HMV X Stray Kid “Do It” Listening Party Experience

With Stray Kids latest EP release, “Do It”, UK and Ireland based fans were ecstatic to be mentioned on the Stray Kids Official Instagram for the first time. HMV announced a listening party within store for specific dates and times over the weekend following the album release.

Many HMV stores had free posters and stickers to hand out with each ‘Do It’ purchase. The listening party I attended started at 1 o’clock; however, I arrived roughly ten minutes late and nearly everything was gone. The albums were wiped off the shelves, barely even having any of Stray Kids’ previous album, ‘Karma’, left.

Some fans were going around handing out “freebies” - a term often used in the K-pop fan community to refer to small fan-made gifts often handed out at concerts. These gifts normally include the likes of stickers, photo cards of the idols, bracelets and sweets. I managed to get one of the last freebies off a lovely girl who worked hard making sure fellow fans had a good experience.

By 1:17, I couldn’t see any “Do It” albums on the shelves, not even the accordion versions. Fearfully, they were sold out. I made my way to the till to purchase these blind official photo cards attached below. These official blind bags don’t only include photocards from the latest albums, but all albums and even often “Season Greetings” photocards.

When buying the photo cards, I asked the worker behind the till if there were any albums left, to which she handed me the last album available. It took less than 20 minutes for all versions of the “Do It” album to sell out, showcasing its immediate success and the success of this HMV collaborative promotion.

The last Stray Kids “Do It” Album

As the weekend following the release of “Do It” comes to an end, so does the promotional period for the EP. The promotions for this album end this weekend, due to the annual end-of-year MAMA that is occurring next week, and no doubt the Stray Kids members are preparing for an excellent stage performance.