[Review] Back Door – Stray Kids

At the very end of the music video for their previous comeback (God’s Menu), the members of Stray Kids were seen walking through the Back Door, which is also the title for the comeback title track they just dropped a few hours back. This means that Stray Kids and their management had planned this comeback and teased it since the beginning of their God’s Menu era. It astounds me how much planning goes into these comebacks, especially when they are all interlinked like this. Back Door is featured the repackaged version of their first studio album, GO生, which has been renamed to IN生.

Opening up Back Door is a very groovy background instrumental piece. It isn’t profound or something that the members pushes to the forefront of the song. Instead it remains in the background and feels subtle, which to me makes it more powerful. They keep the groovy background for the majority of the first verse. Why is this of significance? Well, it is a change up to the usual intense synth-heavy sound that Stray Kids has been going with through their title tracks and it is definitely intrigued me with the direction in which Back Door was going in. When we enter the pre-chorus, the funkiness dissipates and we are slowly brought back into Stray Kid’s usual intense style in time for the chorus. The main centrepiece of the song is made up of thumping synths and percussion, which works hand in hand with the idea of the door knocking we get at the start of the chorus and is quite catchy. I also really like the shouty vocals part of the chorus, which brings a more dynamic feel and additional depth to the song. While I am on the topic of the vocals, I feel like the chorus was the best showcase of the vocals in the song. Unfortunately, I did not care for Seungmin, Bangchan and I.N’s parts (i.e. pre-choruses and bridge), mainly because their parts of the song were incredibly plain. Back Door felt more like it was well set-up for the rappers, who were able to show more of their intense delivery style without the need for the intense instrumentation. Overall, I am liking the grooviness in the verses and the catchy nature of the chorus. I just wished there was a better bridge between the two parts to make this a more dynamic song.

Back Door is a song that invites you through the back door for a party. And they essentially do that with the actors from their previous music video. We have the scientists, the masked people doing measurements (not exactly sure what profession they are meant to be representing) and the school girls from God’s Menu. They are among the suited people in the art gallery, who do not like the idea of the part and continually switch off the lights preventing the members from partying. But that doesn’t stop the members as they turn on the lights and continue on with their dancing. In the end, the members get their epic party going with everyone in the background dressed in white hoodies. I wasn’t a fan of a number of things in this music video though. Firstly, the tan coloured tops they wore underneath their outfits looks pretty cheap. And secondly, the overuse of the shaky camera effect. It just makes those scenes look exaggerated.

The choreography was awesome. I really like the whole chorus routine, especially the second half of the routine (i.e. some of the members intensely knocking on the door, whilst the rest paired off and acted like arches/doors that spun around the knocking members – that sounds complicated just in words). The first half was equally as cool. The door knocking and that whole final sequence when the funky backdrop comes back was memorable.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10