-Pop trio Stray Kids say a sad goodbye on their new mini album “THIS & THAT” song “Way Out,” an acoustic hip-hop number.
This one has more of the emotional edge of a project that is already going wide. Where “Back Then” was sentimental and comforting, Way Out trades that sensitivity for something darker, closer to Stray Kids’ more rap-driven roots. Bang Chan and the group’s writers get the point across quickly, turning any remaining tenderness into cutting fury. Another shade of the dualism that this whole album keeps investigating.
Production is still basic and rhythmic, based on acoustic textures that really weigh up every line. Nothing here lifts the spirits. The arrangement remains tense throughout, reflecting the emotional distance the lyrics keep pressing ahead.
The collective blends Korean and English to dissolve all links, stating that the passionate moments are dead and have been long dead and cold. Their speech is as strong as ever, instructing an ex to just keep walking to the exit and not look back. It is that bluntness, no metaphor, no softening, that makes the goodbye so hard to land.
It’s not pretty or romantic but that’s exactly what makes Way Out work. Stray Kids don’t dress up the ending, they simply say it plain and simple and they mean it.
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