Review

Song Review: Stray Kids – S-Class

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Stray Kids - S-ClassThere are times when you admire something even if you don’t necessarily like it. Stray Kids’ new single S-Class (특) has those qualities. I admire its chutzpah, and I admire the group’s willingness to experiment with sound and structure. This seems to be their answer to JYP Entertainment’s “mixx-pop” endeavor — basically cramming an entire highlight medley into a single song.

Musical buffets can be great — a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But, the individual dishes must stand on their own and, more importantly, must lead to some sense of satisfaction after they’re combined. I came away from my first listen of S-Class overstuffed and a bit dizzy, but not exactly satiated.

Here’s the thing…. I’m all about pop songs getting weird (exhibit a, exhibit b). But, I also crave an anchor that grounds the entire track and makes me eager to hit replay. Up until its first chorus, S-Class‘s swerves and fake-outs captured my attention. The percussion is genuinely interesting and I love the segue from brash rapping to smooth vocals. But then, we hit what turns out to be the main hook and the track loses its fuel. The intricate, ever-changing production picks up the slack, but the central chant feels like a placeholder until the guys can come up with something better.

I dig the ode to 90’s hip-hop in the second verse (even if it doesn’t meld with the following pre-chorus at all), and the rugged dance break just before the finale is strong enough to power an entire song. But, you can’t cater a buffet from delicious appetizers and toss a piece of chopped liver on the biggest, fanciest plate. Us picky eaters won’t have it!

Thankfully, when S-Class is good it’s very good, and those glimpses of inspiration may give the song more staying power than expected. I’m eager to see how I feel about it in a week’s time.

Hooks 7
 Production 9
 Longevity 8
 Bias 8
 RATING 8

Grade: B-

82 thoughts on “Song Review: Stray Kids – S-Class”

  3. I’m glad you kinda like it because my first impression is that I do not 😭. I had a sinking feeling from when I watched the teasers that that was the chorus and I wouldn’t like it, and unfortunately I was correct. I’ve actually been a fan of Stray Kids since Hellevator, and after a little while they became my favourite group maybe ever. But starting from Thunderous I’ve been falling out of love with their title tracks and I think this’ll be the first comeback where I don’t care for either the single or album… Hey, maybe it’ll all grow on me after a while, but I can’t help but remember 2018-2020 when it felt like they’d surprise me every time.

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  4. I don’t even mind the chorus – it’s very catchy and not nearly as annoying as I expected.

    I just wish that they didn’t add the same trumpet synth (you know the one) over such an interesting production. I get that it’s sort of become their defining sound after God’s Menu, but after hearing the same synth in sooooooooo many songs, it just…cheapens the experience a bit.

    But overall, I think I like it quite a bit! Most of their singles after 2019 haven’t stuck with me very well (Thunderous got old quick), but after four listens, I think this one will join Maniac as exceptions.

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  5. im so surprised you like this (or at least some tenuous version of that word). i liked some individual elements of the production (that thrumming almost trance-y bass in the pre-chorus is a standout), but not all the elements at any one point in time 😔.

    regardless, i agree with you re: the everything in the sink approach in the comparison to nmixx! similarly, i literally just brought out the o.o when talking to my friends about s class. when will the days of miroh’s central hook come 😩

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  8. I’m guessing from here on out Stray Kids won’t be for me. I really admire their efforts and the experimental production. I really do. But there is literally nothing in the song that I can anchor myself to and think, this is what ‘S Class’ sounds like.

    I know O.O and Dice got a lot of flack for ‘lacking hooks’, but even at first listen for both songs, it is pretty obvious what the hook is meant to be and it does get stuck in my head, willingly or not. Here, it went in one ear and flew out in the next. It literally did not stick at all. With O.O, ‘watch out baila etc.’ and with dice ‘let’s roll the dice’, at least those phrases I can really hang on to. But here, I have nothing. The main hook is borderline irritating. I don’t know if I can keep listening to it over the next few days but I’ll wait and see.

