“Christmas EveL” by Stray Kids

It’s safe to assume that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un probably isn’t a fan of anything even remotely Christmas, since his regime is known to not favor Christianity at all. Actually the regime in question strongly discourages organized religion in general.

But the South of the peninsula is a lot more Westernized, to the point where K-pop artists even drop Christmas songs, with this being the first of such we have covered.

And here’s what may be a fun fact to those who don’t know – it does indeed snow in South Korea, quite heavily sometimes even. So by the looks of things, you don’t have to be from North America or Europe to experience some good ol’ fashioned Christmastime snow. 

Lyrics of “Christmas EveL”

And that’s what the vocalist is documenting in the first verse, a snowing so deep that he and his companions have to actually wade through the heavenly substance.

Now anyone who has ever been through such a situation knows that walking through thick snow is not easy at all. And that’s actually what the lyrics of the first verse focus on, how difficult and unpleasant a task doing so truly is. And such whining actually sets the proper tone for the piece that lies ahead.

You will notice that the title of this song is “Christmas EveL”. And we can assume that the latter word is actually a portmanteau of eve and evil. And whereas this may be an X-mas song, shoutouts to Jack Frost, Felix Navidad and all, what Lee Know and the boys are actually doing is lambasting the holiday. 

But no, they are not cursing the religious foundations upon which it is based. Rather to the Stray Kids, Christmas is “nothing special”. And accordingly they don’t celebrate the occasion, being devoid of the ‘need for presents’ and all. 

Furthermore to them, the X in “X-mas” really represents “crossing out” the holiday. And besides for the snow, the homeys are also pissed off about holiday traffic. In fact it is these “selfish cars” that end up blackening the snow, thus making the whole experience less beautiful.

And there is more of such ranting contained therein. 

Takeaway

Perhaps the best way to describe these lyrics is as if Ebenezer Scrooge himself had written a K-pop song. But those of us familiar with A Christmas Carol know how his story ultimately plays out. 

And that is also how this song, all things considered, feels, that it is an indirect celebration of Christmas. It is a song that damns the holiday alright but simultaneously acknowledges that at the end of the day, the season is such that it cannot be ignored. 

And that is actually how the song concludes, with the vocalist embracing the spirit of Christmas, though in an “EveL” kind of way.

Release of “Christmas EveL”

“Christmas EveL”, which was officially made public on 29 November 2021, is the title track from Stray Kids’ first single album. 

Stray Kids

Stray Kids are relatively fresh K-poppers on the scene, with a discography dating back to 2017. As of the writing of this post, the lot of them range in age from 20 to 24. The singers that make up Stray Kids are as follows:

• Bang Chan
• Changbin
• Felix
• Han
• Hyunjin
• I.N
• Lee Know
• Seungmin

I.N is the youngest and Bang Chan the oldest.

As successful K-pop acts tend to go, the Stray Kids are well known in Korea and seemingly nearby Japan. But interestingly they have also experienced considerable success, even from their first EP Mixtape (2018), on Billboard’s World Albums chart as well as Nielsen’s World Digital Song Sales listing.

In South Korean lingo, a single album is like the same as an EP but with an even shorter playlist, as in this case with only three or four songs. And this project was put out by JYP Entertainment, whose most notable act in the present would arguably be the girl group Twice.

As we have noted in the past, the South Korean music industry relies heavily on reality competitions and things of the such. For instance, there was recently a televised contest between a number of up-and-coming K-pop boy bands dubbed Kingdom: Legendary War.  And out of the six groups that participated, Stray Kids actually emerged victorious.

During an episode of said show that aired on 20 May 2021, Stray Kids paid homage to the first installment in the Deadpool movie franchise. And the star of that series, Hollywood A+ lister Ryan Reynolds, reacted by showing mad love to the group.