100 Fun Facts About Stray Kids

Stray Kids' Bang Chan and Felix both grew up in which country?

Australia. Both grew up there before moving to Seoul as trainees, which is why Tourism Australia cast the pair in its 2025 'Come and Say G'day' campaign in South Korea.

Which American singer features on Stray Kids' 2024 single 'Lose My Breath'?

Charlie Puth. He did more than sing a verse: he wrote the song with the group's in-house production team and co-produced it.

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

Bang Chan. He moved to South Korea at 13 after passing an audition and trained for about seven years before he got to build his own team.

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

3Racha. Its members began as trainees, posting a self-made mixtape to SoundCloud at the start of 2017, more than a year before Stray Kids debuted.

Which former member left Stray Kids in October 2019?

Woojin. JYP cited personal circumstances and ended his contract, and the group's next EP slipped from late November to December 9 as a result.

What is the official name of the Stray Kids fandom?

Stay. The reveal video made the R in 'Stray' vanish to spell it, under the line 'Where Stray Kids Stay'.

Stray Kids made their American Music Awards debut in 2024 with a tribute to which boy band?

NSYNC. Five members opened the set dangling from marionette strings, recreating the puppet staging of 'Bye Bye Bye'.

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

Lee Know. He has said he danced behind BTS from 'Fire' through 'Spring Day' and on tour, then debuted as an idol himself about a year later.

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

Han. He struck a deal with his parents: get signed by an agency within a year, or go back to Malaysia to study.

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

Changbin. On the rap contest in 2020 he said he wanted to prove a Stray Kids member could really rap, and judge Justhis passed him through the first round.

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

Seungmin. Baseball was his first dream: he pitched as a boy and wanted to turn professional before music won out.

Stray Kids won their first MTV Video Music Award, Best K-Pop in 2023, for which song?

S-Class. The group won, then performed it later the same night, a year after losing the same category with 'Maniac'.

Which esports star makes a surprise cameo in Stray Kids' 2025 'Ceremony' music video?

Faker. He turns up in the last scene as the gamer who has been controlling every sport in the video, two years after the group name-dropped him in a song.

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?

Trainees versus JYP. Most survival shows whittle down a big pool; here nine trainees had to convince their own agency to debut them all together.

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

Lee Know and Felix. Both were cut during the series, but the live finale brought them back and 96% of voters backed a nine-member debut.

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

Hellevator. It came out eleven days before the first episode, and the group's own trainee producers had co-written it.

With which EP did Stray Kids officially debut in March 2018?

I Am Not. The group unveiled it at a showcase in a Seoul arena the night before it went on sale, so reports split between March 25 and 26 for the debut.

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

District 9. Its video has the members break out of a sterile white facility in matching uniforms and ride off together on a battered bus.

Stray Kids' 2019 EPs Yellow Wood and Levanter belong to which series?

Clé. It is French for key, and the trilogy's closing song, Levanter, ends the hunt with the members finding themselves instead.

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

Miroh. The members accepted the trophy in tears, on a release that had been timed to the first anniversary of their debut.

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

God's Menu. It was a late swap: another song had already been picked as the single until the members heard this demo and pushed to change it.

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

Mala. The group itself pitched its first full album as addictive 'mala taste music', and Korean outlets were soon calling them pioneers of the style.

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

Noeasy. The title puns on 'noisy': critics had dismissed their songs as noise music, and the group decided to wear the label as a weapon.

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

Kkwaenggwari. The small brass gong suits a song whose Korean title puns on a folk singer and a nagger, the critics it was written to drown out.

Stray Kids won which televised K-pop competition in June 2021?

Kingdom: Legendary War. The prize was a week of their own TV specials, which the group held back until August to launch its next album.

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

Oddinary. The group had never placed a record on that chart before: its very first entry went straight in at the top.

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

Republic Records. The move was announced in February, and the group's next EP, out five weeks later, entered the US albums chart at the top.

'Case 143', from the EP Maxident, was Stray Kids' first lead single built around which theme?

Romantic love. 143 counts the letters in 'I love you', and until then the group had tucked its love songs away as small album tracks.

Which Stray Kids album did the IFPI rank as the world's second best-selling of 2023?

5-Star. It took the K-pop pre-order record from Seventeen's FML, yet FML was the one album in the world to outsell it that year.

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

Lalalala. The group already had four number one albums in America by then, yet had never placed a single song on the chart.

Which 2024 single gave Stray Kids their first top-50 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, at number 49?

Chk Chk Boom. The group swerved from its usual sound into Latin rhythms and reggaeton for it, slipping Spanish words in among the Korean and English.

