@cosmicalily's deep dive into stray kids and their decline in creative direction, as well as my opinion/discussion of the recent skz mashup video (ai) incident from the perspective of a graphic design/fine arts student
disclaimer: my intention is never to spread unnecessary or uncalled for hate towards the members of skz, and i don't think my opinion does this. if you are offended reading this, you're entitled to your opinion, but please be respectful expressing your own as i'm taking care to be respectful expressing mine. i'm welcome to discussion in my inbox and in the comments but again, please keep it civil! remember what chan has said about not being rude when defending stray kids!
a lot of you are semi-aware of the fact that i've been somewhat distant from the stray kids fandom recently, and that has nothing to do with the members or their music and everything to do with their recent creative direction. i'm going to give a bit of an overview on my perspective of their creative direction just to give context of my opinion on this matter, and why overall, i'm unfortunately not surprised by the use of ai in their recent comeback video, but i'm still very disappointed by it.
initial creative direction: what worked, kept me engaged and retained their essence and identity
when i first got into stray kids in 2021, i was absolutely in awe of their creative direction. as an artist and avid lover of design, the groups i've been drawn to, both western and kpop, have always had an incredible distinct and unique visual identity that captures my attention. this was exactly what stray kids did. each comeback during the peak of my love for them (2021-2023) was so detailed, well thought out and unique. they had a completely different concept for each album visually, and the styling and design for the albums, concept photos and music videos all complemented the type of music they were putting out for each album. one thing they did that is the PEAK of design psychology was associating a distinct colour for each comeback: blue was 'noeasy', green was 'oddinary', pink was 'maxident'/'rockstar', black was '5 star'. they'd been doing this previously too, and it really helps make a discography memorable and distinguishable, showing the changes in their story, style and era. essentially, visually depicting their growth as artists. colour association is SO POWERFUL and a master tool used in design as it means in your day to day life, when you see a colour you immediately recognise a brand or identity. for example, when i see neon green i think of nct. not a coincidence; their design team has made this choice to distinguish them. on top of this, the concepts just felt so different from one another visually. we went from the traditional korean setting of 'thunderous' to the bright green futuristic visuals of 'maniac', then to a bright pink and much more playful, colourful aesthetic for 'maxident'. from there, the change was sharp again, now much cleaner and more mature, depicting power and success. after the suits and silver, we found ourselves at 'rockstar', which was full of chaos, colour and a much more edgy appearance. these comebacks were so distinct from one another, and really kept me engaged as a fan. in my opinion, this was their peak, even if they've gained much more popularity since.
2024: the shift in creative direction that caused me to gradually lose interest in their comebacks as a fan
when 'ate' first came out, i was still engaged with the fandom, but a little disappointed. unlike 'rockstar', which in my opinion was one of the strongest, most unique concepts stray kids have done, it didn't really seem to have a solidifed identity. i can't associate a distinct colour with it, and i can't really figure out what the message behind the comeback was. yes, it was about success and achievement, but this wasn't really highlighted in any of their concept imagery or music videos. i will stand by the fact that i believe 'jjam' should've been the title track for this album (esp bc the wordplay between 'ate' and a food like 'jam' would've been amazing) and that they could've done purple as, once again, a distinct colour. can you imagine how cool the visuals would've been? they could've had foods in the concept photos, neon colours and lots of chaos (i'm envisioning visuals reminiscent of 'spaghetti' by lesserafim and 'cherry bomb' by nct 127). i think they played it a little safe with 'chk chk boom', which yes, is a good song, but doesn't really have anything particularly powerful or unique about it in my opinion. once again, the music in the album was really great; i will stand by the fact that stray kids' music quality has not gone down whatsoever, its simply their creative design team failing to represent it as well as it should be done. after 'ate', i was still an active fan, but just not as engaged with their content. when the teasers for 'hop' started coming out, i was once again left with a sense of uncertainty. their comebacks prior to 2024 had always made me feel super excited in anticipation of the visuals i was going to be presented, but after 'ate', i was a little apprehensive. nevertheless, i gave it a chance and preordered the album, and i kid you not, i let out a gasp at its design. NOT a good one. the physical album design was genuinely so ugly to me, and i know visuals are subjective, but it just felt quite lazy and uninteresting. they did use a distinct colour for this album, however the bright blue felt like a weird choice considering they'd used almost that exact same colour for thunderous (i believe they also tried to incorporate red? which was odd to me as again, they'd used that for 'ate' and also for the 'go live/in life' eras). i did like the song and once again, i think their music has remained amazing. i'm upset that the song wasn't given the visuals it deserved, because it honestly could've been much more unique if a little more thought was put into it (when i hear the song, i envisionsomething more colourful/retro inspired like nct 127's 'walk' or p1harmony's 'duh!'). i saw them in concert for their dominate tour and it was incredible; their stage presence and music is insane. that hasn't changed. their essence hasn't. but their creative direction significantly has.
