50 Fun Facts About Stray Kids

Which K-pop agency formed Stray Kids in 2017?

The same company had already launched a girl group through a survival show, and used the same format again for its next boy group.

How many members did Stray Kids have after one member left in October 2019?

The group debuted with nine, but Woojin left in October 2019 before the Clé: Levanter EP, leaving eight.

Which member is the leader of Stray Kids and hand-picked the entire line-up?

He chose his teammates from the trainee roster himself, which is why the survival show was framed as 'trainees versus JYP'.

What is the name of the in-house production trio that writes most of Stray Kids' music?

The trio had been uploading self-made tracks to SoundCloud since 2017, before the group even debuted.

Which former member left Stray Kids in October 2019?

His departure for personal reasons pushed the release of Clé: Levanter back by two weeks.

What is the official name of the Stray Kids fandom?

The name was revealed on August 1, 2018, and the group later dropped a surprise single to celebrate its fourth anniversary.

Which member was born in Sydney and was scouted for a JYP audition through Facebook?

He signed with JYP at 17 and initially struggled with the language gap between Australian school life and Korean trainee life.

Which member was a backup dancer for BTS, appearing in the 'Not Today' video, before joining JYP?

He toured with BTS on their 2017 Wings Tour and later became a Gucci global ambassador.

Which member spent part of his childhood in Malaysia before returning to Korea to audition at 14?

He promised his parents he would go back to Malaysia to study if he failed to get signed within twelve months.

Which member released pre-debut mixtapes as SpearB and competed on Show Me the Money 9?

By April 2025 he had 181 songs registered with the Korea Music Copyright Association.

Which member threw the first pitch at Team Korea vs Dodgers at the 2024 MLB Seoul Series?

He is also the group's most prolific cover artist on the SKZ-Record YouTube project and sang the OST 'Here Always' for Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.

Which member, the group's youngest, was born in Busan and grew up singing trot songs at church?

His first solo track, released in 2021, was fittingly titled 'Maknae on Top'.

Which member, a Versace and Cartier ambassador by 2024, had no dance training before JYP?

He went on to major in practical dance at the School of Performing Arts Seoul and became one of the group's main dancers.

The Stray Kids survival show aired on which Korean network in late 2017?

It ran for ten Tuesday-night episodes from October 17 to December 19, 2017.

What was the concept of the Stray Kids survival show?

Unlike most survival shows, the goal was for all nine members to debut together rather than to whittle down a large pool.

Which two members were eliminated on the survival show but returned for the final nine-member group?

Both were reinstated in the finale, and both are now part of the group's main dance line.

What was the first Stray Kids music video, released before their survival show premiered?

The pre-debut Mixtape EP collected the self-composed songs from the show's missions.

With which EP did Stray Kids officially debut on March 25, 2018?

Its title track 'District 9' mixed hip-hop, rock and EDM with sirens and frenetic bass.

What is the title track of Stray Kids' official debut EP?

Its lyrics voice the members' frustration at being asked about an identity they had not yet found.

The three 2019 EPs Miroh, Yellow Wood and Levanter belong to which series?

'Clé' is French for key; the lyrics of Levanter suggest the key they were searching for was inside them all along.

Stray Kids earned their first music-show win in April 2019 for which single?

The win came on M Countdown, just after the group's first anniversary.

Which song, from the first studio album Go Live, is regarded as Stray Kids' signature track?

Its choreography mimes mixing, frying, seasoning and chopping to match the culinary theme.

The Korean nickname for Stray Kids' hot, spicy sound borrows from which seasoning?

The 'mala taste music' tag took hold after Go Live and became a trend among boy groups.

Which 2021 album was Stray Kids' first million-seller?

The title is a pun: 'no easy' sounds like 'noisy', a criticism the group decided to own.

The lead single 'Thunderous' blends synths with which traditional Korean instrument?

The music video leans into folklore, with the members dancing dokkaebi-style in front of a hanok.

Stray Kids won the first season of which Mnet boy-group competition in June 2021?