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

Deadpool & Wolverine. It grew out of a fan edit: three years earlier the film's star had noticed the group's costumed tribute to his character on a TV contest.

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

The Met Gala. One designer dressed all eight, a coup given that two members were already signed as the faces of rival fashion houses.

Which veteran hip-hop star guested on 'U', from Stray Kids' 2024 mixtape Hop?

Tablo. He had teased it a year earlier, turning up at the end of the group's 'Megaverse' video to write his own name into a crossword.

Which November 2025 release gave Stray Kids an eighth straight number one debut on the Billboard 200?

Do It. Almost all of its opening week came from fans buying copies: 286,000 of its 295,000 units were album sales, not streams.

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?

Tower of God. The fit was natural: the anime adapts a hit Korean webtoon, and the group also supplied its closing song, 'Slump'.

Which Stray Kids song did Time magazine rank among its ten best songs of 2020?

Back Door. It was the only song by a Korean act on the list, praised as 'an artful Frankenstein' that stitches airhorns, jazz breaks and a trap chorus together.

Which Japanese singer featured on Stray Kids' 2023 single 'Social Path'?

Lisa. The two acts had only ever shared a bill remotely during the pandemic, so the video shoot in Seoul was the first time they met in person.

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?

CB97. He revived the alias in 2023, when the trio stood in for the full group at New York's Global Citizen Festival.

Before his own debut, Stray Kids' leader played a zombie in the debut video of which JYP girl group?

Twice. He had trained alongside its members for years, so when they launched in 2015 he was an extra in their video while still waiting for his own debut.

Which world tour gave Stray Kids their first full run of stadium shows, reaching the Americas and Europe in 2025?

Dominate. A fashion designer let the secret slip first, mentioning a 40-city tour on a red carpet days before the group confirmed it on American television.

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

A minor car accident. Three members were sent to hospital as a precaution and told to rest, so the group's songwriters played New York alone and a Milan Fashion Week trip was scrapped.

Stray Kids' 2021 collaboration 'Going Dumb' was made with which Swedish DJ?

Alesso. The track was written as a theme for a mobile battle-royale game, and the group added their own Korean verses to the DJ's original.

What is the name of Stray Kids' line of animal characters, seen in a Tamagotchi tie-in and a Roblox virtual concert?

SKZoo. Each of the eight members has a creature alter ego, and Disney slipped the whole set into Zootopia 2 as a hidden cameo for fans to spot.

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

Felix. The charity role followed a large donation for children in Laos, after which he travelled to the project site there to volunteer in person.

Which Stray Kids member made his solo debut with 'Maknae on Top', released through the SKZ-Player series?

I.N. The title is the clue: 'maknae' is what K-pop fans call a group's youngest member, and he co-wrote it with two older members, the leader included, who both guest on it.

Stray Kids headlined which festival in Paris in July 2023?

Lollapalooza. The Paris slot was no one-off: the next summer the group topped the bills at Milan's I-Days, London's Hyde Park and the festival's home edition in Chicago.

Stray Kids joined Young Miko and Tom Morello on 'Come Play' for the second season of which animated series?

Arcane put 'Come Play' on its season two soundtrack, and Riot Games issued it as a single alongside a trailer for the show.

Which girl group's hit did Stray Kids mash up with their own song on a 2021 TV contest?

Blackpink's song was spliced into a stage that drew praise from industry figures and the public. The hit was 'Ddu-Du Ddu-Du', and Stray Kids went on to win the whole contest that June.

At a 2021 year-end TV music festival, Stray Kids restaged scenes from which hit Korean Netflix drama?

Squid Game scenes were worked into a festive version of 'Thunderous' at the SBS Gayo Daejeon, alongside cane choreography and a tap dance.

Stray Kids sang on 'Like Magic' in 2024 to launch a K-Wave limited edition from which drinks brand?

Coca-Cola sold the K-Wave flavour as a limited Coke Zero Sugar, and the song also featured two girl groups from the same agency and its founder.

Who came up with the name Stray Kids, which first stood for a lost child chasing a dream?

The members themselves conceived the name and also drew up the group's logo. Its meaning later shifted to finding a way out of the ordinary together.

Which American fashion brand made Stray Kids its ambassadors in Asia for campaigns in 2023 and 2024?

Tommy Hilfiger also dressed all eight of them in tailored suits in his signature red, white and blue with gold accents.

Stray Kids featured on a 2023 remix of the hit 'All My Life' by which Chicago rapper?

