The Unexpected Catharsis of TOMORROW X TOGETHER’S Japanese Releases

BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT/ HYBE

TOMORROW X TOGETHER has ascended in popularity since the release of their second studio album “The Chaos Chapter: Feeze” in 2021. The boys sold out a North American tour last summer and followed up with a well-received set at Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago, making them the first K-Pop group to play the festival.

Led by the charming Soobin, TXT is made up of five all-rounders: Yeonjun, the oldest is an extremely popular dancer, Beomgyu, a soprano vocalist who often goes viral for his chaotic energy, Taehyun, who’s growl could fit in with the scene music of the early 2000s, and Huening Kai, a talented macknae. 

This year has been another successful one for the boys: They released their latest EP “The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION” in March and departed to a brighter era thanks to their comeback single “Sugar Rush Ride”.

Yet over the last two years, the releases that have fascinated me the most are their Japanese music. These releases have yet to be promoted outside of Japan and outside of MOAs, the group’s dedicated fanbase, the songs are little known. Instead, in North America where I live, they sit quietly at retailers like Barnes and Noble in jewel cases that are easy to overlook among the typical creative K-Pop album packaging. But take a listen to TXT’s Japanese discography and you’ll hear the group at their most compelling. 

The group has released consistently in Japan since 2019, the same year as their debut, but they reached a sweet spot in their Japanese discography with a b-side called “Ito”. “I listened to this song the old school way by picking up their 2021 “Chaotic Wonderland” EP at Barnes and Noble. I was drawn to the concept photos for the album with the boys dressed in all black surrounded by contrasting ice and florals, perhaps a nod to their 2021 b-side “FROST”. 

“Chaotic Wonderland” was meant to translate three of the group's biggest songs from that year to Japanese but I was immediately taken by “Ito”. The track felt nostalgic, like some of the old Korean and Japanese songs I love from the early 90s. For reference check out Kim Sung Jae’s “너의 생일” (“Your Birthday”), a gorgeous ballad with chimes dedicated to his lover’s birthday. What really appealed to me about these songs is the sound. It’s the kind of ballad that leaks into your brain and stays lodged there. 

“I’m sure we’ll meet each other/ We’ll be tied together so that we don’t separate,” Yeonjun and Beomgyu sing in “Ito’s” chorus. “You and I meet so that we can’t be unraveled,” Soobin adds. Their love, the boys explain, will be weaved together with you, the listener. 

“Ito” is about the weaving and hooking that occurs between two people who fall in love. “You’re my half of the thread,” Yeonjun says near the end of the song. It’s a remarkably mature, subtle concept about love for a K-Pop group.

But the Korean comeback “minisode 2: Thursday’s Child” that followed “Chaotic Wonderland” felt like a stretch for the group. Maybe the lead single “Good Boy Gone Bad” was too loud and too powerful for a group that I feel plays best when they're vulnerable and wide eyed. But beyond that, I don’t believe that TXT are bad boys. They felt most realistic in the songs that let them languish in the longing of a broken heart or the unsteady feelings that come with first love. 

Soobin and Beomgyu
BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT/ HYBE

Maybe it’s ironic that a K-Pop group like TXT’s most compelling releases in 2022 came from their Japanese discography. “Ring” and “ひとりの夜” (“One Night”) feel the most representative of the introverted, inquisitive guys I see on Weverse livestreams. In all of these videos, the bond between the guys is apparent, but so is their discomfort with the attention they receive as idols. 

When Soobin said, for example, that he felt like he has an allergy to people after meeting so many new faces at the American Music Awards, I laughed but related to him. “I gave up on being human today,” he said, only half-joking, at the end of the night. 

Often TXT seems to question their place in a K-Pop machine that isn’t just bent on conquering Korea but the globe, too. In Atlanta, for example, Soobin and Beomgyu, arguably the most introverted members, were the quietest on stage. 

Their Japanese discography, perhaps, adds to this observation by allowing their personalities to pierce through. Take “ひとりの夜” (“One Night”), a song that could be at home on the soundtrack of a Miyazaki film. “Why is it exactly,” Kai asks. “That I fell in love with you?” 

The twist on “One Night” is that it’s actually a song about unrequited love. If Thursday’s Child is scorned by love, the boy in this release is simply sad. “I want to be loved by you,” Kai and Taehyun sing.. “I fell asleep to these thoughts/ On this night alone.” 

Taehyun, Huening Kai, and Yeonjun
BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT/ HYBE

“Ring”, the second b-side of “Good Boy Gone Bad”, is their crown jewel of Japanese releases. It, too, is about unrequited love, and it is their most effective single. “However I try, I just can’t accept/ The ‘you’ that could love someone who isn’t me,” Taehyun sings. “However I try, I still don’t know/ How to love someone who isn’t you.” As the song reaches its peak, so does Soobin’s voice which glides higher until he reaches a stunning soprano octave. 

The emotional vulnerability heard in TXT’s songs is not by chance, as Yeonjun stated in an interview. “Both our ‘The Chaos Chapter‘ series and our ‘minisode‘ series speak honestly about the emotional wounds and pain that we experience,” he told Japan’s Spur Magazine. “Because we’re honestly writing our own stories, I think the songs naturally end up being relatable for many people our age.”

Yeonjun contributed to the lyrics of “Ring” and as the eldest, he’s the most emotionally transparent. 

In my favorite vlog rom their North American tour, Yeonjun travels home to see his aunt and uncle in San Francisco. He lived in North America, he explained, in middle school. As he sat in his old bedroom, his soft eyes told a story that Yeonjun wasn’t quite ready to share with viewers.

“This place holds a lot of memories,” he said as he laid on his bed. “It almost feels like being back home?” He paused as if to reflect on the significance. “There’s so much I want to share.” 

What was it like for Yeonjun to spend part of his adolescence, away from his home and family, in America? He doesn’t say, but you can piece together the memories through his music. 

Yeonjun credits TXT’s music for allowing him to access these stories he’s kept so close to him. I hear the pain and the heartbreak particularly on the Japanese singles. “In the past, I hid my emotional pain and embraced it alone,” he said.  “But through these albums, I learned to express myself.”

I could relate to Yeonjun’s catharsis chasing trip home. Some nights as I’d come home from an evening spent writing in the Barnes and Noble cafe, I’d listen to “Ito”. I have my own memories and pain I’d sort through on these nighttime rides home. The glint of the suburbs, my childhood home where my own memories become warped, would pass by in my car’s window until I reached my current home midtown.

Back in San Francisco Yeonjun was grappling with how little time he had left to sort through his past. “If only I had another week,” he said softly. “There’s stuff I want to do. People I want to meet. But I only have a day.” 

One day, I think, maybe we can make peace with how fast our lives change. Until then, I’ll listen to these songs.