Song Review:: Stray Kids: GIANT- GIANT {Japanese}

- November 14, 2024

Release date: 2024 November 13
Album tracklist: GIANT, Chk Chk Boom -Japanese ver.-, NIGHT, Falling Up, WHY?, Saiyan, Aiwokuretanoninaze, Christmas Love, NIGHT -English ver.-, Falling Up -English ver.-
Album runtime: 31 minutes

Even though I don't do a lot of the Japan releases, my Stay friend asked me if I would do this one. And so I shall! And I deeply approve of the run time.

Ah, industrial music. It's the pinging and clanging of metal that makes me smile fondly, which is likely due to the fact that while I was watching the movie Looper with commentary (because that's what I, a movie nerd, do in my spare time), they were talking about making the music and going out and recording in a parking garage, I think, sounds while banging different bits of metal together to get the specific sounds that Rian Johnson, the director, wanted with the music. The last time I watched it with commentary was prior to The Last Jedi coming out, so I may be misremembering specifics. But that's also what this kind of music reminds me of, which makes me squint at Chan about where he got the sounds. Did he also go out and whack pieces of metal together and record the sounds? Did he find them in an audio library? Inquiring minds want to know. It took me about three listens to figure out what other song has a very similar introduction, and it's SHINee's Replay, which is so delightful, I cannot quite put it into words. but now that I have placed it, I can move on to the rest of this. It was bothering me. There's also a very strong sense of drama to the instrumentals, particularly through the pre-chorus, which is only fitting giving what the lyrics are during those sections. We have skittering percussion during the post-chorus, and I deeply enjoy it. I'm hearing shades of Mountains and JJAM in the instrumentals for the song, which makes sense both for the fact that the songs have the same people behind them, and they're from about the same time.

Chan did it again with the not-swearing in the lyrics. He didn't do it by mixing Japanese and English, but the word play is always lovely to hear regardless of it being bilingual or not. Bless. Lee Know is also once again given English lyrics, which is another thing that delights me. There's actually a lot more singing in this song than I typically associate with Stray Kids songs. Not that that's a problem. I consider it a natural consequence of 3Racha being primarily rappers (though they all are multi-talented). I'm actually suddenly curious to know if this is a TVXQ! situation where I like the Japanese title tracks better than the Korean ones.

In case anyone is wondering, yes, I did this for my Stay friend. And yes, it would be easy to be more partial because this is for my friend. But she also knows that, while I love the members and their dynamic, most of their title tracks aren't my favorites. But I will also die on the hill that is I Like It and people can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Okay. That music video is so cool. And the amount of bare arms on display is...nice. But beyond that, this is a genuine masterpiece. I'm going to guess that this section is going to be shorter simply because for the purposes of a music review, I don't have the time or space to go into a full analysis of the music video even though I want to. The blend of the special and practical effects is incredible. I love the lighting, set design, and costuming. And don't get me started on the storyline. Those would all be the things I would talk about in three page analysis review that could easily be born if I let it have room to breathe.