Stray Kids’ Single Breaks YouTube K-Pop Record; Secret Of The New Korean Band's Instant Success Revealed
It's no secret that K-pop artists have been dominating globally on all fronts. New Korean boy band Stray Kids has jumped in, and they did not take much time to test the water. They have a number of feats under their name, and many are wondering how they achieved such success in a short period of time. It turns out they got help from other K-pop groups.
Stray Kids has broken a YouTube record held by a fellow K-pop group. The official music video for the band's song, "District 9," garnered 4,274,649 views on YouTube within just 24 hours of its release. This makes the MV the most viewed K-pop debut single on YouTube, beating Wanna One's previous record of 4,034,795 views.
The group's MV continues to go viral on YouTube and other social media sites. As of April 5, "District 9" has more than 17.8 million views on YouTube, just 10 days after its March 26 release. It also entered the Top 10 of the U.S. iTunes albums charts.
Most of the fans' comments indicate that Stray Kids could rise to the top very soon, and they have been compared to another K-pop group, EXO. Stray Kids has been viewed as the new EXO, mainly because the band is also composed of nine members.
Stray Kids' Instant Success Story
Coming from a reality show last year, the nine-member band released a pre-debut album, titled Mixtape, early this year. It peaked at No.2 on the World Albums chart, making Stray Kids among Billboard's top five K-pop groups to watch this year.
The band's label, JYP Entertainment, knows exactly what is happening to Stray Kids. An official from the talent management company believes that the reality show fans are a big factor in the band's success.
"Domestic audiences and fans have already become familiar with the band since they performed on Mnet's reality show. International fans, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the powerful music and performances," a JYP official told South China Morning Post.
Moreover, the official said Stray Kids also got help from other Korean bands. Apparently, the global fans of other JYP's artists such as TWICE, 2PM, and Got7 are also throwing their support to Stray Kids.
At the moment, JYP has no plan to put Stray Kids on a world tour, but they are definitely not disregarding any possibility of meeting with non-Korean fans in the future. The company said the band just had their debut and they are giving the boys time to find the perfect stage for them.
Stray Kids also dropped their first debut album I am NOT on March 26. The pre-debut album Mixtape and all the songs on I am NOT were co-written by Stray Kids members Bang Chan, Han, and Changbin. The three co-penned music under the name 3RACHA. Besides "District 9," and the other tracks in the album include "Mirror" and "Grow Up," which are all about the band's search for identity and the members' desire to speak for the young.
