"There is so much more we have to tell"— Stray Kids' Bang Chan reveals the motivation for contract renewal with JYP Entertainment

On Friday, July 19, Stray Kids held their press conference for the release of their ninth mini album, ATE. During the event, the members discussed their recent album as well as other topics, such as their contract renewal with JYP Entertainment.

On July 18, it was announced that all eight members of Stray Kids decided to continue their journey with their current agency. While all the members personally commented on the news through their Bubble accounts on the day of the announcement, Bang Chan shared his thoughts on the reason behind contract renewal during the conference.

The leader of the K-pop boy group expressed that the future they envisioned for the group smoothly panned out with the staff members at JYP Entertainment. Therefore, they came to this decision.

"As the team's leader, I was both grateful and moved that the members and I all shared mutual feelings and mutual views. I believe that we have told our story very well since our pre-debut days, and there is so much more we have to tell. We want to consider this a new beginning for us, and we will work hard to show ourselves."

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Stray Kids rolls out a press conference following the release of their 9th mini-album, ATE

During the recent press conference, Bang Chan took the representative stance to comment on their contract renewal. He conveyed that the group was excited to share the news with STAYs (fandom name) as soon as possible. Here's what the idol said:

"Because of the unchanging support from our STAYs and our label staff, the members and I were able to envision a future together and see ourselves grow in those visions, and so we reached this decision."

Following the news, fans expressed their excitement online as the members and their agency mutually decided to continue their association for Stray Kids' future.

On the other hand, Lee Know also commented on the other upcoming schedules and projects for the K-pop boy group. Apart from the mini-album and the soundtrack release for the upcoming Deadpool and Wolverine movie, he confirmed that the group has an exciting list of events in the pipeline. Lee Know added:

"We have a world tour planned, so we will be visiting our STAYs all over the globe. For this comeback, we went with a very different vibe from our past songs, and we intend to continue experimenting with various genres while transforming them in Stray Kids' unique color."

On July 19, the eight-piece K-pop group dropped their ninth mini-album, ATE. The album holds a total of seven songs with Chk Chk Boom as the title track. During the July 8 episode of Apple Music's All About Stray Kids Radio, group member Felix stated that ATE is an "album concept they haven't done before."

Bang Chan added that the title track is very fresh and though it might hold similarities to their previously released songs, it is expected to showcase a "different side" of Stray Kids.