Early Access: SKZ - I Hate to Admit (Bang Chan)

saaame

Ceci n Ana

This is an amazing comment! 😍 Now I really don’t have anything to say except, the first time my sister and I heard it, we both finished the song with teary eyes and then we both clenched our fists and one of us, don’t remember, yelled “WHO HURT HIM?!” We were ready to throw hands lol

Ceci n Ana

I had this on repeat for an entire day the first time I heard it. I was so excited for the replay release so I could put this and ‘Maknae on top’ in every playlist.

Tracey Okeby Lucan

I love that live. They whine until he plays it and then just sit there mesmerised while it plays. Cuties.

Tracey Okeby Lucan

This song just destroys me. You’re right, to me it shows what Chan can do alone, both as a songwriter and a vocalist, with such heartbreaking simplicity. Personally, my favorite part about the song is how he delivers the lyrics, almost as if he’s bored, and he’s truly given up and doesn’t care, but the mask slowly starts to slip. Then, of course, comes the climactic octave switch, and the bridge, and it’s like he couldn’t pretend anymore, but then it’s as if he composes himself again and is back to sounding bored and defeated. A temporary out burst of genuine devastation among the numbness. Just a gorgeously crafted and delivered song. Also, it’s fitting that I got a shout out on one of my favorite “look out the window dramatically while it’s raining” songs ☺️. I’ll just lean against my deck doors and watch the rain and my toddlers will be like “mommy” and I’ll be like “hold up a minute sweetie, I’m emoting in Korean and an octave change is about to happen”

Tealeafer

Deep right!! Such a beautiful song. And yes that piano was just immaculate. Now your gonna get whiplash since I GOT IT is next. hehe

Nova

I love this song. Chan’s voice is so beautiful and smooth. He really showed a nice range in this song. This man is ridiculously talented I absolutely adore everything about him ❤️

Isabel Cortes

I'm going to say this gently: other people's harmless k-pop opinions are not yours to police. You do not have insider information that makes your assessment of a particular thing more accurate or important than anyone else's, such that others should automatically defer to you. You may feel that you're right, and that's fine! But nobody is obliged to agree with you. We are all equally fans with theories, and where those theories are expressed in private, that only becomes a problem if someone's belief in either the superiority of their preferred theory or the wrongness of an opposing view causes them to behave with entitlement, bad faith and/or malice towards other people. You're allowed to feel discomforted by discussions of alternate theories to the one you feel is true, but that discomfort doesn't mean everyone else has to stop talking or delete their posts at your say-so. Part of being in fandom - just like being online, or existing in the world as an adult, for that matter - is understanding that feeling discomfort doesn't automatically mean that whatever caused it is bad and wrong, is attacking you, or should be made to go away. You're not obliged to react. You can simply take a breath and scroll on.

sysrae

This is one of my favorite solo songs, to the point I actually learned all the lyrics so I could sing it if I wanted to. No one really knows what or who this song is about but it came out early 2020. Many stays at that time thought that it was about Woojin’s departure from Stray Kids because it was so sudden when he left in late 2020. So sudden in fact that they had to delay the release of levanter to re-record Woojin’s parts. If I remember correctly this was the first song since his departure that was released outside of the album. With Woojin having been the oldest and someone that Chan would regularly go to it definitely hit him hard. Since the survival show it was always a promise that all of them would stick together their motto was “nine or none” which you hear in mixtape 4 the original version of all 9 of them. Also Chan had done a live stream where he alluded to woojin saying a friend broke a promise where they’d stick together for selfish reasons. And then the live was cut probably because he wasn’t allowed to talk about Woojin’s departure (none of the members were). Obviously it’s not the first or last time JYPE won’t allow a group or a member of a group to talk about certain things pertaining to scandals it wasn’t even the last time it happened with SKZ specifically. When Hyunjin was on hiatus due to a bullying scandal that ended up being revealed as false Stray Kids collaborated with Alesso and Corsak for a song called Going Dumb and Stays couldn’t figure out the line distribution. Chan had gone live and was telling stay which members sang what part but when it got to Hyunjin’s part he didn’t even mention him was talking over his part and then went back to giving line distribution as if he didn’t skip an entire part. Chan even spoke out about an issue with younger idols (didn’t even give names) in the industry not being respectful to their seniors and due to that and a bunch of fan wars breaking out and fandoms getting upset thinking it was about their groups, Chan is no longer allowed to do his weekly live streams he did, which he had done for over 4 years almost 5. Also Chan never really explains his lyrics and always makes jokes: Drive is about driving (it’s not), red lights is about obsession like with work or their passions (again seems more like an obsession with a person), connected is about wifi or magnets (again definitely not the case). And like you guys mentioned how Chan pushes the members from behind rather than dragging them from the front is actually TOO accurate. Like he does this in real life when they’re at award shows, the airport, etc. he’s often at the back of the group so that he can keep an eye on them all. If he’s not, one of them tends to get lost and it’s usually Felix (it’s happened the last 2 years I believe at Gaeyo daejeon). Members getting lost or wandering off has gotten so common that they tend to go to the bathroom at award ceremonies in groups/ pairs so none of them get lost but they also often go as a whole group. Other idols have actually commented on it and have said that they met like 5 members of stray kids while they all were in the bathroom.

