All 8 Stray Kids Members Renew Contracts With JYP Entertainment Early

Stray Kids have officially renewed their contracts with South Korean entertainment company JYP Entertainment ahead of their expiration in 2025.

On July 18, JYP Entertainment announced that all eight members of Stray Kids would work together with the company from then on. “The contract renewal comes as a result of the Stray Kids’ members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N’s strong trust with JYP Entertainment as they establish a unique position in the global music market,” the company said in a statement, per Korea JoongAng Daily.

Stray Kids performing at I-Days in Milan, Italy, on July 12, 2024, just days ahead of the contract renewal news.

Sergione Infuso – Corbis/Getty Images

Stray Kids’ formation was chronicled in a reality survival show titled Stray Kids in 2017, prior to the group’s official debut under JYPE in March 2018 with their first mini album, I am NOT.

The group is currently gearing up to release their ninth mini album, ATE, for which they will also embark on a 40-city world tour called dominATE beginning in Seoul on August 24, 2024. It was also just announced that the group will be part of the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack, out July 26, with the song “Slash.”

News of Stray Kids’ contract renewal arrives just days after the octet successfully headlined two festivals in Europe — I-Days in Milan and British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park in London — in front of tens of thousands of fans. The group is also set to headline Lollapalooza Chicago in the U.S. on August 2, 2024.

Stray Kids performing at BST Hyde Park in London on July 14, 2024.

Photo by Jennifer McCord/Courtesy of BST Hyde Park

Speaking about their upcoming album to journalists at BST Hyde Park this past weekend, Felix said: “It’s been nine months since we’ve done a comeback. We’ve prepared so much [and] we just wanted to come back as eight members to really express that we’ve truly ‘eaten’ this comeback. There are a lot of [new] concepts that we’ve included for this comeback, but also, just the music style, I don’t think fans would expect. It’s just very new. Everything we’ve put into this album, it’s going to be, I guess, much more satisfying, in a sense.”

There are only a few hours until ATE releases to the public, and with the contract renewal now confirmed, there’s no doubt that there’ll be much more coming in the future from Stray Kids.