Stray Kids’ fourth full-length album, “Karma,” is a victory lap for the boy band’s record-setting stadium tour spanning 34 stops, 54 shows and 11 months. Fittingly, its lead track “Ceremony” celebrates the numerous milestones achieved on the octet’s global journey — or “good karma,” as the members put it.

“Karma” marks the boy band’s first new release in Korea since its digital single “Mixtape: dominATE” dropped in March, and comes two years after its third full-length album, “5-STAR” (2023). Tracks include “Ceremony” and B-sides “Bleep,” "Creed,” “Mess,” “In My Head,” “Half Time,” “Phoenix,” “Ghost,” “0801” and two remixes of the lead track. The album’s visual concept is heavily centered on sports, with each member appearing as an athlete such as race car driver, tennis player or U.S. football player in the “Ceremony” music video. “Ceremony” blends trap EDM sound with funk rhythms, celebrating triumph after perseverance.

“We wanted to make an album that reflects the achievements we’ve made so far,” said member Changbin during a news conference for “Karma” in western Seoul on Friday, the day of the album's 1 p.m. release.

The album’s title, therefore, represents “the fruition of our hard work, which is good karma, so to speak,” Changbin added.

The group’s recent “dominATE” world tour served as a major inspiration. Stray Kids wrapped up the tour, its largest yet, in July, following the release of its ninth EP, “ATE,” in July of last year. After a kickoff with four shows in Seoul in August last year, the band traveled approximately 285,000 kilometers (177,090 miles) across Asia, Oceania, Latin America, North America and Europe, performing 54 shows at 34 venues, including 27 stadiums. The group scooped up several accolades along the journey, becoming the first K-pop act to headline 13 stadiums and drawing 120,000 fans at Stade de France, the biggest audience a K-pop act has ever brought to the venue.

“This album is our celebration that we wish to share with Stay after completing our world tour,” said Hyunjin.

Looking back on his memories of stadiums filled with fans, he added, “If there’s one thing I’ll remember at my very last moment, it will probably be how Stay looked at us onstage.”

“We wanted to show new musical sides of Stray Kids with this album,” said leader Bang Chan, who is part of 3RACHA, the group’s producing subunit, alongside Changbin and Han. “I believe that the choices I make now shape my destiny, and the reason we’ve come this far is our hard work and the fact that we all shared one dream.”

Stray Kids — Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. — debuted in 2018. The eight-member boy band topped the Billboard 200 albums chart with six consecutive releases, becoming the first artist ever to do so in the chart’s 69-year history and tying BTS for the most No. 1 albums on the chart by a K-pop act.

The members sum themselves up in one word: “crazy.”

“I’d compare us to F1 racing, as we are racing forward like crazy, and it’s not just about one driver, but a team effort, just like F1,” said Lee Know. “We are on this journey with Stay, our company, and all the teams that work with us.”

Changbin also said, “We’re crazy about Stray Kids.“

“It’s not about being narcissistic,” he continued. “Just like how we’re crazy about our fans, music and performance, we’re crazy about our team, still constantly talking about our vision when we’re hanging out together.”

Reflecting on the band’s seven-year journey, the rapper shared, “In the earlier days of our career, I struggled because I wasn’t sure if we were on the right path, and I remember seeing a lot of unfavorable feedback.

“But my bandmates trusted me, and STAY trusted us as well, and that gave me the confidence to keep going,” he said. “I’ve been stubborn, and that stubbornness paid off in good music.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]