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Hop
Digital cover
Mixtape by Stray Kids
Released	December 13, 2024
Studio	JYPE (Seoul) Channie's "Room" (Seoul) Jisang's Studio (Seoul)
Length	34:05
Language	Korean English
Label	JYP Republic
Producer	3Racha Backbear Chae Gang-hae Chan's Helixx Hong Ji-sang Joha Restart Space Primates Versachoi
Stray Kids chronology
Giant (2024) Hop (2024)
Singles from Hop
"Walkin on Water" Released: December 13, 2024

Hop (Korean: 合; RR: Hap; lit. 'unity') is the first mixtape by South Korean boy band Stray Kids, released by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records on December 13, 2024. Marketed as the group's "special album" and first "SKZhop Hiptape" record, the mixtape features songs of "Stray Kids' only new genre", and a guest appearance from Canadian–Korean rapper Tablo.

3Racha, an in-house production team of the group, primarily worked on Hop with Restart, Chae Gang-hae, Versachoi, Space Primates, Take a Chance's Chan's and Backbear, Joha, Vendors's Helixx, and Hong Ji-sang. The mixtape included "Walkin on Water" as its lead single and the members' solo songs previously debuted on their Dominate World Tour, which all of them contributed to the songwriting. Commercially, Hop topped the album charts in South Korea, Hungary, Poland, and the United States.

Background

Stray Kids released a music video for "Megaverse" from their eighth extended play Rock-Star on November 22, 2023, which Canadian rapper Tablo surprisingly appears at the end of the video; fans speculated online that they were preparing for a collaboration. On January 1 the next year, the group uploaded the video "Step Out 2024" to their social media, outlining their accomplishments in previous year and plans for 2024, including "one album and one special album". The "one album" became their ninth extended play, Ate, released on July 19. In support of the EP, Stray Kids embarked on their Dominate World Tour, starting in August, where they premiered the performances of each member's unreleased solo songs: Han's "Hold My Hand", Lee Know's "Youth", Seungmin's "As We Are", Hyunjin's "So Good", Bang Chan's "Railway", I.N's "Hallucination", Felix's "Unfair", and Changbin's "Ultra".

On November 15, the group announced the "special album" Hop via the 24-second "logo splash" teaser video, which depicts red and blue luminous circular objects collide and merge, making strong waves above the water, being seen as a typography combined "合" and "HOP". JYP Entertainment described Hop as the first work of album marketed as "SKZhop Hiptape"—a combination of the group's initials "SKZ" and "hip-hop"—which would "contains 'Stray Kids' only-new-genre' songs that has not been officially defined." The title is a word play between "Hop" from hip-hop music and Hanja "合" (lit. 'unity'), referring to "all Stray Kids members gathered together to complete the songs," which both pronounced hap (합) in Korean.

Release and promotion

Hop was released on December 13, 2024. Pre-orders of the mixtape began on November 15, which came in three versions: Hiptape (limited edition), SKZhop, and Accordion (standard editions), as well as pre-save. Stray Kids posted the mixtape's pre-released promotional itinerary the next day, featuring traditional Korean elements such as hanok door and taegeuk's red and blue. On November 19, the group unveiled digital cover artwork and track list for Hop, which confirmed "Walkin on Water" as the mixtape's lead single, and included a collaboration with Tablo, "U", and each member's solo songs previously performed at the Dominate World Tour. Stray Kids teased snippets of each member's solo tracks via the series "Unveil: Track", as well as "U" via Instagram Reels exclusively, and mashup video for "Walkin on Water", "Bounce Back", and "U".

The three sets of teaser images were uploaded, expressing a mixing and matching of traditional Korean and modern hip-hop cultures. The first, shot at a hanok, shows individual members in hip-hop-styled clothes with traditional Korean props (chromium mask, janggu, hand fan, and gat, etc.) and modern props symbolizing hip-hop (boombox and speaker, etc.), while the group shows reinterpretation of traditional itinerant troupe namsadangpae. The second depicts the members wearing a suit reminiscent of 1990s and 2000s hip-hop and posing against a red, blue, or black background and Korean-styled calligraphy on the white floor. For the third, the group wears white costumes with silvery accessories, bows and arrows, in contrast with the background of hanok.

