Back to the Beginning | “Hellevator” by Stray Kids
Again, I have found deeply personal meaning in this song in ways I didn’t expect. This really is just therapy for me at this point. The backstory: Hellevator was the…
Again, I have found deeply personal meaning in this song in ways I didn’t expect. This really is just therapy for me at this point.
The backstory: Hellevator was the first music officially released for Stray Kids before they were even Stray Kids officially. The music video dropped a couple of weeks before their “survival show” started airing on Mnet in October 2017. It truly was the song that introduced Stray Kids to the world. In the show, we see them getting their first mission: write and perform a new song. Chan shows the team a couple of tracks, and they choose one he’s named Elevator. The choose it, and Changbin proposes name it Hellevator – a portmanteau of ‘Hell’ and ‘elevator’ – signify coming up from hell.
Hellevator was born.
This song has been performed countless times on music shows, at award shows, concerts, fansigns, fanmeets. They still perform it, one of the only pre-debut songs they still perform if I’m not mistaken. It was later rerecorded as eight after Woojin left and released as part of the SKZ2020 album.
For that reason, I’ve used the English translations for Mixtape (from the official Hellevator M/V), but the lyric distribution from SKZ2020 OT8 version (from Genius). From what I could tell, no lyrics were changed. If some lyric distributions are incorrect, that’s my error (and my inability to tell if Hangul is bolded or not).
Couple disclaimers: I’m a pretty new STAY, and I don’t speak Korean. I am using my limited SKZ knowledge and the English translations from the official YouTube M/V. These are my own thoughts based on those translations and not meant to be a definitive interpretation.
Here is the audio to listen to as you read the lyrics.
This song is about their experience as trainees. I’ve (obviously) never been a K-Pop trainee, but the experience does sound…a little bit like hell. Long hours. Endless practice. Strict instructors. And the ever present possibility of being dropped entirely. Or! Debuting and flopping.
But there’s always the possibility – Debut and succeed. Be an idol. And I think this song really encapsulates that duality (again, our duality kings) between suffering in the pursuit of a dream and the promise of the dream itself.
Even just the title – Hellevator. At first it’s like…well, is that a good thing? Is it an elevator taking you to hell or up from hell. And a hell elevator just sounds…well, awful, right? Being in a hellevator? The images that conjures up? But! It’s an elevator! It’s going up! There’s movement. Momentum. Every moment inside the tiny fire and brimstone box is bringing you closer to your dreams.
And thinking of them writing this during the show… They’ve been told they’re going to debut. Huge! But they have to pass this last test – a reality show with a lot of pressure and weight. It really does feel like being in hell (training), getting on this elevator (the show), going up, moving (missions), toward the penthouse (debut). It’s really beautiful.
And personally, it speaks to a lot of the experiences I’ve had in my life. No, I’m not a K-Pop trainee. No, I haven’t gone through rigorous physical and psychological training in pursuit of a goal. But I have dreams. I want to be a writer, an author. It’s a dream I’ve had since I was in 7th grade. Do people think that’s a good idea? Not everyone. I’m usually met with “Well, what do you really want to do? For your real job? You know, writers don’t really make that much money.”
Verse 2 hit me really hard because of that:
No worries for me, just stone cold “Give up on your nonsense dreams”
Covering the sky called hope with the hands of the people beside me
They’re arguing if I’m crazy of not, I’ll be somebody’s clown even if I make it through
That’s what you’re going to be, stop trying to be a singer / I push myself through more hearing them talk
When your family or friends put down a dream, it hurts. It sucks. And Verse 1 really describes the…gauntlet. Did I have any idea how to publish a book when I was in seventh grade? No. Is there a map with specific, step by step instructions on how be an author? No. Am I published now? Not yet. It feels like wandering a maze without a map, failing and wanting to burn every word I’ve ever written because who would want to read that?
But there’s also the hope. Still putting on the work, fighting to find that exit, escape from the darkness, get on the elevator and make it to the penthouse.
I feel like I’m going to repeat myself a million times in this process of analyzing all of their songs, but they do really seem to have a theme. (Already! Seven songs in!) They acknowledge the darkness while celebrating the light. They’re not afraid to talk about how hard things are, how they’ve struggled. But they’re always grateful and so happy about the joy and success they’ve found.
That shows in the lyrics. That shows in the music! It starts out really soft and then hits you over the head with intensity. The pre-chorus is soft again and then drops really heavy into the chorus. It highlights both the vocalists and the rappers so incredibly well. And even this early in their song making, they showed the multifaceted talents. Han sings the highest part and raps like a madman in the verses. Changbin dominates verse one and then belts in the chorus. And it has great spots for dance breaks to show off the talent there, too.
I am, once again, not a dance expert. Someone much more specialized in this that me I’m sure has said it better. But it is a very powerful dance. There are very obvious moves that scream ‘elevator’ and other that are more subtle. All of it is impactful. It, to be completely honest, looks exhausting. And I think it’s supposed to. It really shows the struggle they’re talking about in the lyrics.
The music videos is really on point, too, as always. It starts with this dark, desolate building. Truly hellish in nature. They’re all kind of singing alone.
And then the chorus hits with brightly colored scenes of all of them tackling Han on a couch. Smiling. Cheerful.
And keeps going like that through verse two – Hyunjin’s solo rap all alone one the roof, Han getting in the elevator alone, and then flashes of color and happiness and all of them together.
Photo credit: Hellevator M/V
It really starts to ramp up in the second chorus. Han wanders away from the group. Things are lighting on fire. Han goes up the elevator and finds this beautiful world. The rest follow and it’s this push to this beautiful climax of running through the brightly colored, oversaturated field and catching up with Han. The total visual opposite of the first frame.
There’s so much to unpack here, and it all goes back to exactly what this whole post has been about – duality. The darkness and loneliness of the struggle. The color and brightness of all of them coming together, preparing for debut. The continued hardships even though they do have each other. And the beautiful ending of all them running after Han and finding the dream together.
I haven’t reached my dream with my writing yet. Maybe someday. But Stray Kids has! And I hope they feel that. I know they keep going. They’re not slowing down anytime soon. They have new goals and new heights to reach. But I hope when they sing Hellevator, they really feel like they’re on the other side of it, you know? That they’re singing it from the penthouse and looking back on their younger, trainee selves with kindness and awe at how far they’ve come.
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