“Ethereal:” Stray Kids’ leader Bang Chan lavishes praise on BTS in wholesome live, sends ARMYs into a frenzy

On March 27, 2023, Stray Kids’ leader, Bang Chan, hosted episode 203 of Chan’s Room, talking about various topics of his interest and thanking BTS for praising the gen 4 K-pop group.

For context, BTS’ Jimin recently guested on the YouTube show PIXID as an imposter where he had to blend himself among several K-pop fans by pretending to be one himself. In one of his virtual interactions, a young provincial fan (fan from the South Korean suburbs) claimed to be a STAY (Stray Kids’ fandom name).

The Province Void fan stated that she was a fan of Stray Kids and that her favorite member was Felix. BTS’ Jimin playfully teased the STAY, briefly danced to Maniac, and gave a shout-out to Felix.

Following this, Stray Kids’ Bang Chan took to Chan’s Room to thank BTS for their shoutout to Felix and the gen 4 group. He even called BTS “ethereal” for kindness and generosity towards the Maniac singers, who are juniors to them in the K-entertainment industry.

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Stray Kids’ Bang Chan confesses that he feels grateful to be recognized by BTS

As mentioned earlier, BTS’ Jimin recently interacted with a Province Void fan on PIXID. The fan revealed they have been fans of Stray Kids for quite some time now and are Felix-biased. Immediately after this, BTS’ Jimin revealed himself to the fan, who was shocked to see the Like Crazy singer in person.

Surprised by Jimin’s sudden appearance, the STAY confessed that BTS was initially her favorite group and even attended their concert. Despite the honest admission, Jimin took it sportingly and gave Felix (Korean name: Lee Yong-bok) and Stray Kids a shoutout. He even danced a bit to their hit song Maniac from their 2022 album Oddinary and jokingly claimed that he was here to take the Province Void fan back into BTS fandom:

“Yongbok-nim! I’m not taking her from you… She left home so I’m just taking her back for a bit. Please be understanding.”

Following this, Stray Kids' leader, Bang Chan, said on his show that he felt grateful to be recognized by BTS and hopes to get a personal shoutout from the group in the near future as well. Seeing the two group's acknowledgment of each other, STAYARMYs (fans of BTS and Stray Kids) took to social media to react to this heartwarming moment.

This isn’t the first time Stray Kids’ leader Bang Chan has lavished praise on BTS. On numerous occasions, the Case 143 singer has stated that he respects BTS and sees them as “living legends.” Moreover, he has even recommended BTS’ music on Chan’s Room and talked about their impact on the Korean music industry.

Additionally, it is believed that Bang Chan is a new inductee in K-pop’s iconic 97-liner group, which consists of BTS’ Jungkook, GOT7’s Yugyeom and BamBam, ASTRO’s Cha Eun-woo, SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu and NCT’s Jaehyun. Last year, Jungkook, Jaehyun, Cha Eun-woo, and Bang Chan were seen hanging out at a beef restaurant and even left autographs there.

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Stray Kids celebrate their fifth anniversary with a surprise dance practice video

Stray Kids recently celebrated their fifth debut anniversary on March 25, 2023. To surprise their fans, the K-pop boy band released a surprise dance practice video for their hit song Hellevator from the album SKZ2020.

Hellevator was the group’s popular pre-debut track that was released in 2017, a year before their official debut in 2018. It is a trip down memory lane for the talented eight-member group, which consists of members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Felix, Changbin, I.N., Seungmin, Han, and Hyunjin.

Stray Kids debuted on March 25, 2018, with their EP I’m Not after previously having released their pre-debut EP Mixtape in January of the same year.

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The members are currently on their second world tour titled MANIAC and recently performed in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of their ongoing tour.