K-Pop Spotlight: Stray Kids

A crime of passion has been committed, and Stray Kids is on the case—143, that is. Whodunnit, you ask? We caught up with the group ahead of the release of their latest mini-album, MAXIDENT, to chat about matters of the heart, their sold-out UNVEIL shows, and producing music on the road. And if you’ve ever wondered what a movie night with Stray Kids would be like, we’ve got you covered there, too. Check out our full interview below!

Tell us about your new mini-album MAXIDENT and your experiences writing and composing music while on tour. 

Bang Chan: Like the title of the album, Stray Kids have come across a case that they’ve never encountered before. A MAXIDENT has occurred with the birth of Stray Kids’ first love title song! Writing tracks and demos while on tour has always been fun. Different sceneries and environments definitely help out with the inspiration for new projects.

HAN: This new album showcases the growth of the more mature sides of Stray Kids. Being able to visit and experience so many different places while on tour has definitely brought us many inspirations for projects.

Each of you performed so many individual songs and covers (i.e., ‘Streetlight,’ ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ ‘Youngblood’) throughout your tour—which were your favorites to perform? 

Lee Know: I had a lot of fun singing and dancing to J.Y. Park’s ‘Honey.’ 

Seungmin: My most memorable moment was when I sang Justin Bieber’s ‘Off My Face’! I was so happy that I was able to sing for fans with a live band. I also sang a lot of other Justin Bieber songs, and especially because these are songs I love, I was happy to sing. 

Give us your TMI! Share one out-of-the-ordinary thing you did this week that no one else knows. 

Changbin: I had an arm-wrestling fight with the members, and I was the final winner. As expected—I am powerful! 

I.N: I bought konjac black bean noodles!

Congratulations on your UNVEIL 11 shows at KSPO! What were your expectations going into the concerts, and how did they compare to the real thing? 

Hyunjin: It felt like a dream to perform at the KSPO Dome. I didn’t expect so many STAY to come, but thanks to the many STAY who came, I had so much fun performing. 

Felix: Not only was it a goal but also a gift from STAY, who came to watch our concert at the KSPO Dome. The KSPO Dome was filled with a lot of STAY, making it not only memorable but enjoyable to see fans. We were able to ride on new carts to see STAY on the second floor, which was also memorable.

I.N: I was looking forward to performing so much, but the actual concert exceeded my expectations. I had tons of fun. I felt so, so proud to see the happiness in STAY’s eyes; this made me vow to myself that I will make STAY even happier in the future. 

We’ve seen a lot of heart imagery during this comeback, from the music video to the album art. Can you tell us a little about that choice and what those hearts represent? 

Bang Chan: Having love is a concept that is a MAXIDENT to us; we thought using hearts in a hectic turn of events was essential. “Love” might be a word that has a lovely and warm image, but to make it suit the Stray Kids color, we mixed things around to match the mood that we were aiming for.

Changbin: The reason why we use heart imagery is that this album contains our first love-themed title track. Also, the heart monsters that appear in the music video will spark STAY’s curiosity!

A crime has been committed, and you’re on the case—which of your members are on the hunt, and who committed the crime? 

HAN: I think the suspect would be I.N because he is so lovable. The thoughtful ones of the group, Hyunjin, and Seungmin, will be the ones on the hunt.

Seungmin: The suspect is Lee Know, and I will be the one in charge of going after him and examining the site!!!!!

Lightning round! You’re hosting a movie night for STAYs. What’s your snack of choice, your favorite pajamas, and the movie you’re watching? 

Lee Know: I want to watch a scary movie together. Without a doubt, the snack will be popcorn—caramel flavored. I want to wear the pajamas that I always wear. 

Hyunjin: A sweet romance movie, popcorn and soda, and cute pajamas.

Felix: While watching The Avengers, I hope everyone wears pajamas with long sleeves and eat caramel butter popcorn!

Want more of Stray Kids? Check out their new mini-album MAXIDENT and music video for ‘Case 143’ here. 

gays aren't "starved for representation" you just refuse to watch anything that isn't a marvel movie

"but gay representation still hardly exists in the mainstream" gay rep will NEVER exist in the mainstream if you don't support indie lgbt projects, if you don't prove the demand for depth for complexity for love, if you don't just fucking google actual lgbt films

I find it interesting sometimes how people take elements of CQL that are from the novel but which have been isolated from their surrounding context, and give them different meanings as if the (now-isolated) element was intentionally put in cql in support for that new meaning. It’s not a read on them, btw–it speaks more to my fascination with how people consume adaptations as well as the impacts of the choices made in the process of adapting the piece (blame it on my life-long obsession with jane austen). 