Lil Durk's original with J. Cole won the Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance; the Stray Kids remix left Cole out.

Which festival, first held in 1985 with Queen among its headliners, did Stray Kids headline in 2026?

Rock in Rio gave the group a night atop its main World Stage in Brazil, on a 2026 bill that also featured Elton John and Foo Fighters.

Which brand of chocolate-coated biscuit sticks named Stray Kids its global ambassadors in 2025?

Pepero has been made by Lotte since 1983 and has its own day: on 11 November, a date that resembles the sticks, South Koreans swap boxes with friends and sweethearts.

Stray Kids were the first K-pop boy band to headline British Summer Time, a concert series held where in London?

Hyde Park hosts the series once a year, and Stray Kids topped a 2024 bill that also included their labelmates Nmixx.

Which 2022 Stray Kids single likens misfits to Frankenstein's monster and was their first entry on the UK Singles Chart?

Maniac entered the UK chart at number 98, and its lyrics picture people with a few screws loose who break society's idea of normal.

In 2022 Stray Kids became the third Korean act to top the Billboard 200, after BTS and which other group?

SuperM and BTS were the only Korean acts to get there first, and Stray Kids managed it with their very first album to appear on the chart.

Stray Kids ended their second world tour in April 2023 at BMO Stadium, a venue in which American city?

Los Angeles hosted the finale almost a year after the tour had opened at an indoor arena in Seoul.

Stray Kids were ambassadors for the Korea Pavilion at Expo 2020, a world's fair hosted by which city?

Dubai opened the fair a year late because of the pandemic but kept the 2020 name, and the group signed on as ambassadors in June 2021.

Stray Kids were the first K-pop artist on the UK cover of which magazine, which called them the world's biggest band?

Rolling Stone ran the UK cover in August 2024, a month after the group scored a fifth US number-one album in a row.

The Korean title of Stray Kids' 2021 single 'Thunderous' refers to a singer of which traditional art?

Pansori singers are called sorikkun, and the title doubles as a pun on the Korean word for a nagger, a jab at critics of the group's music.

On the 2017 Stray Kids reality show, the third mission set the future members against hopefuls from which rival agency?

YG Entertainment hosted the battle at its own headquarters, reviving a long tradition of face-offs between the two agencies' recruits.

Before Stray Kids, which late rapper was the only act whose first five charting albums all topped the Billboard 200?

DMX stood alone until Stray Kids matched him in July 2024 with the EP Ate, becoming the first group to manage the feat.

In April 2025 Stray Kids donated 800 million won to help residents hit by which kind of disaster in South Korea?

Wildfires had swept the Gyeongsang regions, and the gift was split evenly between a disaster relief association and World Vision.

Which Stray Kids album, announced with a trailer about futuristic sports, was South Korea's best-seller of 2025?

Karma also won Album of the Year at the 2025 MAMA Awards, and its trailer imagined a tournament in 2081 to rival the Olympics.

Stray Kids reissued their first studio album, Go Live, in September 2020 under which new title?

In Life and its parent album later lent their names to the group's first online concert, 'Unlock: Go Live In Life', that November.

What is the title of Stray Kids' 2021 holiday album, whose lead singles included 'Winter Falls'?

Christmas EveL topped the Gaon Album Chart and sold more than 743,000 copies before 2021 was out.

Which 2023 Japanese-language studio album gave Stray Kids their first number one on the Oricon Albums Chart?

The Sound sold 378,000 copies in its first week in Japan, far more than the group's previous release there had managed.

Which song was the lead single of Stray Kids' second EP, I Am Who, released in August 2018?

My Pace argues that everyone moves at their own speed, and it earned a Global Fan's Choice nomination at the 2018 MAMA ceremony.

Which psytrance-inspired 2019 Stray Kids single says it is fine to shout 'my head hurts' when things get hard?

Side Effects is about rebelling to follow your own choices, with the reassurance that the fallout is never permanent.

Which lead single fronted Hop, the 2024 Stray Kids release that also carried a solo song by each member?

Walkin on Water led the December 2024 release, whose eight solo tracks had first been performed live on the group's world tour.

Which song, released for the final of the 2021 TV contest they won, was Stray Kids' first on Gaon's main digital chart?

Wolfgang takes its name from Mozart and likens the group to a hunting wolf pack. It entered the Gaon Digital Chart at number 138.

Which track on the first Stray Kids EP to top the Billboard 200 was inspired by the Pied Piper of Hamelin?

Charmer pairs the fairy tale with a hypnotic flute line, and its lyrics are about a confidence that wins people over.

