K-pop group Stray Kids to headline major festivals
Stray Kids has etched its name in K-pop history, with the boy band appearing as a headliner for some of the most popular music festivals worldwide.
The JYP Entertainment-manged group will headline Lollapalooza Chicago this summer, which will take place at Grant Park in downtown Chicago from Aug. 1 to 4. Started in 1991, Lollapalooza is one of the longest-running music festivals in the United States that draws some 400,000 fans annually.
It has also expanded beyond its country of origin, offering different editions in Brazil, Berlin and Paris, among others.
In July 2023, Stray Kids headlined its Paris edition, becoming the first K-pop artist to achieve the feat. The octet took the stage in front of some 60,000 audience members, mesmerizing people with its smash-hits such as “Thunderous” (2021) and “God’s Menu” (2020).
Other headliners for the upcoming Chicago event include American rapper Tyler, the Creator and singer-songwriter SZA. K-pop girl group IVE and VCHA — an American girl group created by JYP and New Yorkbased Republic Records — are also scheduled to perform.
Before heading to the U.S., Stray Kids will headline two other major music festivals in July — I-Days and British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park. The former is an iconic Italian music festival that takes place in Milan, which reportedly attracted more than 320,000 spectators in 2023. This year, it will be held from May 29 to July 12 and will have a K-pop act as a headliner for the first time. Other headlining acts are American heavy metal band Metallica and rapper-singer Doja Cat.
BST Hyde Park is one of the largest festivals in London, which brings in some 65,000 people each year. In 2023, girl group BLACKPINK became the first K-pop group to be invited as a headliner. This year, SZA and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will headline the event that runs from June 29 to July 14.
“It is remarkable for a K-pop artist to be featured as a headlining performer for multiple overseas music festivals in a year,” JYP Entertainment said in a statement Thursday. “This provides a measure of Stray Kids’ immense global popularity and clout.”
Stray Kids made its official debut in 2018 with the EP “I Am Not” and was catapulted to fame with a series of hits such as “Case 143” (2022). Last year, it sold more than 4.6 million copies of its third full-length album, “5-STAR” during the first week of its release, setting the highest record among all K-pop stars. To date, it has placed four of its albums — including its sixth mini-album, “ODDINARY,” unleashed in 2022 — on the Billboard 200 albums chart.