One striking example for me is the “stealing chicken” scene while lwj is drunk which, in the narrow context of cql, is often interpreted as “lwj proposing and wwx not realizing” (this reading started after people pointed out that gifting chickens was often part of a formal marriage proposal). Some people also use it (jockingly and seriously) to illustrate how “dumb” and “oblivious” wwx is: after all, couldn’t he recognize what was happening? how much blunter did lwj need to get?

Yet, the chicken-stealing plot element is taken entirely from the novel, even if it is excised from its original context, and in the novel, there is nothing to ever support that the proposal-subtext was ever the meaning behind lwj’s actions. In the novel, lwj’s drunk antics in Drunk#3 begin after wwx suggests they “play a game,” i.e. him wanting to ask lwj questions to assert whether his feelings might truly be reciprocated, but lwj just runs with it. 

The chicken-stealing scene happens during Drunk #3, which takes place after wwx has taken lwj all over Lotus Pier, recounting his childhood and all the mischief he got up to: stealing chickens with other boys, defacing public property with graffitis, climbing trees, stealing lotus seeds/fruits, etc. In Drunk #3, lwj does not only steal (and give wwx) chickens, but also jujubes (no potential double-meaning in regards to a marriage proposal). 

It is also clear from lwj’s words and behaviours that his intention is to share memories with wwx that he didn’t get to have, to have the chance to play with him and be carefree (the extras which take place after they are together do corroborate that lwj wants to play around with wwx, even cause a bit of mischief! see the Yunmeng extra in particular for that).

Thus why I find part of this fandom’s discussions so interesting. There seems to be a tension between viewers wanting elements of the series to be “that deep,” and the at-times careless excisions of elements which provide the necessary context and meaning to events/dialogue taken from the original text. The cql production team probably thought fans would expect moments from Drunk #3, and thought it would in any case be humorous and a cute moment of bounding between the two leads to still have lwj steal chickens–even without (caring to? realising the importance of?) the non-romantic/sexual context of Drunk #3. Yet, many people read the ‘chickens as proposal’ as intentional subtext, and not as a (totally valid!) headcanon or bit of fanon. 

Just a couple of quick wee things I did inspired by one of @jingyismom’s twitter fics (which you can and should read here)

Fic now on tumblr also!

issue: the kittens are still trying to learn words. gus knows his name and daisy knows hers, but they don’t seem to quite grasp that when I say “babies!” im referring to both of them.

hypothesis: “babies” is too similar to “daisy” and they’re getting confused

test: start saying “gamers” instead

Outcome: they’re understanding it and it’s hysterically funny

me, calling down the hall from stirring a can of cat food: LET’S GO, GAMERS

the kittens:

issue: the kittens are still trying to learn words. gus knows his name and daisy knows hers, but they don’t seem to quite grasp that when I say “babies!” im referring to both of them.

hypothesis: “babies” is too similar to “daisy” and they’re getting confused

test: start saying “gamers” instead

Outcome: they’re understanding it and it’s hysterically funny

me, calling down the hall from stirring a can of cat food: LET’S GO, GAMERS

the kittens:

fantasy characters: “Geez”

me: who the fuck spread Christianity there

this two-years-old shitpost just gained a hundred notes who the snickerdoodles dug it up

W H A T

@rogha

In moments like this I always fall back on the fact that they also aren’t speaking English because they don’t have England or the many languages and conquering peoples that contributed to the creation of the English language and therefore the work musr be a translation into recognizable terms in our world’s terms. Call that Tolkien Brainrot.

Two types of dads

Jiang Cheng is sitting at a low table in the Jingshi, with his dead brother and his brother’s husband, the righteous Hanguang Jun, and drinking emperor’s smile.

That stopped being mind bogglingly impossible about two jars of wine ago, and now Jiang Cheng is as comfortable as he’s ever been, griping about Jin Ling being a brat, and how he should never have expected him to grow up anyhow else, what with what a little terror he’d been as a child. When Wei Wuxian just looks amused, Jiang Cheng starts listing examples, in a futile attempt to gain sympathy.

