After a phenomenal run in 2025 with the end of their dominATE World Tour, three releases – a Japanese comeback in Hollow, a full-length album in KARMA, and the year-end EP DO IT – Stray Kids kicks off this year’s summer with RUN IT, a pre-release marking the beginning of the THIS & THAT era. This anthem-like opening to their upcoming mini-album proves once again the constant musical innovation the boys are trying to achieve with each new track 3RACHA – the producing unit of Stray Kids – cooks up; dismantling previously familiar structures to their songs by starting with the strong vocal prowess of leader Bang Chan and Seungmin, and ending with a sentimental bang on their early beginnings and the struggles of making it in the industry with the explosive rap duo of Changbin and HAN.
The teaser trailer for RUN IT first dropped on Sunday, June 21st. This came alongside announcements for the album and the new world tour the band of eight will embark on – also aptly titled RUN IT. With only three days’ notice, the group managed to top several iTunes singles charts, hitting #1 for the first time in the UK and the US. They also trended worldwide on YouTube, hitting #1 on several countries including Australia, Brazil, and Japan, among others. Released on Wednesday, June 24th, the RUN IT music video has now hit 34M views and counting on YouTube. This makes the band the first fourth generation K-Pop group to achieve 1M likes in 2026.
In typical Stray Kids fashion, the video takes cues from Korean culture, its director alluding to Yin and Yang elements. This contrasting balance also extends to the modern-day and Dangun mythology inspiration which highlights the artist’s dedication to their Korean heritage. One of the creatives involved in the making of the piece is South Korean painter Oh Ye-seul, also known as Color Hunter, responsible for the mural used in the music video.
This release comes hot on the heels of several projects Stray Kids are already working on. These include their SKZ-PLAYER solo series and the StrayCity festival tour across Latin America. All eight members are also named ambassadors for several fashion brands, with HAN completing the line-up with Tod’s announcement of taking him onboard on Monday, June 15th. This will keep the group busy for the next half of 2026, with several fashion weeks to look forward to on top of their album release and upcoming tour.
RUN IT is now available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube. THIS & THAT is set to be released on August 7th, and cam be pre-saved on Spotify and digitally pre-ordered on iTunes. Excited to hear the rest of Stray Kid’s upcoming album? Have you secured your tickets to the Seoul concerts or StrayCity? Tell us all on our Instagram or Twitter! On top of music, we also cover all things pop culture, including film. To get a taste of all that, you can read our last article, a film review of The Stranger Starring Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder And Swann Arlaud @ London Film Festival.