Dear Hollow, the song that has me in a chokehold...

Every time I listen to you, something deep inside of me breaks—like glass shattering in my ribs. I feel like crying, and I love you for that. 

You’re like the siren’s call, and I’m the sailor. 

You’re a Japanese song released in 2025 by the K-pop band Stray Kids. A group I’d follow to the ends of the earth.

You’re a song I’d listen to at 3AM. 

That I’d use to help me cry when the tears won’t fall. 

I love your chorus. 

Listened to as just a clip, it sounds so happy, but the lyrics are everything else. “Even if I force myself to fill the void, why do I feel so [hollow]” Do you have any idea how much that hits in all the right places? How attacked you make people feel with that singular line? You sound like a slice of summer, but your words carry a storm.

I love your post-chorus. 

It’s so insert-expletive-of-your-choice-here amazingly haunting and I’m here for it. The vocals are chef’s kiss. Did I mention it’s so haunting, I started dancing with the non-existent ghosts in my room? 

“Hollow, hollow, hollow oh (oh na-na-na-na)”

I love your music video. I watched it through, and again, and again. And again. And I fell headfirst into the world of theories. 

I just about lost every remaining brain cell I had when I figured out that ‘Hall of Fame’ sounds like hollow fame in the rap verse. 

When I saw that your creators fought each other, for that missing piece, to feel whole again. 

When I heard you for the first time and hunted for my jaw (it got lost on the floor).

To Stray Kids, your creators—just three legitimate words and a strangled sort of sound. Oh my screams in Koreans speaking Japanese God.  

How can eight men in another country make me feel every emotion I’d hidden down since forever? 

How can they make a song that feels like a punch to the gut, even when I know I’m not guilty. 

To 3RACHA, your writers, I remain in awe of the emotion that they have imparted to this song. It’s based  on what they  feel, but oh, it’s so universal too. Anyone can interpret it in their own way, and that’s part of the magic they’ve unveiled.

Hollow. You’ve proved music transcends boundaries, that there’s no language barrier when it comes to listening to melodies. 

Thank you.

Thank you for making me feel so hollow, I remember I’m still whole; still human.

Thank you for being my new comfort song.

Thank you for just being.

Thank you, Stray Kids, for making such a dual song—a banger and an ode to emotions.

Thank you for being the siren’s call to my sailor.

Love and streams, 

Ridhi Anish

Ridhi is a student in Grade 8 and a homeschooler from Bangalore. This love letter made her the winner of our 3rd Writing Contest - writing a love letter to a piece of media you adore.

Read our top 10 contest entries here.