[Part 1] Searching for Tomorrow in the Midst of the Past
Tomorrow X Together’s “Minisode 3: Promise” Comeback
A K-Pop boy group, Tomorrow X Together (consisting of members, Soobin Choi, Yeonjun Choi, Beomgyu Choi, Taehyun Kang, and Huening Kai) made a comeback on April 1 this year with their EP album, minisode 3: Tomorrow. As the title implies, the album is filled with hopes and pleasant expectations for the future that awaits them. But there are more emotions than that. There is also a feeling of melancholy–a mixed emotions of nostalgic happiness and trembling sorrow that comes from having passed time away. The album also correlates deeply with their team name, Tomorrow by Together which means that the five members who are so different came together for/under one dream to create a better tomorrow together. Through their newly released tracks, TXT remembers the “promise” they made in the past albums–a promise with each other and with their fans, MOA (Moment of Alwaysness)–that is to be each other’s eternal. TXT fills each track of seven with not only the remnants of their past but also pieces of their present. It talks of their time spent as artists and also as musicians just living their quarter life–their 20s.
According to Soobin, the title track “Deja Vu” is a song that sends a message that “they will remember the promise they made in the past and that they will go search for you” [1]. His interview makes the fans wonder for some references to the past in their new album. In psychology, the term deja vu literally translates to “already seen” and was coined by a French philosopher, Emile Boirac in his book L’Avenir des Sciences Psychiques in 1876 [2] to refer to the “sense of having already seen something — coupled with knowing you haven’t actually seen it.”[3] If looking at the definition of the term alongside TXT’s identity and the narrative that have been told throughout their music career, “Deja Vu” describes their “tomorrow” that they believe will be like deja vu because it is the future that they’ve been long picturing and awaiting. The way “Deja Vu” is produced, written and released musicality could not be more impeccable in capturing a sense of longing and melodrama aroused by a promise of tomorrow. For TXT, their tomorrow is so clear and familiar to them because it is the future that they constantly dreamed of. The new EP is filled with tracks that define the promise and hints at what it will look like when the promise is kept. The tracks in the album are manifestations that their tomorrow will come when it does it will certainly be like deja vu[4]. TXT members walk back to their past–their earlier albums–in order to recollect the promise with each other, with MOA and reflect on where they are now.
The Promise
The term “promise” is constantly mentioned in all seven tracks of the album and is probably the most important concept both in TXT Universe and their life. The promise can imply that made between themselves in their Universe or with MOA as their artists in real life. It’s an important mission for TXT to keep throughout their artist career. When interpreted as the promise between the group and MOA, it becomes much more relevant for the listeners and much more resonating. In order to recollect the meaning of the promise and to learn by heart what the promise is, the artists travel back to their past music. Their lyrics and choreography of each track especially pays homage to those of their previous music deeply connecting to them.
TXT’s debut album, The Dream Chapter: Star (2019), an EP album marks the start of the TXT Universe where the members meet and the rest of their narrative unwinds. The five members become friends, even sharing the sides of themselves that they want to hide from other people–the most iconic is the horns on Yeonjun’s head as seen in the music video of their title song, “Crown”. Later he realizes it is actually a crown not horns. This “crown” is mentioned again in “Deja Vu” but only this time the crown is dusty symbolizing the flow of time:
“Before our dust-piled crown
Once again, like the dream carved in my soul
Be my eternity, say my name” [5]
Their outcry in the track to “be my eternity and say my name” is also an echo of the “9 and Three Quarters” track in their second album The Dream Chapter: Magic (2019):
“Please be my eternity, please call my name
Run away, run away, run away with me
At the world’s end, forever together…” [6]
The Magic album delivers all the cozy and sweet stories about their time spent together in this fantastical “magic island” part of which includes “the promise” mentioned in Deja Vu–the promise of eternity.
“Yeah, I ran away countless times just out of fear
Leaving you waiting at the starting line
The morse code amidst the ruins an old promise, promise.” [7]
The chorus in “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)” repetitively emphasizes that as long as they are together they will always be happy. It is only in the “Magic Island” track in the same Magic album where the promise is binded:
“Our clumsy promises
A small island from which secrets began…
…The starlight of the day we saw together
Don’t forget that night
You can’t forget this place…
Will it eventually come to nothing?
Will all the dreams become memories?…
…This drifting voyager…
…Remember us here?
We were stars that day
A little song left on this island
Don’t forget, forever…
…Don’t forget this place, start line
Our start line
The starlight of the day we saw together
Don’t forget that night
You can’t forget this place…
…Our start line (I miss you, I miss you; Mm-mm)
Your’s and my island (I miss you, I miss you; Mm-mm)
Start the magic right now (I miss you, I miss you; Mm-mm)
Don’t forget your name
So that the spell won’t unravel…” [8]
The track literally begs to not forget and remember the time they shared together forever. This is where the promise starts to become a shared wish.
In the new album’s “I’ll See You There Tomorrow” the promise becomes much more specific, and implies that they are on their journey to keep the promise.
I’m misled by the sparkle
With all your hands missing
After a long search
I realize your words for a long time
I believe, we are meant to be
You can be late I’m always here… [9]
Even with all the hurdles and temptation that came in their way they finally come to grab on to realize that they are “meant to be ‘’ and that they need to be together. TXT’s full studio album, The Chaos Chapter: Freeze (2021) is filled with narratives of those emotional and physical hurdles.