The prize was their own reality show and a Kingdom Week special.

Which 2022 EP was the first Stray Kids release to top the US Billboard 200?

They became only the third Korean act to top the chart, after BTS and SuperM.

Which US label did Stray Kids sign with in 2022 for American promotions?

Labelmate Itzy signed the same day, as part of a JYP partnership with Universal Music Group.

'Case 143', from the EP Maxident, was notable as the group's first release explicitly about what?

The song's title spells 'I love you' in numbers: one letter, four letters, three letters.

Which 2023 album made Stray Kids only the third South Korean group certified for 5 million sales by the KMCA?

IFPI ranked it the second best-selling album in the world in 2023.

Which single gave Stray Kids their first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, at number 90?

The Korean title is a wordplay on 'rock', matching the track's rock-leaning phonk sound.

Which 2024 single became the group's highest Hot 100 peak at number 49?

It also hit number 30 on the UK Singles Chart, another group best.

Stray Kids recorded the song 'Slash' for which 2024 superhero film?

The same year they recorded 'Come Play' with Young Miko and Tom Morello for the series Arcane.

Stray Kids were the first K-pop act to have every member attend which event together in 2024?

They came as guests of Tommy Hilfiger and topped The Hollywood Reporter's male red-carpet power ranking.

Stray Kids' 2024 mixtape Hop coined a genre name blending the group's initials with which style?

The 'SKZhop Hiptape' was led by the single 'Walkin on Water'.

How many consecutive Billboard 200 No. 1 debuts had Stray Kids logged by November 2025?

The streak ran from Oddinary in 2022 through the mixtape Do It in November 2025, a record for the chart.

Who ranked above Stray Kids when IFPI named them the world's second best-selling act of 2025?

It was their highest ranking yet, up from third in 2023 and fifth in 2024.

Stray Kids' debut Japanese single 'Top', an Oricon number one, was the theme for which anime?

In 2024 the group returned to the franchise with 'Night' and 'Falling Up' for the second season.

Which Japanese label released Stray Kids' Japanese debut compilation SKZ2020?

'Top' made them only the fourth foreign male act to debut atop the Oricon Singles Chart with a first single.

Which Japanese singer-songwriter featured on the 2023 single 'Social Path'?

The Social Path / Super Bowl EP became the group's first million-certified release in Japan.

Which member's team wrote the survival-show song '4419', named after a Seoul bus route?

He was credited as a lyricist on the track and performed it with the leader and Seungmin.

The leader of Stray Kids used which pseudonym in the pre-debut production trio?

The '97' is his birth year; he had been a JYP trainee for seven years alongside future members of Twice, Got7 and Day6.

Before debuting, the leader played a zombie in the debut video of which JYP girl group?

He also appeared as a café customer in Miss A's 'Only You'.

The three main dancers of Stray Kids are known by which nickname, a play on the production trio's name?

The sub-unit is Lee Know, Hyunjin and Felix.

Why did only the production trio, not the full group, perform at the 2023 Global Citizen Festival?

Three members were involved in the accident, so the rest of the group sat out the New York show.

Stray Kids' 2020 collaboration 'Going Dumb' was made with which Swedish DJ?

The track, also featuring Corsak, debuted at number 13 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

What is Stray Kids' character line, seen on Tamagotchi and Zootopia 2 collaborations, called?

Each member has an animal alter ego; the characters even got a Roblox virtual concert.

Which member has served as a Louis Vuitton brand ambassador and a UNICEF Korea goodwill ambassador?

He hosted the music programme Pops in Seoul from 2019 to 2020 and starred in a Tourism Australia campaign in 2025.

Which member's solo track 'Maknae on Top' was his debut solo song on the SKZ-Player series?

Bottega Veneta named him a brand ambassador in January 2025.

Stray Kids headlined which festival in Paris in July 2023, dressed by Louis Vuitton?

They followed it in 2024 with headline slots at I-Days in Milan, BST Hyde Park in London and Lollapalooza Chicago.