A day before the release, Stray Kids revealed behind-the-scenes of the mixtape's production via video Intro "Hop", and posted diary-styled post-released promotional itinerary. On the release date, Stray Kids held live event called "SKZhop Hipclub" via YouTube, aimed at introducing Hop and connecting with their fanbase. An accompanying music video for the lead single "Walkin on Water" premiered on December 13, in conjuction with Hop, while music videos for each member's solo songs were uploaded as part of SKZ-Player series throughout December. A pop-up store, selling the mixtape and limited merchandise, opened at Hwigyumjae in Bukchon Hanok Village from December 14 to 22. Despite no promotion on music shows, selected members appeared on web shows Gym Jong Kook, Public TV Dumbass, BuzzFeed, Met Through Dance, and Lean on Me etc. Roblox partnered with Stray Kids for special items on the game.

Commercial performance

Hanteo reported that Hop has sold 1.42 million copies on its first day of the release, and 1.44 million in the third week of December 2024 (December 9 to 15, 2024). The mixtape debuted at number one on the Circle Album Chart for the week of December 8–14, 2024, selling 1,989,508 copies, which 1,853,071 were CD and 136,437 were Nemo Platform, and topped for two consecutive weeks.

In the United States, Hop entered the Billboard 200 at number one dated December 28, 2024, becoming the first musical group to make their first six entries to top the chart since the chart establishment in March 1956, and the most number-ones as a group since 2000, tying with BTS, Linkin Park, and Dave Matthews Band. The mixtape earned with 187,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, consisting of 176,000 pure sales, 10,000 streaming equivalent units (14.83 million on-demand streams), and 1,000 track equivalent units. It is also the 27th mostly non-English-language to reach the top and fourth in 2024, following Twice's With You-th, Stray Kids' Ate, and Ateez's Golden Hour: Part.2.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Musicians

• Stray Kids – lead vocals (1–4)
  • Bang Chan (3Racha) – lead vocals (5), background vocals (1–5), instruments (1–2), computer programming (1–2, 5)
  • Lee Know – lead vocals (8)
  • Changbin (3Racha) – lead vocals (10), background vocals (1, 4, 7, 10)
  • Hyunjin – lead vocals (9), background vocals (9)
  • Han (3Racha) – lead vocals (11), background vocals (1–2, 4, 11)
  • Felix – lead vocals (6), background vocals (1, 4)
  • Seungmin – lead vocals (12), background vocals (12)
  • I.N – lead vocals (7), background vocals (7)
• Restart – instruments (1, 7, 10), computer programming (1)
• Chae Gang-hae – instruments (1, 7, 10), computer programming (1)
• Versachoi – instruments (2, 5–6), computer programming (2, 5–6)
• Space Primates – instruments (3)
• Chan's (Take a Chance) – drums (8), bass (8), keyboard (8), synthesizer (8), computer programming (8), vocal directing (8)
• Backbear (Take a Chance) – drums (8), bass (8), keyboard (8), synthesizer (8), computer programming (8)
• One.Ki – chorus (8)
• Joha – instruments (9)
• Zenur (Vendors) – guitar (11)
• Lim Young-woo – string (11)
• Helixx (Vendors) – bass (11), drums (11)
• Hong Ji-sang – computer programming (12), acoustic guitar (12), electric guitar (12), bass (12), keyboard (12)

