STAYC Delivers a Career-High Show at YouTube Theater in Los Angeles

Oct 13

When STAYC embarked on their first world tour, TEENFRESH, back in 2023, I was enamored by the group’s stage presence when I saw them in San Antonio, Texas. Three years into their debut, they had also released a robust number of songs, enough to fill up an entire 23-song setlist. It was a killer, no filler.

Now, five years into their career, STAYC set out on their second world tour, STAY TUNED. Since then, STAYC’s musical output has remained steady and kept me impressed. With one new studio album and three new single albums, I’ve never been a bigger STAYC fan than I am now.

I caught the group’s stop in Los Angeles at the YouTube Theater, where the girls gave their best live performances yet. The set mainly focused on many of STAYC’s newest songs that they’ve released since 2023, while also sprinkling their most popular hits throughout the years, which was the perfect balance of welcoming new fans and serving the day ones.

This was exemplified by the set starting with “BEBE” off their first 2025 single album, S, and two songs from their 2024 album, Metamorphic, which were “1 Thing” and “Cheeky Icy Thang.” In between those songs, STAYC also performed two fan favorite singles, “Poppy” and “BEAUTIFUL MONSTER.”

In most K-pop tours, solo member and sub-unit performances usually include covers of popular songs to pad out the setlist. However, Metamorphic had original songs sung by individual members, including Sieun, Seeun, and J on “Find,” Sumin and Yoon on “Fakin,” and Isa on “Roses.” STAY TUNED’s set list smartly integrated those songs instead of putting on bland cover songs. This helped make the setlist stand out amongst the rest.

STAYC_WesandAlex_YTT_2025-000516x9 (1).jpg

After the individual member performances, the rest of the setlist continued to follow the same pattern. They performed newer songs, such as “Meant to Be” and “GPT” off the 2024 single album, “…I,” along with more tracks from “Metamorphic” like “Twenty,” “Troublemaker,” "Gummy Bear, and Beauty Bomb,” while sandwiching them in between their biggest hits like “Bubble,” “SO BAD,” “Bubble,” “Teddy Bear,” “RUN2U,” “Stereotype,” and “ASAP.”

This format kept the audience engaged by keeping them hyped up for the more well-known songs while giving others some much-needed attention.

If I did have one complaint, though, it is that Metamorphic was a bit overrepresented in this setlist. I would’ve loved to see STAYC perform more songs from “S” and “I Want It,” the latter of which they only performed the title track. “PIPE DOWN” from “S” and “Honestly” from “I Want It” would’ve been great additions to the setlist, as the former utilizes J and Yoon’s lower register voices really well, and the latter’s horn-laden bridge is one of the best I’ve heard this year.

The set then ended with “Stay With Me,” which symbolically made for the perfect closer as the lyrics were written by all six members for their fans.

Overall, STAY TUNED is definitely STAYC’s best tour so far. It had a more eclectic vibe this time around, thanks to the sheer variety of STAYC’s catalog. They didn’t recycle many songs from their first tour, which made STAY TUNED feel distinctly unique. STAYC is continuing to make new music, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for the group, as well as upcoming future tours.