김수미

Please delete ur comments about W**jin* it is not about him

Ron Jackson Jr

not really Chan didnt want to blame him so delete ur comment (no hate)

Ron Jackson Jr

Thank you. I hadn't heard that.

J.A. Moore

This is one of those songs where I feel honored that Bang Chan shared it with me/us STAY. It's obviously very personal, he tends to act a bit embarrassed by it when the others bring it up, but it really is such a beautifully emoted track. I love it when his voice shines.

Tristana Keauna

Yaaaay! Man do I love this song. The emotion behind it is damn near palpable and the length of it I feel just adds even more to the song in that ‘I just gotta get this out’ way. Channie is a gorgeous vocalist I’m so happy when he lets himself shine a bit. It’s why I really recommend you guys watch their first take videos when you get to those songs - it’s such a great demonstration of SKZ vocal talent. I maintain the one good thing JYP told him was to be a little more selfish but of course those 7 years really knocked his confidence. (I’m just saying he probably would rap a lot more if that mofo didn’t pull him from Matryoshka 🙄) I second the comments that you should see the video of 3racha making him to play it on Channie’s Room, it’s simultaneously hilarious and breathtaking. I really want to see what else he has on that laptop because he sits on songs for aaaages.

Pandasnopunk

Personally, given both the lyrics and when the song was released, my belief is that it's about Woojin's departure. The line that really makes me think this is where he talks about how "we promised," because there's a live he did once, where he was pretty clearly alluding to Woojin, where he talked about someone he knew who made a promise to be with his friends, but betrayed it for selfish reasons, and that Stay will know who he means. Apparently, JYP/his managers cut the live right after he said this, in which case, it doesn't seem far-fetched to imagine that, even if the song *is* about Woojin's departure, he's not really able to say so. But even if he was *allowed* to talk about it, I'm inclined to think he wouldn't, because Chan is - quite famously, and in stark contrast to Han and Changbin - almost constitutionally allergic to explaining his own lyrics, especially when they're personal. He's so predictable in this way that, when Connected was released, the fandom joked that Chan was going to say it was about magnets, and then he went on live and did, in fact, say it was about magnets - slightly tongue in cheek, of course, because it's very clearly *not* about magnets, but still as a way to dodge discussing what it actually meant to him. Chan's lyrics, I think, are like his way of putting his feelings outside himself: once they're there, he doesn't want to discuss them, because in a very real sense, he wrote them so that he doesn't *have* to discuss them, and if you try and Perceive him through his lyrics, he will simply deflect the query with a joke and then change the subject. In any case, as HS observed, it's very clearly a deeply personal song, and while I think it's plausible the lyrics might've originally been inspired by losing a friend in his trainee days (depending on when he first drafted it) I don't think he'd have released it in 2020 if it wasn't, in some sense, newly relevant to him. If he wasn't feeling betrayed in the same way at the time of recording, I think, he wouldn't have recorded it at all - it'd be like going back and rerecording/rereleasing one of the very early soundcloud era 3RACHA tracks he wrote when he was struggling with suicidal ideation without changing the lyrics. From both an emotional and a creative standpoint, it doesn't seem like something he'd do unless he was in that headspace again (which I sincerely hope he never is), because the song is a type of catharsis, and if the pain isn't fresh, you don't need to act on it. So! That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

sysrae

Credits: Lyrics, Comp, Arrange: Bang Chan Piano: Bang Chan

your name here

For the newer Stays who may have come across a rumor about this song - it is not about him or that situation. Chan himself said as much on a VLive shortly after this song dropped. While he hasn’t said a specific person, he did mention it was written when he was a trainee and encapsulated a lot of the heartbreak surrounding the close friendships and promises he made with fellow trainees only to watch them either get cut, or worse, just up and quit without any real goodbyes. In several interviews, he has spoken about how dark his trainee days were when he would find himself all alone with either his friends debuting before him or being all alone at the company when a mass cut happened. Regardless of Chan’s reasons, hearing such a vulnerable piece of music like this feels so universal to moments that so many of us (myself included) have felt. Genius leader Bang Chan as always.

your name here

Chan has actually said that he wrote this during his trainee days, so prior to 2019.

Zesti

I was gonna be mad you once again put off levanter for another stray kids song, but this one is too beautiful. I'm ok with it. It is insane to me how much I can understand kf this song, given I speak no Korean. 3racha, bangchan in this case, are so talented we don't even need to know the language to understand their meaning.

Sam w

What I like about this song is this note, present all along. at the end it becomes almost annoying but when it stops we miss it. Like this painful memory that we cannot forget, we will want but it does not let go, it is there, throbbing... I loooove this song!