2025: my design observations as someone no longer active within the fandom
in early 2025, i slowly withdrew myself more and more from stray kids. when they had their 'karma' comeback, i still paid attention to the promotions and listened to the album as well as watched the video, but once again i was quite sad that it didn't seem to have as much creative thought put behind it. the music video itself is actually really cool and i think the title track choice was great, but i really don't think the visuals and album design do it justice at all. stray kids have visually been in this weird black-blue-and-white period when it comes to all of their branding recently (i'm going to attach a photo below showing this) and it just doesn't feel interesting or new since they've done it multiple times before.
the comebacks go chronologically up to down, left to right.
yes, these colours can be reinvented and done different, but it just feels like its been done with the same aesthetic over and over. the sports concept was really cool and i wish their visuals had leaned more into that (kind of how they did for 'super bowl' but much more colourful and quirky) because honestly, a lot of those concept photos (ESPECIALLY the ones with the plain white bg) felt just like a magazine shoot. very forgettable imo, same with their album cover. and don't get me wrong, minimalism can be done well (p1harmony's 'duh!' album design is a prime example of this), but i just don't think stray kids' experimental music taste suits minimalism, especially when its executed in this way. and now, what you've been waiting for:
do it: the infamous ai mashup video
part of me is lowk excited they're bringing the pink back for these concept photos, but i will say, i'm not sure how well this 'softer' aesthetic will translate to their music. also, the black AGAIN. it feels like all their concept photos have so much visual disparity nowadays and are just done for the sake of looking nice, not maintaining a story. interested to see how the concept plays out and i'll probably give a full review when it comes out. regardless, the point of this post is the mashup video stray kids released for their new comeback. which included ai.
now, let me get something VERY CLEAR. i have seen the multitudes of comments defending stray kids and claiming that the music video doesn't use ai, that it's just cgi. and if this was correct, it would be a valid claim. but it is not. the graphics studio that created this mashup video for them literally CREDITED an ai "artist" in the caption of their post of the video on instagram. this 'ai credit' was later deleted when they received backlash. so not only did this graphics studio use ai to create their video, they also blatantly lied about it and deliberately misled fans. i'm pretty sure i've made my opinion on ai incredibly clear as an author, artist and graphic design student, but if you are uncertain, i am very against it. it's unethical and unsustainable in every single way possible and detrimental to the human condition; it's reducing our ability to think and interact with people, infiltrating our creative industry and stealing work from artists, and above all, causing irreversible environmental impact with how much water and energy it uses. i will stand by the fact that ai is the MOST OPTIONAL thing a person can use; there is ALWAYS a way to do something without ai and always will be. which leads back to my point: the idea of stray kids' creative team hiring a graphics studio that utilises ai in their videos is straight up insane to me.
the whole concept that skz stand by is being authentic and rebelling against social expectations, which is the exact opposite of what ai represents. by taking a team who are not only primarily self-produced and highly involved in the making of their own music and pairing that with visuals created by a robot with zero intellect or emotional experience is so fucking stupid to me? it makes me really mad because STRAY KIDS DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS! i don't know what the hell is going on with their creative team, but actions like this are going to continue to disappoint fans and erase their essence. i really do hope that jype listens to this backlash and avoids using ai in the future (which seems unlikely, bc all entertainment companies care about is money), because it's honestly horrible for the band's image and identity. having a group of incredibly creative people, particularly hyunjin who participates in fine art himself, and then giving them not even human-generated visuals is absolutely ridiculous and such a stupid move on their behalf. i really hope this incident doesn't impact their promotions too much, but also i think it's really important to stay close to your morals when it comes to situations like this and not just blindly support without knowing the deeper implications. thank you for reading!
