Tomorrow x Together are the Gen Z leaders that you never knew you had… but let me start from the beginning.
Tomorrow x Together (also known as TXT) is a South Korean boy group with five members Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin, Choi Beomgyu, Kang Taehyun and Huening Kai, whose ages range from 19-22 years old.The group debuted in March of 2019 under BigHit Entertainment, now known as HYBE, with their debut song “Crown,” the Korean title translating to “One day, a horn grew from my head.” HYBE is famously known for including intricate storylines (referred to as universes) in all their group’s music and music videos, and fans often dedicate time to theorize about the released official content. TXT’s universe is titled “The StarSeekers” and tells the fictional story of five boys on a magically chaotic coming-of-age journey as they grow fantasy body parts (hence the Korean title of their debut song) and are threatened by a mysterious green and blue-eyed cat.
But what does this have to do with being the leaders of Gen Z? I’m getting there.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Taehyun explained, “Our story is about young people navigating life, so we’re always depicting this journey of growth through various means like our music and performances… The element of ‘fantasy’ is like a prism through which we show our world.” HueningKai adds, “The five of us believe that growth is an ongoing, constant process so we want to record the experiences, thoughts and emotions candidly through our music. We hope listeners will continue to empathize and relate to the stories we tell. We want them to feel like this is their story.”
TXT is dedicated to sharing authentic stories, and it’s in their music where you’ll find the ones that are most relatable to Gen Z, if not everyone. Just to familiarize you, I’ll share my interpretations from a few of my favorites. In their song “Ghosting,” from their album Minisode 1: Blue Hour, TXT tells the story of what it feels like to be ghosted online while also dedicating it to not being able to see their fans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lyrics say, “Stay up all night, today again with my eyes open like a zombie. I’m looking for it, the omen of farewell in our conversation. I still don’t know.” Even Soobin, TXT’s leader, said that while producing the song, he jokingly texted a few of his friends to ask them how it felt when he ghosted them.
In the song “Ice Cream” from their 2021 album The Chaos Chapter: Freeze, the lyrics say, “Ah I can’t take it. The image of me being the only one who’s robbed. It’s not fair. Everyone should be doomed.” The song is an audacious exposure of the deepest thoughts that we all have but rarely dare to admit out loud. Sometimes, we feel like the world is out to get us, therefore we get jealous of others’ happiness and, out of spite, we might wish our despair onto them. So, like the song continues to say, “Instead of begging like this and making empty wishes every day all alone, let’s all be doomed together, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.”
In my top five favorites is their R&B song “20cm” from their album The Dream Chapter: Magic, which talks about realizing that you’re falling in love with a childhood friend. The lyrics say, “The number of your fluttering eyelashes, here like a math equation, I want to memorize them all one by one… I didn’t know that your scent, your way of speaking, your small hands too, are all special.” Everything about this song just makes me want to fall in love, even though one of their new songs, “Anti-romantic,” which you may have seen trending on TikTok, expresses the exact opposite. The contrast between these two songs shows that TXT understands the feeling of wanting to be or being in love, while also being an anti-romantic that fears romance and can see its end before its beginning.
Despite being famous K-pop idols with millions of fans, they never forget to share their sides of themselves that remind us that they are indeed one of us. It’s known that Soobin hated math as a subject and said, “Why would you learn math when you have a calculator?” HueningKai often shares his love for collecting plushies, and Beomgyu shares stories of his childhood when he sometimes caused trouble. Yeonjun has also been dubbed the “4th Gen It-Boy” by his fans for his all-around performance capabilities as well as his uniquely inspirational fashion sense, which even landed him a spot in 2021’s New York Fashion Week.
One day, in South Korea’s early hours of the morning, the group flooded fans’ notifications on Weverse, a platform for direct artist-to-fan communication, asking, or rather arguing, whether a straw had one or two holes. Not even days later, the same thing happened, except discourse was now regarding whether humans have one or two butts. TXT’s conversations with each other are frequently brought onto the Weverse platform when seeking the opinions of MOAs, their fans, which greatly strengthen the friendly connection people feel with Tomorrow x Together.
If you need any more persuasion to get into TXT, here is a great guide to get to know the voices leading Generation Z.
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us onFacebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest!