What makes Stray Kids so successful ?

- Music, musical identity and marketing: No matter how much kpop stans whine about noise, numbers don't lie and clearly SKZ's music has a big audience. I believe them consistently staying true to their identity instead of flip-flopping, especially as they got bigger, has strenghtened their fanbase's trust in them. Their strong brand made them stand out. That being said, their discography is big and they're very diverse. They pull off different songs well, and their slowers songs have lyrics that resonate with many.

- Amazing performers: Great live rapping and singing, dancing and theatrics. A lot of effort is put into performances. Biggest of all imo, they have very strong stage command and charismatic members. Also here they stand out, and this along with their hard-hitting sound was the main draw to them I felt.

- Undeniable talent: Whether you like them or not, they're clearly talented and having members involved in every song from lyrics to producing, to other things like choreographing, is rare. They clearly have a passion for music and performing which shows and gives them authenticity.

- Likeable members who clearly get along with each other, even to the point where others in the industry point their friendship out. They compliment each other as a group, but also have popular stand-out members who excel in things like modelling. Their humor and playfulness with each other is entertaining, and they've a lot of content showcasing this as well as them being vulnerable which builds a fanbase.

In summary: music and identity, charismatic performers, self-produced and passionate with a lot of talent, likeable funny members and a lot of fan-building content.

As someone who follows them since mid-2020, there are many components together that made them successful.

• Charismatic members;
• Their chemistry as a group. It feels genuine even before their debut since Bang Chan had a significative role choosing the members to debut on Stray Kids;
• They are objectively talented and have a great reputation as performers. On top of that, having amazing skills is very important on their case, since they are the main producers of their songs and decide/direct exactly how It will sound. They are in charge not only of songwriting/arranging, but instruments, digital editing, computer programming and recording engineering. Being this heavily involved is not so common, so It gets the attention of an audience and makes their music feels sincere to them;

• They have a creative vision of how to build their group's own color. The 8 of them discuss among themselves how their albums will be like, how an especific song will be the title, which songs they want as b-sides, what these songs represent to their overall concept, the message they want to pass. And obviously they are making good choices, because the music is hitting and expanding their popularity through viralty in many markets;
• Their music is trying to appeal to a niche more than to everyone. I think It's such a smart move, because the majority of their audience is following K-pop because of them and/or having them as a priority. They have a big fanbase in some markets 99.9% of K-pop doesn't even have support. Hence why It doesn't really hurt the consistence of the success in their releases If the general audience on K-pop community likes or dislikes their music;
• They have two native english speaker members, more 2 of them are fluent in english. And they made a smart use of this english to do livestreams reaching the internacional audience and creating a connection with their fans, like 'Chan's Room' for example. Not to mention It helps them to build connections within the industry;
• They are very firm and consistent in what they believe as artists, despite criticism. Like, they are aware of what a big portion of K-pop community thinks of them and It doesn't make them changing and trying to appeal to everyone at all. In fact, they use the 'hate' on their favor and have a strong marketability around the image of being "unapologetic themselves". This creates a component of a big parasocial relationship in which fans believe It's them against the world.

I think producing their own songs has been a huge blessing for them. They can set the tone of their music and have as much output as their want.

They're associated with noise music but they have all genres of music since the individual members can release whatever, whenever so a Stray kids fan doesn't need to listen to other groups when they want to cry to a ballad.

Eight may seem like a lot of members but their lineup has been very efficient. They have their extremely popular visuals whose job is to attract new stans. They have great rappers who aren't just rapping because they can't sing. They also have their singers when they want to go melodic. They even have one of the biggest ships in kpop which is surprisingly not made up of their most popular members.

Also they produce a lot of content. A lot. Some days it's new music, new magazine cover, new interview, new fashion show all in one day. It's very hectic but it keeps the group constantly in people's timelines.

Quote from KarimaJ

I think producing their own songs has been a huge blessing for them. They can set the tone of their music and have as much output as their want.

They're associated with noise music but they have all genres of music since the individual members can release whatever, whenever so a Stray kids fan doesn't need to listen to other groups when they want to cry to a ballad.

Eight may seem like a lot of members but their lineup has been very efficient. They have their extremely popular visuals whose job is to attract new stans. They have great rappers who aren't just rapping because they can't sing. They also have their singers when they want to go melodic. They even have one of the biggest ships in kpop which is surprisingly not made up of their most popular members.

Also they produce a lot of content. A lot. Some days it's new music, new magazine cover, new interview, new fashion show all in one day. It's very hectic but it keeps the group constantly in people's timelines.

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Good catch about the amount of content. It really is important. Plus, they have lots of content directly related to showcase the behind the scenes of their musical/producing skills which helps to build up even more of a connection with their body of work.

I think everyone has said what I would say, so I am just heartily nodding and agreeing. They have spectacular presence and charisma and performance ability. At Hyde Park earlier this year, I was right off to the side, jammed in with tens of thousands of people and I was worried beforehand that I might not get that much out of it not being at the front and basically only being able to see the big screens. Their energy just bounced off stage to every corner of that park.

they're girlfriend stealers that's why many guys hate them and that's why they're so popular lol

They have their own identity and have that more boyish sound compared to other kpop boy groups

Still in many western countries kpop is considered for teenage girls, while stray kids’ music is darker and more industrial which helped them to gain many fans that don’t overlap with BTS and Blackpink audience! That’s why they have a looot of fanboys and fans that only Stan straykids among kpop acts! And I think that is the main reason why they became 3rd most popular kpop group in the world!

Also self-producing helped them a lot!