    There was also one part where Felix was singing and I really don’t like how his voice sounded at the end of the phrase which was all raspy and distorted in an unpleasant way :/

    The production is surely S-Class, I’ll give it that, but does it matter if I’m not really inclined to listen to the song again? Probably not.

    Time well tell if the hook sinks into my head. I’m still willing to give it a chance in spite of my reluctance.

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    • I think the sticky parts of this song are mainly in the prechorus. I’m super curious to see how this song is going to age for everybody!

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  9. What happened to SKZ? I don’t vibe with their music any more. I miss their old sound.

    This song is so messy and not in a good way.

    6/10 for me sadly.

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  10. At least I can say that tentatively this might be the first Stray Kids title track I’ve liked-ish in quite a while (well, with the hesitant word choices, maybe I’m still not quite sure lol). That’s nice I guess, though maybe it’s just because I have lower expectations now, which sucks, because I used to love Stray Kids and now I get slightly nervous every time I watch teasers for a new title track haha. I mean, I still like them a lot, but I too have been disillusioned with the way their post-Gods Menu sound has been heading for a while now.

    Anyways, everything actually works well enough for me, except the second 90s hip-hop verse, where the tempo change feels just a little too jarring, *especially* the (non-existent) transition back into the pre-chorus. Other than that though, I really did like quite a few sections of the song, and the production is super interesting – that sudden dance break actually made me really go “WOAH” on my first listen, I love it. I’ll have to see how S-Class ages for me, but for now I think I’m digging it. I’ll also have to listen to the album later, I didn’t watch any of the track videos for the B-sides so I’m kinda going into it blind – exciting that it’s a full album though!

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  11. I really like them and this song isn’t bad or anything, I just don’t know when I’ll need to be this hype about anything. This whole album makes me wanna backflip through bricks but I don’t have any bricks. Its weird and experimental and I like it for that. Stray Kids just goes harder than I’m capable of going I guess. That being said, Youtiful is my favorite song on the album. That is the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Its so sweet and so romantic and I love it more than anything. I’m gonna listen to that 100 billion more times.

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    • I have almost the exact opposite taste to you I guess, I love the rest of the album but Youtiful makes me want to light something on fire. Oh well, it takes all sorts ^_^

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      • That’s ok. I’m happy they made this song for probably only me. It is a lot different from the rest of the album so I can see why people wouldn’t like it. Just gotta surrender yourself to the cheesy sappiness.

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  12. At least I liked this more than when I first heard Dice from Nmixx, that’s all I have to say in regards to that. Maybe JYP has been slowly brainwashing me with this mixxpop that I’m getting a bit used to it 😅
    7/10? Production is kinda extremely high

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  13. Okay. When Stray Kids are good, they’re really, really good. District 9, Miroh, Side Effects still spend quite a bit of time in my rotation. But way too much of their stuff since God’s Menu has either been retreads of better material or simply irritating.

    This one… doesn’t really change things. Much as I share this blog’s criticisms of, say, NMIXX’s material, I do sometimes like a piecemeal song; I mean, I’m head over heels in love with “Demian” right now. But I’m also getting really weary of songs that just phone in the chorus, “experimental” or not. It’s way too repetitious, the rap/chant takes up a lot of space without really doing anything. It’s not even obnoxious enough, it’s just… there.

    This song isn’t a total wash. There are some pretty strong pieces in there, I always do appreciate their vocal performances. But it all feels aimless and there’s no real payoff.

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    • “Aimless” is the good way to describe Stray Kids’ current concept and direction. When you realize that they just don’t know what to tell anymore, you understand why their music is sounding the way it has been since God’s Menu.

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  15. To me this sounds like a messy disaster, but then I am not somebody for mixxpop at all.
    I have decided I am officially giving up on Stray Kids music they just dont do it for me (anymore). Anything after Back Door just wasnt for me. I am trying everytime they put out a new release but since Thunderous (the most annoying track EVER) its getting more an more difficult to even make the effort.
    I am so surprised you gave this a 8, really?

