Tomorrow X Together (Tomorrow by Together) also known as TXT is a South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Music. The group is composed of five members: Soobin who is the leader, Yeonjun, Beomgyu who is the visual, Taehyun, and Huening Kai, who is the maknae or youngest member of the group. According to the group’s official website, they are a “bright and youthful boy band aiming to become the next global breakout artist.” They debuted on March 4, 2019 with the mini album The Dream Chapter: Star that had tracks such as “Crown,” “Cat and Dog,” and “Our Summer” just to name a few. They have a documentary on the streaming service Disney+ called Tomorrow X Together: Our Lost Summer, which released on July 28th. The documentary showed the boys navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, them going back on tour for their second world tour called ACT:SWEET MIRAGE and them performing at the music festival Lollapalooza. They’ve had collaborations with artists such as Salem Elise, Coi Leray, the Jonas Brothers, and Brazilian funk artist Anitta who they performed with at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards debuting their song “Back For More.”
On October 13th, 2023, TXT released their album, which has nine tracks such as “Growing Pain”, “Chasing That Feeling”, “Back For More (TXT version)”, “Dreamer”, “Deep Down”, “Happily Ever After”, “물수제비 (Skipping Stones)”, “Blue Spring” and “Do it Like That (featuring the Jonas Brothers)”. There is also an English version of “Chasing That Feeling” on the digital copy of the album. I listened to the entire album and I am here to review each of the songs and tell you what I think of the entire album.
On October 13th, TXT released their album The Name Chapter: Freefall. There is also an English version of “Chasing That Feeling” on the digital copy of the album.
Here’s my track by track review:
1. “Growing Pain”– “Growing Pain” has a very punk rock sound which many of TXT’s songs have, like “Good Boy Gone Bad” or “Dear Sputnik.” This is a very good opening track for an album and for a concert as well because I would pay tons of money to see them perform this song in concert.
Rating: 9.5/10
2. “Chasing That Feeling”– “Chasing That Feeling” is the title track of this album. I loved the cinematography and concept of the music video. The music video was set in New York City so bonus points for that. The song has a very pop-like sound and during certain parts of the song, it reminded me of “Blinding Lights” by The Weekend. Both the choreography and vocals are amazing, TXT’s choreo never disappoints and both Soobin and Taehyun killed their verse and the high note was on point.
Rating: 10/10
3. “Back For More” (TXT version) – As I’ve said before “Back For More” is originally a collaboration between Tomorow X Together and Anitta who is a very popular female Brazilian funk artist who debuted this song during their performance at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Although I love the original version with Anitta, I also really like this version as well. The song feels very lively and pop-like whereas in the original version before and during Anitta’s part the song transitions and it sounds some of the music in her discography with the Brazilian funk sounds meanwhile in this version it sounds more like a continuation of the melody and it even includes the dance break section. But I still prefer the original version though.
Rating: 8/10
4. “Dreamer”– “Dreamer” sounds very calming, vibey and peaceful. I really like how soothing the members’ vocals also sound as well, almost as if they’re singing me a lullaby. Plus, the high notes are immaculate!
Rating: 9.8/10
5. “Deep Down”– I love the beat and the catchiness of this song. It almost sounds like a song by Zedd or a producer like that because of that EDM-like sound. “Deep Down” is another song that I would like to see a live performance for.
Rating: 8.7/10
6. “Happily Ever After”– The song is very upbeat and energetic and has a very addicting chorus. “Happily Ever After” is the type of song to get stuck in your head in a good way because of how catchy it is. Plus, if you’re not feeling the best, just listen to this song because this type of song to listen to if you need a pick-me-up.
Rating: 10/10
7. “물수제비 (Skipping Stones)” – I really love “Skipping Stones” mainly because this song gives me major “You Were Beautiful” by Day6 vibes because of the soft rock elements in the song. I loved Huening Kai’s verse near the end and Soobin’s voice near the end because Soobin sang very softly which fit in with the song perfectly and then it transitioned to the members’ normal singing voices throughout the song.
Rating: 9/10
8. “Blue Spring”– “Blue Spring” is the perfect song to close the album with. There is still a hint of rock elements in this song as well. Everything is amazing from the vocals to the melody of the song. “Blue Spring” reminds me of “Dreamer” just because of the stillness and calming tone to the song.
Rating: 9.5/10
9. “Do It Like That” (featuring the Jonas Brothers) – “Do It Like That” was originally released as a single on July 7th 2023. TXT and the Jo Bros equally did a bunch of promotion on social media sites like TikTok using this song or just doing trends on the app with each other. I liked the out-of-the-box concept approach the music video took with the editing but, this sounds like a typical Jonas Brothers song. It’s a good song but I’m not that crazy about it.
Rating: 7.4/10
10. “Chasing That Feeling” (English version) – We close the album with the English version of “Chasing That Feeling.” The song is just as good as the original version, while some English versions of K-pop songs sound like the original Korean lyrics were thrown into Google Translate and used the direct English translation for lyrics, these lyrics sound amazing and not like directly translated lyrics, they’re like earcandy almost. I do love both songs, however if I had to choose between the original and English version, I’d choose the original.
Rating: 9/10
Here’s my final thoughts and opinions. Was the album worth listening to? Yes, it was. TXT experiments with different sounds and this shows throughout their discography and throughout this album with songs that have a pop sound, songs that have elements of rock, more upbeat songs, and sounds that are slow and calming. I do like many of the songs on this album, specifically “Skipping Stones” and “Chasing That Feeling.” If you asked me who owned this era, I would say Yeonjun and Huening Kai mainly because vocally they really stood out to me and I loved Kai’s high note in “Skipping Stones.” I hope Tomorrow X Together does more songs like the songs on this album and I loved the emo, grunge aesthetic they went for in this comeback.
I give Tomorrow X Together’s album The Name Chapter: FREEFALL a 10.5/10.
