Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
The nature of Stray Kids‘ music will always make them a bit hit and miss to neutral observers, especially when it comes to title tracks, which can range from bombastic to gimmicky (whether good or bad). “LALALALA” is certainly more on the former side, as it goes balls to wall almost for its entire length, both for better and worse.
“LALALALA” was immediately intriguing to me, if for no other reason than because I wanted to figure out whether it sampled (or was “inspired” by) Dxrk‘s “RAVE“, or the even funnier possibility that they used the g3ox_em‘s “GigaChad Theme“ meme track. Either way, that aspect plus the pounding beat made for an engaging start, and if nothing else it made it easy for the song’s energy to be kept high, with the Stray Kids members themselves also rising to the occasion.
Unfortunately, I do have a bias against those vocal effects used throughout, as it’s just grating to my aural palate. Additionally, while it’s appropriately aggressive, there’s nothing really meaty to latch onto, as the shouty chorus lacks a centering element that brings it together. Honestly, they keep mentioning “rock” and I kept wishing they would actually incorporate it in some power rock ballad refrain instead of just going on and on with the distorted rapping. I promise companies/producers they can do these aggressive songs and have a catchy chorus as well instead of basically defaulting to a shouty dance break.
