Stray Kids embrace ODDINARY energy in explosive ‘Maniac’ music video

By Monica Yadav -

March 18, 2022 - 7:12 PM IST

Following the release of the special albums Christmas EveL and SKZ2021, the South Korean powerhouse male group, Stray Kids, are back with maniacal energy and persona. Titled ODDINARY, the album dropped on March 18 accompanied by an entrancing music video for the title track 'Maniac'.

Stray Kids embrace ODDINARY energy in explosive ‘Maniac’ music video

Written and composed by the group's producer unit 3RACHA (Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han) alongside VERSACHOI, ODDINARY takes forward Stray Kids' story to break societal norms with the play on the words 'Odd' and 'Ordinary'. The music video blends comic book elements, multiverse hints, while the group wants to own the 'Maniac' narrative instead living in the limited boundaries of ordinary life set by the world which reflects in the lyrics, crooned by Bang Chan - “Relax everyone, stop pretending to be normal / All of your smiles look weird / When the lock is released, we’re all the same / Your eyes can’t fool me, ho.”

Oscillating between two worlds, Doctor Strange's multiverse which is upside down, seen in the latest movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, and their very much existing normal way of living, Stray Kids take their story forward of not wanting to limit their ways of living. With Stray Kids themselves having multiverse hints for years, this doesn't seem like a coincidence that they include comic book elements to it. Interestingly, another song 'Venom' in the album and the teaser for the same had the Marvel-Sony superhero elements to it. The unique bass echoey-synth sounds in the background along with the addictive chorus add a lot of charm and freshness to Stray Kids' sound, something they are quite popular for.

ODDINARY is primarily written and produced by 3RACHA and contains seven-track including two unit tracks -'Venom', 'Maniac', 'Charmer', 'Freeze' and 'Lonely St' and 'Waiting For Us' with the first unit featuring Bang Chan, Lee Know, Seungmin, I.N’s and 'Muddy Water' by second unit Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix. This marks Stray Kids' first release under Republic Records after signing an exclusive contract with the label in February 2022.

Ahead of the album release, Stray Kids, under JYP Entertainment, set a new record for themselves surpassing 1.3 million stock pre-orders. This marked an upgrade from their previous album that had 930,000 stock pre-orders recorded.