Technical

• Lee Kyeong-won – digital editing (1–4, 8–9)
• Bang Chan (3Racha) – digital editing (1–2, 4–5), recording (1–2, 4–5)
• Riskypizza – digital editing (2)
• Space Primates – digital editing (3)
• Versachoi – digital editing (5–6), recording (6)
• Restart – digital editing (7, 10), recording (7, 10)
• Chae Gang-hae – digital editing (7, 10)
• Lee Ji-ho – digital editing (11)
• Hong Ji-sang – digital editing (12), recording (12)
• Lee Chang-hoon – recording (1, 4)
• Goo Hye-jin – recording (1, 3–4)
• Kwak Bo-eun – recording (2)
• Seo Eun-il – recording (8)
• Hyunjin – recording (9)
• Helixx (Vendors) – recording (11)
• Eom Se-hee – recording (11)
• Manny Marroquin – mixing (1), mixing in Dolby Atmos (1)
• Yoon Won-kwon – mixing (2–3, 5–7, 10)
• 2Spade – mixing (4), remixing (4), mastering (4)
• MasterKey – mixing (8)
• Stay Tuned – mixing (9)
• Revin – mixing (11)
• Lee Tae-sub – mixing (12)
• Chris Galland – mix engineering (1)
  • Ramiro Fernandez-Seoane – assistant
• Dale Becker – mastering (1)
  • Noah McCorkle – assistant
  • Katie Harvey – assistant
  • Adam Burt – assistant
• Kwon Nam-woo – mastering (2–3, 5–12)
• Shin Bong-won – mixing in Dolby Atmos (2–12)
  • Park Nam-joon – assistant

Locations

• JYPE Studios – recording (1–4, 8, 11), mixing (12)
• Channie's "Room" – recording (1–2, 4–5)
• Jisang's Studio – recording (12)
• Larrabee Studios – mixing (1), mixing in Dolby Atmos (1)
• MadMiix – mixing (2–3, 5–7, 10)
• 821 Sound – mixing (8), mastering (2–3, 5–12)
• Stay Tuned Studio – mixing (9)
• Redzone Studio – mixing (11)
• Becker Mastering – mastering (1)
• GLAB Studios – mixing in Dolby Atmos (2–12)

Charts

Release history

See also

• List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2024
• List of Circle Album Chart number ones of 2024
• List of number-one albums of 2024 (Poland)

References

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13. Sai, Aishwarya (December 5, 2024). ""About to be the collab of the year": Fans react as Stray Kids releases a snippet of their collaborative track with Epik High Tablo's U". Sportskeeda. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
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64. Citations concerning Hop physical release formats:
    • "Stray Kids(스트레이 키즈) "合 (HOP)" Released Online". Stray Kids Official Website (in Korean). December 13, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
    • "Stray Kids(스트레이 키즈) "合 (HOP)" ALBUM PREVIEW HIPTAPE VER. (LIMITED)". Stray Kids Official Website (in Korean). November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
    • "Stray Kids(스트레이 키즈) "合 (HOP)" ALBUM PREVIEW SKZHOP VER". Stray Kids Official Website (in Korean). November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
    • "Stray Kids(스트레이 키즈) "合 (HOP)" ALBUM PREVIEW ACCORDION VER". Stray Kids Official Website (in Korean). November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
65. "Stray Kids(스트레이 키즈) "合 (HOP)" ALBUM PREVIEW PLATFORM ALBUM_NEMO VER". Stray Kids Official Website (in Korean). November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
66. Citations concerning Hop exclusive digital release formats:
    • "HOP - EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL VER. (BANG CHAN & HYUNJIN)". Stray Kids Official Store. December 17, 2024. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
    • "HOP - EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL VER. (LEE KNOW & SEUNGMIN)". Stray Kids Official Store. December 17, 2024. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
    • "HOP - EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL VER. (CHANGBIN & FELIX)". Stray Kids Official Store. December 17, 2024. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
    • "HOP - EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL VER. (HAN & I.N)". Stray Kids Official Store. December 17, 2024. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.

• 2020s Korean-language albums
• 2024 mixtape albums
• JYP Entertainment albums
• Korean-language albums
• Republic Records mixtape albums
• Stray Kids albums