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  16. This is so Stray Kids, post-Menu era :). To be honest, I enjoy this song better than all of Sorikun, Maniac, and Case 143. I find every part has its charm including the chorus counting stars, contrary to the annoying hook of Case 143, it lacks melody but it’s cute.
    In the intro which they often released the day before the comeback, they stated that they wanted to make annoyingly funny music, therefore, this song might be purely funny for those who can love and would be cruelly annoying for those who cannot love.
    I think this song can do the same as last year’s Drummin by TO1 for me.

    Need more time to test the album, at this moment, I have played DLC and FNF the most. I wasn’t captivated by all the elements of the DLC, however, the song won my heart thanks to its memorable tune. The last line of its verses reminds me of MC mong hit’s Sick Enough to Die. Both DLC and FNF deliver a nice ending too. This album is more about hip-hop than other areas so unfortunately, half of the album doesn’t fit my taste. I saw somewhere Hall of Fame and Item are labeled as electronic but they’re not the kind of electronic that I like. I pay attention to some parts of these songs but not the whole thing. Item and Topline pre-chorus is quite standout.

    I’ll be playing the album more regularly than Noeasy, but not sure if it can beat Go Live.

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  17. As a Gen Xer, having listened to literally ALL music of at least 5 decades, I was drawn into kpop through Stray Kids just because of the messiness. And that’s the kind of messy I came to love. Loud, surprising, jarring with moments of calm and smoothness. It’s so much better than Case 143 which sounded like all of (the rest of) kpop at least to me.

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    • Also Gen X, but I spent my youth listening to British New Wave. I love this mess. If Nick says something is “overstuffed” I’m almost certain to like it.

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      • I think it’s fun how all of us probably have some signal-words in Nick’s reviews that tell us immediately if the song is something we’ll like or not.

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    • Oh God! This thread makes me so happy. I, as a person who doesn’t listen to most contemporary Pop music let alone KPop, am a huge fan of Stray Kids
      I couldn’t stand Case 143, and haven’t listened to it once willingly, but I love this song. Not my most favourite song from the album but it’s a reassurance that Stray Kids is going to keep doing it for me.

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  18. Well I love it, small ell love it.

    I feel like if Sugarhill Records were still around today, they would release something like this. Like the Treacherous Three or Grandmaster Flash some 40 years on might sound like this song. That energy, the swagger hanging out with friends, passing the mic back and forth.
    ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk_DBrjtH0s
    ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q25zXfyn41Q
    The evolution is of course back when everything was analogue so when they spin the underlying beat, they almost have to leave it there, whereas in this song with digital tools they can play more with the the backing.

    The producers sure got the volume right, and the right balance of sing with shout. Plus the boys truly own this song. The love they have for performing this song is palpable. This is Their song, no one elses.

    High 8’s maybe flat 9 for me.

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  19. as someone who worships at the altar of Miroh, side effects, and district 9, I think I’ve accepted that Skz is no longer the group that releases those kinds of songs.

    this one sounds like them parodizing themselves. it just sounds so par for the course for them that I can’t muster up an opinion about it.

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    • Honestly…Yes. I became a stay through Miroh, and I loved almost all of their title tracks up until and including maniac. When Case 143 came out, I had a sinking feeling in my chest, and this release has only confirmed my fears. I know musci groups are supposed to evolve stylistically throughout their careers; I just wish that they hadn’t. Or that they at least hadn’t gone in the direction that they did.

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    • yea i think they’ve played out the whole “we make noise music/weird music haha xD” bit. gods menu and back door were incredible but since then i think the only title i like has been s-class but i think that’s just recency bias. i need han to step forward in 3racha and force his opinion more like changbin does. i feel like early skz days were mainly chan’s, the current skz sound is mainly changbin’s, and we need han to get us off this train

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  20. Wtf is even this so-called “song”?…

    I appreciate the guys experimenting with their sound, but this one…nah, it’s a fucking bummer. It’s a mess in a terrible way.

