Does North American Success Matter For TOMORROW X TOGETHER?
TOMORROW X TOGETHER made two big attempts to break into America this summer with mixed results. Their new album “FREEFALL” attempts to change this.
Big Hit Entertainment
When they released “Do It Like That” in July to coincide with their headlining set at Lollapalooza, TOMORROW X TOGETHER made one of their biggest pushes for North American success. Released as a collaboration with the Jonas Brothers to introduce the group to new American listeners, “Do It Like That” is the kind of song that’s eager to please its listeners thanks to stupid lyrics and a catchy chorus that you can’t get out of your head almost as quickly as you hear it.
The JoBros are a decade older than TXT members, and their embarrassing new album, which offers stories about finding love at Waffle House, shares relatively no connection to TXT’s music. Yet this collaboration, ironically, benefited the Jonas Brothers, who needed this career boost, far more than TXT. The track crashed because - really - who needs a Jonas Brother song on their playlist?
But two months later, TXT tried again. This time they were at the Video Music Awards to perform another English single, “Back For More”, in collaboration with the Brazilian singer Anitta. The group was in full promo mode for North American crossover, simultaneously upping marketing the tactics Big Hit set for BTS years before when “Dynamite” exploded in popularity. They were making the award show circuit; they were conducting interviews entirely in English, and they were affable participants in this process. Soobin, the group’s leader, said on a Weverse livestream that he believed the music on their forthcoming album was perhaps the best of their career. “I know pop music better than most of our members,” he commented – and this album felt like a hit.
The group performed with Anitta at the VMAs and, thankfully, did not tamper their dancing skills or their penchant for androgynous looks to appease a wide viewership. “Back For More”, to be sure, is a punchier song than “Do It Like That”. It is, by all means, a good song – but it does not sound like a TXT song.
What I found most interesting about that night, though, was how TXT’s approach was so different from Stray Kids, another K-Pop group that is consistently upping the weirdness and madness with each release. Stray Kids did not have an English song to perform at the VMAs, and instead, relied on their latest single “S-Class”, a bizarre, sledgehammer of a song, to introduce themselves. SKZ’s refusal to flatten their sharpest points as performers made their set almost punk. Watching from the audience, Taylor Swift looked stunned. “Who the hell are these kids,” her face seemed to read.
That night, K-Pop seemed to be engaging in two conversations: How does the genre appeal to a fickle North American audience where authenticity is most important? And what if your most authentic self is something that a North American audience won’t always connect to?
TXT is considering those questions on their latest mini-album “The Name Chapter: FREEFALL”, a release that is terrific – with the exception of the two English singles. On “FREEFALL”, TXT continues to dive into their lore about the mixed feelings of growing older. If THURSDAY’S CHILD has started to grow up, he’s begun to see that love can both crush you and push you to euphoric new heights. “Life is not a fairytale,” the boys decide on “Happily Ever After”. But there is still hope: “I’m a dreamer,” the boys declare on the song of the same name, “with memories of stars”.
As vocalists, TXT have never been as strong as they do on tracks like “Happily Ever After” where Soobin’s falsetto sounds as if it could pop a balloon. They’re also in top form on the fantastic opener “Growing Pain” where their voices almost growl over a nu-metal beat.
TXT works best reveling in angst, which is maybe why the “TXT version” of “Back For More” sounds more in-line with their discography. On the second verse, Kai’s voice erupts with frustration and even some brattiness. It’s a welcome elevation from the original version with Anitta that allows the group to sound distressed and pissed off. Without Anitta, “Back For More” sounds less like a boy cockily believing a girl won’t leave and instead, like a boy soothing himself with lies. “There’s no logic to what we say,” Kai nearly shouts when enunciating the vowels in “logic”. That sounds more believable to me, and like classic TXT.
“Chasing That Feeling”, the album’s title track, is superb. From its unnerving opening – and the excellent choreography that accompanies it which begins with each member dramatically turning their heads and bodies to the audience - to the cathartic chorus where the boys promise to keep going. “I won’t give up/ I’ll keep chasing that feeling,” they sing.
“Chasing That Feeling” sets a high bar for TXT, and it’s one that they clear with nearly every song on the album. “Blue Spring”, which I heard live at Lollapalooza, is another highlight that plays off TXT’s softness. I actually believe that ballads like “Blue Spring” are where TXT excel the most. They are warm, genial tracks that allow you to experience why the group is so special. The group even experiments with EDM house music on “Deep Down”, the most unexpected tracks on the album. It’s here that I knew Soobin’s declaration was true.
Yet a question that will probably continue to dominate TOMORROW X TOGETHER is what kind of group Big Hit will allow them to be as they continue to push for North American success. What label doesn’t want global success, particularly the label that found it with BTS? But at this point, I don’t see why it is relevant anymore. Music is moving less in a linear direction these days, and more so in a wave of cultural exchange. Pop music is struggling to create new stars, but K-Pop isn’t.
Billboard chart positions are irrelevant when “stars” like Kim Petras, who hit number one with “Unholy”, can barely fill an arena on tour. But TOMORROW X TOGETHER can. They sold out nearly every date on their North American tour this year even without a Billboard number one. At Lollapalooza, it was TXT and NewJeans who had the biggest and most diverse crowds. The old playbook of creating a pop star and breaking them into a U.S. market doesn’t work anymore.
When TOMORROW X TOGETHER play to their strengths and the member’s charms, they’re unstoppable. “FREEFALL” shows their limitless potential as a group who make damn good pop music – regardless of the language. Why doesn’t Big Hit lean into what makes K-Pop special and change the industry in their image?