“Oh, A-Yuan used to do that too,” says Wei Wuxian, eyes bright. “Used to chew on Chenqing all the time!“ He’s swaying just a little, his new body is a bit of a lightweight, but Hanguang Jun is sitting beside him and sipping tea, so if he goes over, Jiang Cheng doesn’t have to try to catch him.

It takes him a moment to remember who A-Yuan is. 

Was.

It’s like a punch to the gut.

“…I looked for him,” says Jiang Cheng.

“Huh?” asks Wei Wuxian.

“Wen Yuan. I looked for him. His body wasn’t. If he lived. In Yiling, everywhere in the Burial Mounds. I looked.” Suddenly it’s really important to Jiang Cheng that Wei Wuxian believes him. “I had Jin Ling, what was one more child? Even yours? It wasn’t his fault, so I looked everywhere. No one ever saw… I couldn’t…”

“Jiang Cheng,” says Wei Wuxian, and he looks up from his wine, across the table at his brother’s new face. That didn’t look like hate. Stupid Wei Wuxian. 

“I’m so sorry,” says Jiang Cheng, thinking of the moments where he’s feared for Jin Ling’s life. Through minor coups that Jin Guangyao had stomped out with prejudice, the fever in his eleventh year just before his core was stable, in that temple, with quqin chord wrapped threateningly around his throat. “I’m so so sorry.”

“Jiang Cheng! Don’t cry! Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian is looking at Hanguang Jun, not Jiang Cheng, so he takes the moment to drink deeply, finishing the rest of his jar. When he sets it down again Wei Wuxian is no longer in front of him, he’s at his side, drunkenly determined to pull Jiang Cheng to his feet. “Come on, come on, I have to show you something.”

Something was confused and sleepy, being awoken from his rest three hours after curfew, but he knows Wei-qianbei well enough to take him barging into his rooms with a drunk Sect Leader in tow well enough, even when both of them look like they’ve been crying, and tear up again at the sight of him.

“Are you alright, Wei-qianbei? Sect Leader Jiang?”

They just stare at him, as if amazed that he’s here. Which is weird? Where else would he be, there was no night hunt scheduled, and he’s not on the patrol roster this week?

“He grew up so well,” says Sect Leader Jiang. He’s not scowling, and it’s making Lan Sizhui uncomfortable; he didn’t need to know that Jin Ling’s uncle looked a so much like him when he cried. He’s getting the urge to hug him and tell him that it’ll be alright - whatever it is, Sizhui has no clue - and then he’ll be strung up with Zidian for touching him.

“He did! He’s the best kid,” says Wei-qianbei, smiling sappily through his own tears. “You didn’t mess up, Jiang Cheng.”

Sect Leader Jiang just pats Sizhui on the shoulder, “I’m glad you’re alright,” he says, staring at his face for an unnervingly long moment. “Be safe.”

They leave not long after, taking their leave not quite politely - just how - drunk were they? A sentiment that Jingyi repeats, staring at him from the door to his  bedroom. “What the hell happened.”

From outside the door, Sizhui hears, “…find a corpse. Never thought I’d see him alive and well.”

“He made it, Jiang Cheng. Thank you for looking.”

It sounds like they’ve settled on their doorstep. “Sizhui?” asks Jingyi, coming closer. He sounds worried.

“I’m alright,” says Sizhui, rubbing at his eyes. “I’m alright.” 

And wasn’t that the miracle?

Jin Ling: I need an opinion

Lan Sizhui: okay

Lan JingYi: oh god

Jin Ling: I think my uncle...

Jin Ling: ....is gay

Lan Jingyi:

Lan Sizhui:

Jin Ling:

Lan Jingyi: full offense but which one

what is the point of jiang cheng and wwx being brothers again post-canon if jiang cheng doesn’t panic and retroactively try to be a Good Uncle to lan sizhui who finds the whole experience terrifying

Full version (long) under the cut!

Keep reading

fearsome chenqing aka a-yuan’s teething toy

The Junior Trio dynamic

(Or Junior Quartet because Ouyang Zizhen is an essential part of the squad)

Bonus: They become more disastrous when Senior-Wei is leading them.