Maps of Music

Karma (2025)

Where the lyrics of Karma take you, and where it was really made.

KBS judged the opening track 'Bleep' unsuitable for broadcast, yet the album went on to top the Billboard 200.

Key places

Recorded at JYP Studios, Seoul (2025)

Recording site Big Hit Studios, Seoul — Credits list JYP Studios for recording all tracks on the album. The point sits at Seoul city center, not at the building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: Private company studio, not open to visitors.

Album story

Overview

• Karma: fourth Korean-language studio album and sixth overall by South Korean boy band Stray Kids
• Released August 22, 2025 through JYP Entertainment and Republic Records
• Follow-up to the group's Korean ninth EP Ate (2024)
• First full-length Korean studio album since 5-Star (2023)
• 11 tracks, 32 minutes 2 seconds long
• Lead single: 'Ceremony'
• Sport-themed record reflecting achievements, unwavering faith, growth, evolution, hope, challenges, and introspection

Background

• Inspired by the Dominate World Tour, during which most tracks were worked on
• 2024: Ate and the first mixtape Hop, both to critical acclaim and both topping charts in South Korea and the United States, among other countries
• Before the 2024 releases, the group renewed their contracts with JYP Entertainment ahead of expiration
• Dominate World Tour ran from August 2024 to July 2025 in support of Ate
• January 6, 2025: announced two albums and a Seoul encore concert of the tour via the video 'Step Out 2025'
• July 25, 2025: Karma announced via trailer set in the year 2081
• Trailer depicts an annual sports competition called 'Karma Sports', comparable to the Olympic Games or the World Cup
• All eight members portray the competition's former champions from 2074 to 2080
• Title is a wordplay on karma and 'calmer'; Changbin explained at the press conference that the album holds the positive karma of the group's achievements with fans

Recording

• Produced by in-house team 3Racha (Bang Chan, Changbin, Han) with DallasK, Jun2, Millionboy, Ronnie Icon, and Versachoi
• Most tracks written during the 11 months of the Dominate World Tour; some prepared before the tour
• Lead single candidates were 'Creed', 'Ceremony', 'In My Head', 'Phoenix', and 'Half Time'; 'Ceremony' was chosen
• Opening track 'Bleep' is a boom bap track using the literal bleep censor sound
• 'Ceremony' is an EDM trap and baile funk track about celebration of hard-earned success
• 'Creed' is a dark rock and trap track in mumble rap style about the group's convictions
• 'Half Time' uses maximalist boom-bap rap with percussion and American football sound effects
• 'Phoenix' mixes drum and bass with upbeat EDM, inspired by Avicii and Zedd
• '0801' is named after August 1, the day the fan club name Stay was announced; it is a synthwave pop track dedicated to fans
• The album concludes with the 'Festival' and English versions of 'Ceremony'

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Stray Kids is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment in 2017 through the reality show of the same name.
• Leader Bang Chan personally handpicked each member from JYPE trainees rather than the agency selecting them.
• The name was conceptualized by the members themselves, originally referring to a lost child chasing dreams.

Members

• The band has eight members: Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N.
• Former member Woojin left the band in 2019 for personal reasons.
• Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han form the in-house production team 3Racha and largely produce the group's music.

Career

• The group officially debuted on March 25, 2018 with the EP I Am Not, followed by the I Am series.
• The Clé trilogy was released in 2019; the Japanese debut came in 2020 with SKZ2020 via Epic Records Japan.
• The first studio album Go Live (2020) became the first platinum-certified album by KMCA; Noeasy (2021) was the first million-selling album.
• After signing with Republic Records in 2022, the Billboard 200 streak of consecutive No. 1 debuts reached eight by Do It (2025).
• As of May 2026 the group had sold over 40 million albums in Korean and Japanese releases.
• Stray Kids won Kingdom: Legendary War in 2021 and was recognized by TIME's Next Generation Leaders in 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Han Sung-hyun of IZM gave two out of five stars, judging the first half solid and the second half weaker than its predecessors; picked 'Bleep' and 'Half Time' as recommendations
• The Korea Times' Inna Christine Cabel called the album a force to be reckoned with and praised the group's fearless, genre-spanning record
• Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic rated the album 4.5 stars, praising it as a triumphant salvo at the peak of the group's powers

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Circle Album Chart for the week of August 17 to 23, 2025, with 2,277,910 copies
• Topped the national album charts in South Korea, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Portugal, and the United States
• Japan: debuted atop the Oricon Albums Chart with 146,000 physical copies in its first week
• Billboard 200: number one dated September 6, 2025, with 313,000 album-equivalent units in its first week
• Spotify: 18.26 million streams, breaking the highest single-day streams by a K-pop album in 2025
• Hanteo Chart: over two million copies sold on the first day, 3.03 million within one week
• Best-selling album of 2025 in South Korea and sixth best-selling album worldwide per IFPI
• KMCA: triple million certification
• France: gold certification for 50,000 units
• RIAA: gold certification
• Album of the Year at the 2025 MAMA Awards
• Best Music 10 and Best Selling Album at the 2025 Korea Grand Music Awards
• Album Daesang at the 40th Golden Disc Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The trailer set the album in the year 2081 and framed the group as champions of a fictional sports competition called 'Karma Sports'
• KBS deemed 'Bleep' unsuitable for broadcast, citing lyrics it judged to promote anti-social or unhealthy values
• 'Ceremony' has a music video that features a cameo from professional gamer Faker
• Pre-listening session in Seoul on August 20 for fans who bought the album via JYP's Fan Shop
• Spotify ran a 'Staydium' pop-up store in Seoul, Jakarta, and Tokyo
• The encore shows Dominate: Celebrate took place on October 18 and 19 at Incheon Asiad Main Stadium

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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