Unity has always been a core part of Tomorrow X Together’s story and journey since their debut six years ago. That concept is literally baked into the group via their name and the idea behind it – five individual figures coming together, pushed forward as one by a shared dream for a better future. On their latest studio album, ‘The Star Chapter: Together’ – their first full-length record since 2023’s ‘The Name Chapter: Freefall’ – they take that notion of unison, pull it apart and look at it from different angles.
While TXT at first set about doing that with expected group songs – the ’80s-indebted ‘Upside Down Kiss’, lead single ‘Beautiful Strangers’ and the soothing closer ‘Song Of The Stars’ – this is an album that explores togetherness from largely individual standpoints. For the first time, all five members have their own solo song – a natural development following Yeonjun and Beomgyu’s solo singles over the last year – and each looks at what it means to form a connection with others from different angles.
On some of those tracks, like Soobin’s bright, falsetto-driven ‘Sunday Driver’, there’s a serene feeling of bliss that envelopes things. “My destination is always everywhere next to you,” the group’s leader coos softly. On others, there’s a hint of sexiness to the process of forming a coalition (Hueningkai’s sultry ‘Dance With You’) or a sense of growth and finding peace through another. Rock ballad ‘Take My Half’ fulfils the latter role, with Beomgyu finding happiness by learning to share with a loved one.
At times, the TXT members are still on their journey to where they need to be, but finding purpose along the way. Taehyun’s spellbinding ‘Bird Of Night’ finds the singer restless and unable to sleep, but giving his insomnia value – to provide comfort to those going through something similar: “The reason I’m awake / Is to move toward the stars together with you.” Yeonjun’s dub-infused, Yungblud-produced rock cut ‘Ghost Girl’, meanwhile, takes things to extremes, depicting a connection so strong, it’s all-consuming. “Darling, if I’m with you / I’ll walk through the dark,” he rasps. “So what if I’m crazy / I breathe because of you.”
It might seem contrary for TXT’s first full collection of solos to be on a record titled ‘Together’, but each song highlights a different side of the group’s whole. Over their first six years, the five-piece have proven they can turn their hands to any and all genres, and this album is no different. Through its tracklist, though, we get new glimpses at what the members can do on their own – Hueningkai’s solo, in particular, is perhaps the most unexpected – or get to hear them really mastering the sounds they love most, like the emotional rock niche Beomgyu is slowly becoming synonymous with.
“May it last forever / The song of the stars / Our names / The reason we are together,” Yeonjun and Beomgyu implore on the lighters-up tenderness of ‘Song Of The Stars’. Whether subtly or explicitly, as on ‘The Star Chapter: Together’, you can expect TXT to continue to emphasise and explore connection, and use it to form a bright spot in our dark world.