Stray Kids appear on 'In the Dark', a track from the 2025 album Nomad by which French producer?

DJ Snake made 'In the Dark' one of seven singles from Nomad, an album that also features J Balvin, Future and Peso Pluma.

Which girl group from the same agency signed alongside Stray Kids in a 2022 deal for promotion in the United States?

Itzy and Stray Kids go back further: four of Itzy's future members formed the rival team on Stray Kids' 2017 reality show.

Stray Kids donated to the Red Cross in which Asian city after an apartment-complex fire there in November 2025?

Hong Kong's Red Cross received HK$1 million after the Tai Po fire, the kind of gift that has earned the group the nickname Donation Idol in Korea.

In 2025 Stray Kids played the inaugural concert at Rogers Stadium, a new venue in which Canadian city?

Toronto's new stadium was one of a dozen venues on that tour where the group became the first South Korean act to perform.

Which Italian city hosts I-Days, the music festival that Stray Kids headlined in 2024?

Milan's I-Days was one of three major festivals, each in a different country, that the group headlined that year.

The Korean title of Stray Kids' 2019 song 'Levanter' is 'Baram', a word that means what in English?

Wind is what the lyrics tell the group to follow, once they realise that what they had been searching for was inside them all along.

Stray Kids' 2021 dance track 'Going Dumb', made with Chinese DJ Corsak, was recorded for which video game?

PUBG Mobile got the track in March 2021, and it gave Stray Kids their first appearance on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

Stray Kids won a grand prize three years running, from 2021 to 2023, at which annual ceremony?

Asia Artist Awards wins included Performance of the Year in 2021 and Stage of the Year in 2023, both honouring their live shows.

At the end of 2023 Stray Kids performed on which Japanese New Year's Eve television special?

Kōhaku Uta Gassen is NHK's annual year-end music show, and the group appeared in its 74th edition.

Stray Kids wrote the album title Go Live with a Chinese character so that, read aloud in Korean, it means what?

Hardship is 'gosaeng' in Korean, which is exactly how 'Go' plus the character for life is pronounced.

The 2017 Stray Kids show was first reported as a new season of which 2015 survival series from the same agency?

Sixteen had launched a hit girl group for the agency two years earlier, but the company soon said the new project had a completely different concept.

On their 2025 stadium tour, Stray Kids became the first South Korean act to perform at which Chicago venue?

Wrigley Field hosted one stop on a tour that Billboard reported sold 1.3 million tickets in 2025.

Stray Kids' 2026 concert film, directed by Paul Dugdale, was shot during their world tour at which California venue?

SoFi Stadium in Inglewood supplied the footage for a 145-minute film that had taken $20 million worldwide by the end of its opening weekend.

Stray Kids have fronted campaigns for Shopee and the dairy brand Ultra Milk in which Southeast Asian country?

Indonesia's branch of Shopee signed the group for two sales campaigns in 2020, and Ultra Milk made them brand ambassadors in 2023.

Which Philippine clothing brand made Stray Kids its ambassadors in 2022 and later staged a fan meeting with them?

Bench held the event in January 2023 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, a few months after the ambassador deal.

Which state honour did Stray Kids receive in 2023 at the Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards?

The Prime Minister's Commendation went to the group that October for its contribution to South Korea's pop culture.

Scientists gave a Latin species name honouring Stray Kids to which kind of fossil creature preserved in Burmese amber?

A water bug trapped in amber from Myanmar's Kachin State was named Carcinonepa libererrantes, a Latinised form of the group's name.

Stray Kids closed their 2024-25 world tour with two encore nights at the Asiad Main Stadium in which Korean city?

Incheon hosted the encore, subtitled Celebrate, on October 18 and 19, 2025, almost fourteen months after the tour began in Seoul.

Stray Kids covered 'Pray (I'll Be Your Man)' on the 2021 TV contest they won, a song by which rival group?

BtoB first released the song in 2016, and Stray Kids reworked it for the contest's second round, which was titled Re-born.

The future Stray Kids won the opening episode of their 2017 show by covering which first-generation K-pop boy band?

H.O.T.'s 'Warrior's Descendant' was the song, and it saw the nine beat a rival team of four young women picked by the agency.

Which sunscreen brand chose Stray Kids for its 2024 global campaign 'Sunlight Is Your Spotlight'?

Bioré UV came back to the group in 2026, when the campaign featured their song 'Endless Sun'.

Stray Kids held their first online concert in November 2020, during the pandemic, on which streaming platform?

Beyond Live carried the show, which stood in for tour dates that the pandemic had forced the group to postpone or cancel.