    Rating-wise, ain’t got a single idea how Nick managed to give the song an entire 8 (not tryna be hateful). For me, would be somewhere around high-5’s to low-6’s. Stray Kids have suffered from a severe decline in music quality…

    Might give it a few more listens, though, and see whether the guys’ comeback would work.

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    • Now Bae~, it must not be that horrible to you because you have not sworn nearly as much as you usually do when you truly do not like something. Yanno, the keyboard excursion with the shift key + drag finger across the number line-style swearing. This one must be either begrudgingly tolerable or so meh it aint worth the finger exercise.

      Unless I read your comment using the Ozzy Man guy style of reacting and Aus accent, In which case it is spot on. Yeah nah.

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  21. Yes, throw in the kitchen sink, every sound known to man,a sea monster, and – do I spy velvet tracksuits? I love Stray Kids being extra.

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  22. Recently, I often feel like songs are doing too little. That is not a concern for this song. It has SO. MANY. PARTS.

    The powerful opening and the quieter verses filled with random sound effects really held my attention. This is the wonky experimental vibe that I’ve missed in the kpop scene lately. It only gets better with the two-part prechorus – I love the memorable melodies.

    And then, my enjoyment of the song takes a steep drop as the first part of the chorus takes ALL the wind out of the song’s sails. Awful. I dislike these types of choruses in any song, but putting it after this prechorus should be a crime. The repetitive chanting is grating.
    The second part of the chorus I’m fine with because the shouting is less repetitive and the energy is maintained by the heavier beat (horn?).

    I really like the 90’s verse on its own but it makes absolutely no sense in this song. Perhaps it could work if better transitions were added.? As it is, this segment slows the song down and causes a really weird tone shift. On top of that, the transition to the prechorus is much too jarring.
    The bridge is..there? I wish there was a stronger melody here. The dance break is phenomenal though!

    I have no idea yet how I feel about this overall, but at least it’s super interesting. It’s nice to feel this inspired to spill my thoughts on a song again.

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  23. A coworker of mine is an obsessive Stay and misses no opportunity to evangelize the gospel of Stray Kids, so I checked this out because, well, I knew I had to eventually. My takeaway: It’s basically “2 Baddies” on mescaline, with the various stylistic changes giving the impression of someone flipping through radio stations. By the time song snippet number three drops in, I’ve dropped out. Call it “Mixxpop” if you like, but I suspect that’s just a clever excuse for a more pernicious disease of modern pop music – the Frankensong. Calling it “experimental” doesn’t cover up what it really is: an awkwardly lumbering song clumsily sewn together from the ill-fitting remains of other tunes that have been decaying like corpses.

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  24. Ok, I think this is a song that works waaaay better on the live performance. As in like waaaaay better. I listened to both today – MV version and the Music Bank one – and the song I heard in Music Bank was definitely not what I heard in the MV 😂😂

    So the GOOD STUFF :
    – Loved the vocal parts; Bang Chan, Seungmin and IN sounded really good! I feel IN’s tone and vocal color are severely underrated and I think his voice is super distinct among the group and quite different from many other vocalists of this generation of groups.
    – Felix singing was kinda nice
    – The dance break
    – THAT DAMN AWESOME RAP SEGMENT AFTER THE BRIDGE!!! ❤ Ok, I think this literally sold the song to me – to get Han, Changbin, Hyinjin and Felix rapping and mixing together like that was amazing! And yes, it worked even better in the performance lol
    – The second part of the chorus

    The NOT SO GOOD stuff
    – The first part of the chorus 😂 Ahem, I might get around to it the way I got around to the first mumble part of Bite Me but right now nope – I’m not a huge fan.

    I’ll admit while SKZ are one of my ults their new songs don’t excite me the same way BUT the group still excites me. It’s hard to explain – but when I see them on those stage performances they captivate me 100%. They way they perform the song excites me so much and I think after a few more of those I’ll definitely love this song more 😀

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  25. Worst song I’ve heard all year tbh. It’s not catchy and it sounds like ‘noise’ in a bad way. Funny enough, nearly every song from the album is better, imo. Especially Collision and Super Bowl.