“…In this endless darkness like
Oh my god, so holy
From the tip of my fingers
Everything runs far away…
…From this bottomless pit
You’re the only (one) shining gold
Now I can’t stop thinking ‘bout you
When I’m sinking alone” [10]
The Freeze album portrays the dreams and hopes that have been swept away by the towering presence of the real world with events like COVID-19 pandemic. Boys’ lives are met with emptiness and solitude from the life that has been put on a long pause. The narrative told through this album seems much like their state as artists or any other performers during the time of pandemic. The album continues to reflect that “it isn’t until ‘you’ appear before him that (they) begin to see more”[11] and their heart starts melting again to make them fall in love then eventually believe that ‘you’ are his real and only world.
“Angel who one day appeared to me
Take me away to your hometown…
…In this world of zero
I found warmth that’s you
Take all of me
Girl, I need you…” [11]
It sounds much like TXT’s yearning to be on stage with their fans chanting and sending love for them. The lyrics are TXT’s confession as artists that their only world is to perform on stage in front of their fans. More intimately, it could further be interpreted that the “you” in the lyric refers to their fans, MOA in which they find warmth.
It is clear in “Deja Vu” that they were able to find answers for themselves. They found their way back to where they belong.
“I remember (Remember, yeah) the answer I finally found
My future is you (Is you)
Say my name (Name)
I’ll hug you tight, as promised on the first day (As promised)…” [12]
They are now confident about what their “tomorrow” will look like.“There will be no more sorrow”[13] in the “tomorrow” where they will forever be together.
The album is not only the members’ imagining of their future but also a manifestation that they, in the present, are on their way towards making this promise come true.
“Think about it, you and me promise
I’ll make sure I recognize you
We’re going to meet tomorrow
Together beyond, I’ll see you there tomorrow” [14]
The title track brings the listeners back to the past where they made the “promise” “on the first day” in the beginning of their story. They make the listeners remember what they’ve been through until how they could come to this point with this new album.
The lyrics of all the tracks in the Minisode3: Promise, are written in the way that they are in conversation with their past music which is in fact like “deja vu”. But the newly released album conveys feelings that are much more mature, earnest and even desperate. It is perhaps because TXT as K-Pop artists they feel are closer to losing that eternity now than they have ever been, leaving the listeners with the deeply melancholic and heartrending emotions.
Even though most K-Pop artists are so young in the age of mid-20s, they always have pressure of having to think about their remaining time span as artists. They are constantly questioning how long they will last in their prime time. How will they come down from where they are now — will it be a free fall — a natural fall over the course of time or a crash landing with all sorts of issues for gossip? It’s entirely up to how they live their today and build their “tomorrow”.
To Be Continued in Part 2…
Work Cited
[1] “(Eng)[Musicbank Interview Cam]투모로우바이투게더 (TXT Interview)L@musicbank KBS 240405.” YouTube, KBS Kpop, 5 Apr. 2024, youtu.be/uIUeyfbVctg. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[2] Kurt Forrer. Déjà vu. Am J Biomed Sci & Res. 2019–1(2). AJBSR.MS.ID.000511. DOI: 10.34297/AJBSR.2019.01.000511
[3] University of California, Los Angeles *. PSYCH 116. Course Lecture. 2023. Course Sidekick, DoctorPencil10941, https://www.coursesidekick.com/psychology/3729970. Accessed 12 April 2024.
[4] MBC TV, and Dahee Byun, creators. SHOW! MUSIC CORE. MBC TV, 2024, https://youtu.be/2x1YpIQdesY. Accessed 2024.
[5] “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — Deja vu (English Translation).” Trans. by @darywzc, Genius, 1 Apr. 2024, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-deja-vu-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[6]“Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — 9와 4분의 3 승강장에서 너를 기다려 (Run Away) (English Translation).” Trans. by @ Christiana_Popoola and @ Eleventh Cassette, Genius, 21 Oct. 2019, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-9–4–3-run-away-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[7] “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — Deja vu (English Translation).” Trans. by @darywzc, Genius, 1 Apr. 2024, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-deja-vu-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[8] @livin4kaia. “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — Magic Island (English Translation).” Trans. by @Christiana_Popoola, Genius, 21 Oct. 2019, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-magic-island-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[9] “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — 내일에서 기다릴게 (I’ll See You There Tomorrow) (English Translation).” Trans. by @jellinki, Genius, 1 Apr. 2024, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-ill-see-you-there-tomorrow-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[10] “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — 0x1=lovesong (I Know I Love You) Ft. Seori (English Translation).” Trans. by @siannve and @aAOfficial, Genius, 31 May 2021, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-0x1-lovesong-i-know-i-love-you-ft-seori-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — Deja vu (English Translation).” Trans. by @darywzc, Genius, 1 Apr. 2024, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-deja-vu-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[13] “Genius English Translations — Tomorrow X Together — 내일에서 기다릴게 (I’ll See You There Tomorrow) (English Translation).” Trans. by @jellinki, Genius, 1 Apr. 2024, genius.com/Genius-english-translations-tomorrow-x-together-ill-see-you-there-tomorrow-english-translation-lyrics. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
[14] Ibid.