Lilrusk

one of my all time favorite Channie song. like if I'm in the mood for feeling blue this is one of the top choice. His voice delivered the emotion perfectly ❤

Naj.naaj

This is one of my all time favourite songs. It feels like an absolute demonstration of the power of a performer and shows what an incredible artist Chan is. This song is made on his vocal performance and the way he captures you with the emotion. This song gets you even if you can't understand the lyrics. I don't think Chan has ever revealed who/what the song is about. I know there is speculation but he's never talked about it that I've seen. I love Chan so much, I think- although SKZ are pretty popular- he's kind of an underrated artist in a way. He's known as a great producer but he has this quality as a performer that I wish was appreciated more. 3racha really get to show their talent as individuals on this album and it's so cool seeing the gems that come together to make SKZ's core producers. It makes me excited to see how the other SKZ members grow in their individual song writing too. I wish more kpop groups got the freedom to learn and produce like SKZ do, especially with SKZ players/records- it's a great chance to see them grow as artists.

Ixaala

saaame!. like I'm all geared up, lol.

Naj.naaj

J.A. Moore

this song ;_; it's simple, but so touching. the emotion in the piano playing and the vocals... wow. just beautiful. i really really agree with you on everything. i just love this song so much. and i desperately need more solo peices from chan, let yourself shine!

Marika

For awhile, I think Stay thought this song was aimed at the member who had left, but Bang Chan himself said it's not. I don't know who exactly it's about, but the song was written during his trainee days. He had talked about how he kept losing friends/other trainees. Either they quit or they would debut before him. It could be about another trainee, it could be about someone else. Either way, it is a beautiful song that always makes me tear up when I hear it. The raw emotion in his voice is what makes this song.

Selande

This is one of my favourite sad songs from SKZ (beside Streetlight, Secret Secret and Sorry I love you (so excited for when you guys get to the NoEasy album!!!)) . I love the simplicity in the music and lyrics (simple as in, repetitive, but the actual lyrics are so deep), I feel it makes the emotion behind it shine through. I'm not sure what the song is based on, I know there was some speculations, but I don't really want to assume anything. I do remember from some of his lives though that he seemed a bit "embarassed" about this song. I think Chan is so used being the backbone and supporting SKZ, that he gets shy when he's on his own in the spotlight. But he deserves his spotlight. He's so talented. I often get sad that he doesn't give himself a lot of lines in SKZ songs because he's such an amazing rapper and singer, so I do hope in the future we get to see more him.

SaarCookie

Stays who have been around for awhile now know what this song means, it’s one of my favourites - there’s a really fun clip of Han and changbin reacting to this song, I’ll find it - https://youtu.be/nyFFS4oLd1Q?si=1zSoUuqXK-iMSTde Actually the live “3 men in colourful pants” is the funniest video and so worth watching

renok

Their hip hop based songs got me into them but i have LOVED everything they have done. They do not miss.

Kwestleo

AHHH, I went back and i hear the clicks of the mic unmuting. Woooow. I NEVER caught that before. Thank y'all for showing me something new.

Kwestleo

Absolutely. He makes you feel what he means

Kwestleo

I absolutely love EDM, techno, house music and that's mainly what got me into SKZ, but THIS song... I just LOVE the piano in this and his EMOTIONS!!! I LOVE IT!

s.x.o.

I Love D'some's jacket. Where did you get it? Its definitely gonna be more serious than connected. It was very short. Not Han forgetting about "reacting". No we get it. That was a very valid reaction. Yes! I LOVE when people appreciate Channie. Some people tend to write him off. I didn't hear the Mic being unmuted. I'm gonna go back and listen out for it. Yes he pushes his kids forward always. He is the best leader (SKZ is the only group i really get into). This song definitely grabs your attention. And yes to feeling your heartbeat. Idk about anyone else but i also felt myself started to cry. I personally don't know the story behind the song but it is beautifully painful. When i show anyone SKZ i tend to show them the skz replay songs first. (Then i show them red lights and taste and charmer 😹). But yes. SKZ discography is undefeated.

Kwestleo

You don’t have to understand what he is saying…. You can feel the pain in his voice. Chan sings with so much emotion

Nance

This song makes me cry everytime Channie is so talented! Love your reactions. Can you react to hyunjin play with fire or the studio choom hyunjin solo please!

Autumn

Same. I still wanna know

Kwestleo

You all dropping a reaction when i can immediately watch it ?! Bet. Here we go

Kwestleo

Next changbin seungmin “Pièce” changbin flow and seungmin angelic voice wow goosebumps this is was the most appreciated unit song and also “hello stranger” is so beautiful

Emne

When I first heard this song i cried and was like… “Who hurt our Bang Chan, our Leader???” Thanks for reacting… im here for all SKZ updates anf everytime I get an alert im sooo happy!

Kumu Leato S. Savini