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  27. 10/10 for the burnt-orange velour tracksuits 😀
    I’m sure I had some just like that in about 1981.

    I love Stray Kids. I feel like this album is SKZ dialled up to the max.

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  28. So people have many preferences and there was something I was looking for when I decided to find an artist to like. Stray kids said that this song was something you would either incredibly hate or incredibly love.

    What I love about all stray kids songs is that I never get bored. I can put their songs on random and never get bored because everyone sounds so different. S-CLASS is the same for me. When I first heard it, in thought it was really unusual but I liked that about it. And now I listen to it on repeat because I like it.

    Songs never manage to hold my attention for too long, but this one did. Their old songs were calmer, but I prefer their new songs. And S-CLASS completely encapsulates their entire discography. This is the original type of music they like producing, and the others were either experimentation or improvements.

    Maybe their songs are for a niche group, because I find the overstuffing of elements in the song very nice, it doesn’t bore me like other kpop song does these days.

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  29. I think they embraced what they do best. This is why SK came on my radar when I didn’t know anything about them, I quite enjoyed it without much thought.

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  30. I couldn’t make it through the whole song. I should have expected to be constantly shouted at considering that this is Stray Kids. I could see why people may like this, but I’m that type of person who doesn’t like “noise” music anymore. I don’t like the grating quality of it, the angsty voices, the spit-y delivery of words.

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  32. I listened to it while jogging at the gym and it really confused me, exactly like the NMIXX “mix pop” singles. But the chorus to me sticks, I liked it first listen. It’s obviously not a melodic uplifting chorus but it’s well supported by the production, and it was good enough that I went home and wanted to listen to the song again watching the MV; and when I did, it made way more sense on good headphones and with the visuals. Let’s face it, this is exactly what NMIXX was trying to do, but they didn’t have the writers and the producers to pull it off. I think this will grow on me the more I listen to it, but to me the chorus is good enough. Although in this style of chanty/rappy choruses, to me “Maniac” is unbeatable.

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  33. i don’t know how anyone can listen to this group without getting a headache. giving this anything above a 5 is criminal and you’re all going to jail.

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  34. The song is growing so well for me, I will give it a 10 when it reaches the 99th replay. They’ve convinced me to accept a song broking common structures when they have the ability to switch from one part to the other smoothly. Rather than sticking with the idea of having the appetizer first, I’m now getting used to being served main courses before the dessert comes in the middle. And maybe there is no appetizer at all.

    I did complain about Case 143 because of the mismatch in the transitions, along with the lengthening of the bridge without grace. But for this song, the ending has an interesting rhythm thanks to the clever arrangement of complementary vocals so I don’t see the irritating shouting here. This is truly a song that stands out from the crowd of hopeless screams, especially in today’s K-pop scene.

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    • If the song is taking you over 10 replays to grow on you, then obviously the song is not good. Idk why you Kpop Stan’s try so hard to like a song when it’s clearly bad😂. You either love it or you don’t.

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  35. I have no idea how Nick even managed to give this song an 8, and honestly his rating seems heavily biased considering that even many stays admittedly did not like this title track. This isn’t even just noise music anymore, S class has simply no direction and it sounds like it’s trying to be 10 different 4th gen boy groups songs as the whole trying to copying that classic switch up SM groups always do to half of the song sounding like a completely different from the first half. Obviously this didn’t work for stray kids and it comes off as very ungenuine

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    • You people always say a review is biased when it gives a score you think is too high to a group you don’t like. I believe this is because you dislike this group. In other words, could it be that you are in fact biased

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      • I mean. Just considering the fact that this review is not even terribly positive. It’s extremely lukewarm and yet there’s some extreme wailing and gnashing of teeth from people who hate it here. It’s a lot of emotion for safe!

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  36. I haven’t cared for Stray Kids in a while so I’m not really phased by this release. I’m content with just saying, “this isn’t for me,” and moving on. I do like Hall of Fame off the album though

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  37. It took this comeback for me to realize how much I really didn’t care for the last one. Man, Case 143 really did nothing for me, and if it wasn’t my favorite group I don’t think I’d have given it a second listen. The chorus was just so dull and monotone. Even the choreo / performance was not the dynamic stuff I expect from them.

