Stray Kids Feature

POPULAR K-POP GROUP RELEASES NEW EP FRIDAY, A HISTORY OF STRAY KIDS

By Sophia Campbell, reporter; Nov. 20, 2025

With nearly 12 million monthly listeners, Stray Kids has truly taken the world by storm. Debuting in 2018, they have never stopped making music. With 6 studio albums, 15 EP’s, and 40 singles, they are truly dominating the K-Pop world. They are fresh off their Karma era, having released an album of the same name on Aug. 22, 2025. On Oct. 19, Stray Kids announced their newest EP, “Do It.” This EP is coming out this Friday, Nov. 21. It will have 5 new songs, which the group has teased online. The songs have already been met with amazing support from Stays, their fans. Here is a look at their impressive history and accomplishments.

Stray Kids formed in a unique way, through a reality show! The 2017 reality show of the same name was a survival competition through JYP entertainment. The group originally consisted of 9 members, but one has left since debuting. Stray Kids released their pre-debut single “Hellevator” in 2017, followed by their first mini-album "I Am Not” on March 26, 2018.

Current members include Bangchan, Changbin, Lee Know, Hyunjin, Felix, Seungmin, Han, and I.N. The group has no assigned roles, but Bangchan is known as the leader. The members are similar in age, ranging from 24-28. As of December 2024, Stray Kids has released over 31 million albums. Throughout these albums, the group has sung in multiple languages including English, Korean, and Japanese.

Stray Kids continues to grow each year, proving their talent and hard work set them apart in the K-Pop industry. Their music connects with millions because of their honesty, creativity, and powerful performances. Fans around the world are excited to see what this new EP will bring and how it will shape the group’s next era.

With their strong global presence and loyal fanbase, Stray Kids show no signs of slowing down. As they step into another chapter of their career, one thing is clear: Stray Kids will keep pushing boundaries and inspiring listeners everywhere. Stays can look forward to even more music, achievements, and unforgettable moments in the years ahead.

Album of the Week

Album of the Week: Master of Puppets

By Owen Holbrook, reporter; Oct. 28, 2025

For our "Album of the Week" pick, we're going with one of the most influential albums in the rock and metal world: Master of Puppets by Metallica, released in 1986. This album has been described by many as an aggressive and heavy album through and through, with some softer elements in a select few songs. It is widely considered to be Metallica's best album and one of the best thrash metal albums of all time, along with Anthrax's Among The Living and Megadeth's Rust In Peace. For those who are trying to get more into heavy and thrash metal, Master of Puppets is a perfect album for beginners, and even veteran listeners of the genre still enjoy it.

Battery is the opening track off of the album, with a soft acoustic intro that drags in the listener that quickly jumps into a heavier, faster, and aggressive riff that slaps you in the face and leaves you wanting more. Battery is a perfect opening track that sets the tone for the rest of the album.

The title track is the most popular off of the album and one of Metallica's most popular songs, with over one billion streams on Spotify, made more famous by its appearance in the show Stranger Things, marketing it to a younger, more impressionable crowd. At almost nine minutes in length, it is a lengthy track, but worth listening to every second of, with its powerful opening and closing riffs, harmonic interlude, and epic breakdown.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) is more of a slow burn at the beginning, with a heavy and hard-hitting middle and end segment reminiscent of Metallica's first ballad, Fade to Black. The song is based off of the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson, which can be seen in the lyrics. It's a perfect blend of Metallica's softer capabilities with their classic thrash sound, which has made it a fan favorite among fans.

“Orion” is the album's only instrumental songs, and one of its longest as well. Written by the band's bassist, Cliff Burton, the song is meant to capture the feeling and essence of outer space, with a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere brought by Burton's bass and the twin harmonizing guitars. Listeners are taken on a cosmic journey through the song's eight-and-a-half-minute runtime, with many claiming it to be their best song, and a tribute piece since Burton's unexpected passing.

Other tracks off the album include “The Thing That Should Not Be,” inspired by the story Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft, Disposable Heroes, a song about men being sent off to die in war, Leper Messiah, which touches on the theme of preachers scamming money out of the gullible, and “Damage, Inc.,” the final song off the album and a manifesto of destruction, with a calm, eerie intro that explodes into an extremely fast and aggressive manifesto of destruction, and a bookend to the album.

New Taylor Swift Album

Taylor Swift drops new album

By Sophia Campbell, reporter; Oct. 7, 2025

Taylor Swift’s upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, is set to be released on Oct. 3. She recorded it during the European leg of her Eras Tour and says it captures the joy and energy she feels while performing.

The album will have 12 tracks, and on Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, Taylor described it as more upbeat than her previous works.

To appreciate how this new album fits into her career, here’s a brief timeline of her major albums:

Her debut, Taylor Swift (2006), was country-pop and introduced her as a teenage singer-songwriter. She followed with Fearless (2008), which included big hits and earned her wide recognition.

In Speak Now (2010), she wrote every song herself. Red (2012) mixed pop and country, and 1989 (2014) marked her big move into pop music. Then came Reputation (2017), which had darker themes of fame and conflict.

After that, Lover (2019) brought lighter, romantic songs. In 2020, she surprised fans with sister albums, Folklore and Evermore. These were more indie/folk style. In 2022, she released Midnights, a more synth-pop, nighttime-themed album.

Her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released in 2024. It blends emotional songwriting and pop sounds.