Stranger (EP)

Stranger (stylized in all caps) is an extended play (EP) marketed as the fourth single of Japanese boy band JO1. It also served as the second single for their second studio album, Kizuna (2022). The EP single includes six songs primarily from the EDM, futurepop, and city pop genres, and was released by Lapone Entertainment in three physical editions and one digital edition on August 18, 2021. It features contributions from Japanese lyricists and South Korean producers, including Yhanael, Jung Ho-hyun, Score, Megatone, KZ, Full8loom among others.

Prior to the release, the two B-side tracks were made available as a digital single. "Dreaming Night" was released on June 25 as the opening song Love Phantom, while "Freedom" was released on July 7 for Yves Saint Laurent Beauté's fragrance web commercial video. Both tracks charted on Billboard Japan Hot 100. Stranger became the group's fourth single that reached number on the Oricon Singles Chart and their fastest single to sell over 400,000 copies, according to Billboard Japan. It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), while the lead track "Real" peaked atop the Billboard Japan Hot 100. Its music video was named Best Dance Video at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.