[Review] DIVINE – Stray Kids

ICYMI – Stray Kids’ latest mixtape, Do It, features double title tracks. The first shares the same name as the mixtape and I have already reviewed it. The second is titled DIVINE, which will be the focus of this post. A music video for DIVINE was finally unveiled at the end of last week and was later performed for the first time at the 2025 MAMA Awards, where the group clinched onto the Album of the Year award for KARMA (led by CEREMONY).

DIVINE was an instant favourite of mine when Do It first dropped. Opening the track up was impressive vocals from SEUNGMIN, which I cannot help replaying constantly. My bias could be peeking through, but objectively, I found it to be a memorable and powerful opening. Similarly, the ending sees BANGCHAN come into the song for the first time with a really sleek and nice ‘Ooh-Woah‘ ad-lib. It would have been nicer with less autotune, but definitely ends DIVINE in a pleasant manner. In between the opening and ending is a hip-hop motif that I really enjoyed. There was a really strong yet simple rhythm and beat to the chorus that was appealing, and I liked the addition of the traditional Korean instrument to the mix. The combination of folksy and modern always comes off as unique to me. All of the hooks to DIVINE were super catchy, especially the traditional Korean chant that Stray Kids infuses effortlessly in this hip-hop influenced song. The rapping in the verses follows a similar straight forward, yet lowkey, beat and rhythm. I did make a side comment about autotune earlier, but I really liked its presence, and the descending melody, in the pre-choruses. It is such an interesting effect that helps boosts the song in the memorability department. Overall, DIVINE is quite charming and continues Stray Kids’ consistent high-quality title track output.

In the DIVINE‘s lyrics, the members rap and sing about creating a new world with their music. For the music video, we see Stray Kids co-exist in ancient Korean times, seeking to trap an evil spirit in a bottle to reinstall order in the world. While Stray Kids have used the traditional concept before through their Thunderous comeback, DIVINE‘s music video leans quite heavily into the concept. And I quite liked how all of the traditional elements were presented in the music video. My biggest problem with the music video is the screen time of some of the members. It appears each member only appeared during their parts of the song, which does make sense to a degree. But I think each member deserved a more substantial presence – maybe they could have featured another member in the background of some solo shots to boost each members’ presence in the video. This would also fit some of Stray Kids’ music video aesthetics.

The only performance of the DIVINE so far is at the MAMA awards. You can really see the hip-hop influence, as well as their stage, presence in action. Though part of me thinks the performance only has this grandness to it because of the many dancers that were on stage. However I must give mad props to both LEE KNOW and SEUNGMIN who performed despite being injured. If you really pay attention to LEE KNOW during the DIVINE segment, you can see how much pain he was in and how he pushed through the entire performance.

Song – 10/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 9.3/10