots like these so much more depth and personality when the members can incorporate themselves in some way in the styling. In this case you can even see it in the jewellery that is used, a lot of brands that the members wear also off schedule.
Next up a mini newspaper and monochrome photo receipt. I am not gonna lie, I was really confused at first. But then I realised that fortune cookies are a big deal during this era. So it must be the receipt for that, or there is something else that I am completely missing? However, personally I would have liked it if the fortune cookies got a little bit of a bigger theme.
The newspaper was a big hint for the past year, so in hindsight it makes complete sense that they wanted to include a goodie like that with this album.
Another item I was a bit confused about was the Bitmap mini poster. I wished they had done a group mini poster personally for example in their jeans in New York look, cause that’s the only photoshoot I am missing with this album. Even though we know and have seen that particular photoshoot.
Of course I had to pull something from Lee Know like I do with most Stray Kids albums I buy, in this case I pulled him for the portrait poster. Lastly, there was only a 12,5% chance I would pull my bias, but I did! I am a very happy egg who pulled Bang Chan for the pc.
The photobook has a luxurious feel starting with the cover with the rainbow foil in silver, to the inside photos and the paper that was used for it.
This was already my fifth comeback as Stay (a Stray Kids fan), and I still see so much growth in the members. In addition to the members who are the producers, you also see that the other members are increasingly involved in writing and producing.
From the ATE album, I think Stray Kids (yes, the self named song) is my favourite song. The song represents their growth, them as a team, but also that they are heading to their future. But overall, I adore how much of a whole this album sounds with a lot of fun sounds and a deeper message.
Which song is your favourite from the ATE album?
Love,
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