Christmas EveL

On January 1, 2021, New Year's Day, Stray Kids released the video Step Out 2021, consisting of the group's achievements in 2020, and 2021's to-do plan, including their project called Season Song. In 2021, the group made history after participating and won the Mnet competitive reality television show Kingdom: Legendary War, and releasing their second studio album Noeasy on August 23 with the lead single "Thunderous", which received an important musical success. The album debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart and sold over 1.2 million copies, becoming the first million-selling album by the group and their label JYP Entertainment. On November 11, the group released a mysterious poster to promote Christmas EveL. The project was later described as a "holiday special single" for their fans as a thank-you gift, as part of the Season Song project. ==Music and lyrics==

Christmas EveL is thirteen minutes and fifty seconds long, consisting of four tracks, categorized as a Christmas, hip hop and pop record Christmas EveL opens with the title track, "Christmas EveL", a funky hip hop song, The Christmas-themed ballad second track, "24 to 25", is about wanting to spend time together from December 24 to 25, especially with their fans, called Stay, driven by a "calm" guitar sound. ==Release and promotion==

On November 11, 2021, Stray Kids dropped a mysterious poster, titled Christmas EveL without knowing the format. The poster features a horrible, slightly off-smiley face in black, and a blood-like red background, showing 2 torn papers, the one features the red-font "Christmas Eve", and the one writes the "L" in flowing ink, as well as a release date: 2021.11.29. Marketed as the group's "holiday special single", previewing and pre-orders for the limited version of the CD began on the same day, and the standard version began on November 15. The group announced that they would not promote the songs on any music program, as a gift to their fans who have sent warm support and love in 2021. The second expresses the members tying a bow on their necks and wearing Christmas-themed outfits, surrounded by wrapped presents and a Christmas tree in the background. The official track listing was posted on November 19, serving "Christmas EveL" and "Winter Falls" as a double lead single on the record. while "Winter Falls" was released on November 22 and 28. A snippet video called "unveil: track" of "24 to 25" was uploaded on November 25, as well as the title track "Christmas EveL" via Instagram Reels on November 27. An accompanying music video for "Christmas EveL" was premiered alongside the single album release, "Winter Falls" the next day, and "24 to 25" on December 6. Although there is no promotion at the music shows, "Winter Falls" was given a debut performance at 2021 SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 25, alongside "Thunderous", arranged in the Christmas version. The next year, they performed "24 to 25", and "Christmas EveL" at its 2022 edition of the same program. ==Critical reception==

Writing for NME, Rhian Daly rated Christmas EveL four out of five stars, and said that aside from the English version of "Domino" that provides a "fiery end to the record", there is a "Christmassy atmosphere that runs neatly through the rest of the tracks". Daly did not see this as a negative though, commenting that "That's typical Stray Kids, though – always keeping us on our toes even when we think we've got them pegged." ==Commercial performance==

In South Korea, Christmas EveL debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart for the date issue of November 28 – December 4, 2021, selling 654,658 copies as of November 2021, making it the group's sixth number-one album after Clé 1: Miroh, Clé: Levanter, Go Live, In Life, and Noeasy. The lead single "Christmas EveL" and "Winter Falls" entered the Gaon Digital Chart simultaneously at numbers 114 and 151, respectively. All of the single album's four tracks also debuted simultaneously on the Gaon Download Chart, where the lead singles debuted in the top 10. In the United States, the single album landed at number 25 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums, as well as number 9 on Hungary's Album Top 40 Chart. and later a triple platinum on May 12. ==Track listing==

Notes • signifies an English lyricist. ==Credits and personnel==

Credits adapted from the official website. Musicians • Stray Kids – lead vocals • Bang Chan (3Racha) – lyrics , English lyrics , composition , arrangement , all instruments • Changbin (3Racha) – lyrics , composition • Han (3Racha) – background vocals , lyrics , composition • Felix – English lyrics • HotSauce – composition , arrangement , keyboard , drum programming , computer programming • Nickko Young – composition , arrangement , all instruments • Shin Ye-rin – strings • Earattack – composition , arrangement , background vocals , all instruments • Kim Jong-sung – guitar • Junoflo – English lyrics • Versachoi – composition , arrangement , all instruments Technical • KayOne Lee – digital editing • Goo Hye-jin – recording • Choi Hye-jin – recording • Bang Chan (3Racha) – recording • Manny Marroquin – mixing • Jay-P Gu – mixing • Lee Tae-sub – mixing • Yoon Won-kwon – mixing • Chris Galland – mix engineering • Zach Pereyra – assistant • Anthony Vilchis – assistant • Kang Sun-young – mix engineering • Chris Gehringer – mastering • Kwon Nam-woo – mastering Locations • JYP Publishing (KOMCA) – original publishing • Copyright Control – original publishing • JYPE Studios – recording , mixing • Channie's "Room" – recording • Larrabee Studios – mixing • Klang Studio – mixing • Studio DDeepKick – mixing • Sterling Sound – mastering • 821 Sound Mastering – mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications and sales==