    By comparison, this is a breath of fresh air! I have been hankering for a return to God’s Menu/Back Door/Thunderous, which I feel was a great singles run for them and I haven’t been as enthused by their title tracks since. To me, this is a step in the right direction, and I enjoy how fucking bonkers it is.

    For those who are opposed to the mixxpop of it all, I should mention this is the only song that’s like that on the album.

    As for Nick, I’m curious if you will do a buried treasure for this album, or if you are waiting to see which songs get the music video treatment? Personally I love Super Bowl and ITEM, but hall of fame, top line and get lit are contenders too. I’m pleased to say I enjoyed the whole album except for Youtiful which I’ll happily pretend doesn’t exist.

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    • I’m pretty sure there will be no buried treasure this time. If so, he would have posted within 3 says of the album’s release. Maybe one of the B-sides with MV will be rated but the maximum score is probably around 8.

      For me personally, the album this time is like a collection of sibling songs from previous albums, mainly from Noeasy and Ordinary. Two dance tracks had been completed before the pandemic and Super Bowl is also mentioned as one of the rivals of God’s Menu. So that’s why I didn’t find surprises with the whole album.

      They will bring a repackage in the next few months but I guess B-sides will stick to their familiar sounds in recent years. Except the title track will be a little more unpredictable. And it’s been ages since I haven’t seen them deliever an explosive song from A to Z (they actually prefer to just play up the hype somewhere in a song now).

      Even though S-class is impressive, 5-star is lacking real monsters.

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      • That’s interesting. I personally found 5-star to be their most intriguing material since GO LIVE/IN LIFE. NOEASY hasn’t aged too well for me, and the only song I really loved from Oddinary was “Charmer.”

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      • Hall of Fame is my buried treasure for this album. The synthwave-space rock sound is actually something they’ve never done before, and the structure is appealing, each part sounding different from before.

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  40. honestly i don’t get how most of you here didn’t like the song it really shows how skz can match any style the song is in another level tbh

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  41. i’ve been listening to the album on repeat for a week now and i think the only song i don’t really like is DLC. the track is amazing, the lyrics are ok, but the way they sing it is just so grating. i think the only person the song suits is chan probably because he has the strongest chest voice and when he’s singing it doesn’t sound like he’s trying to scream out the lyrics.

    get lit has the same kind of singing but i can deal with it better. collision is by far my favorite song. the melody is perfect. youtiful could’ve been one of the best songs but the lyrics are just a bit too cheesy for me. though i feel bad saying that because i know a lot of ppl appreciate the song for its straightforwardness.

    1. collision
    2. hall of fame/superbowl/item/fnf
    3. get lit/topline/s-class
    4. youtiful/dlc

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  42. I saw tons of people be hard on God’s Menu when it first came out but because of it big success, every track released after it seemed to be destined to live under its shadow. However, S-class is likely a notable improvement from God’s Menu style. I’d rather say it’s a tower building on God’s Menu fundamental with the floors being their earlier dynamic EDM era. I appreciate the idea bank of S-class.

    The song also shows no sign of falling down after a week of listening constantly. It has an irresistible charm that both Thunderous and Case 143 tried hard but failed to achieve.

    Their live performances are remarkable too. And I love the ending with freestyle dancing so much. I think it shines well in music shows when most of the current songs are kind of half-fine-and-the-other-half-tired with complicated choreography that lacks natural signature.

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  43. To be honest, I don’t like the way they overuse Felix’s deep voice as it gets more and more tiring (and boring). He could have learned to improve other skills than just relying to his “deep” voice (which sounds kinda forced to me, I watched their Inkigayo stage and I’m more than 50% sure, backtrack couldn’t even hide it).

    This song can be a pretty good workout song for me, but it would stay no.5 or lower in my album playlist (Collision is my no.1 baby)

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