1 of 5 | K-pop boy band Tomorrow X Together (TXT) introduced their first full-length album, The Dream Chapter: Magic at a media event in Seoul on Monday. The band was founded by Big Hit Entertainment, the South Korean label responsible for superstars BTS. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Tomorrow X Together, also known as TXT, the K-pop boy band formed earlier this year by Big Hit Entertainment, introduced their first full-length album, The Dream Chapter: Magic, in Seoul on Monday.
The band, consisting of members Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Korean-American Huening Kai, is seen as a "little brother" to superstar Big Hit labelmates BTS. Expectations around the group are running high after the success of their debut EP and first music videos, which were released in March.
"BTS and Big Hit have given us very large wings and I think it is our job to soar on these wings," Soobin, the 18-year-old leader of TXT, said at a media event in Seoul. "Our job is to make these wings strong and become a group that BTS can be proud of."
While BTS has evolved to tackle social and political issues in their lyrics, TXT cuts a younger profile, with all band members still in their teens. The new album's songs focus mainly on the difficulties in transitioning to adolescence, the band said.
"In adolescence, things are changing and it's hard to know how to feel," said 17-year-old Taehyun. "We have these bursts of emotions and want to share how we feel. These are stories that a lot of people can relate to."
The eight-track album features the lead single, "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)," a reference to the enchanted train platform in the Harry Potter series where students board the Hogwarts Express.
"[The song] is about a special place where just my friends and I can go," said 19-year-old Yeonjun. "This is a place that is only permitted to us, so let's run away there."
Journalist Ha Kyeong-heon, who covers K-pop for South Korean newspaper The Kyunghyang Shinmun, said TXT still exists in the shadow of BTS for many fans, but that their own distinctive approach and narrative style is starting to emerge with this new album.
"TXT is different from BTS, which dealt with the pressure of entrance exams and schools in Korea in a realistic way, in that it presents a lot of content based on dreams and fantasies," he told UPI.
The Dream Chapter: Magic will be released at 6 p.m. Korean time (5 a.m. EST) on Monday, along with the video for lead single "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)."
A live TXT show will also be broadcast at 7 p.m. KST (6 a.m. EST) on Korean music channel Mnet and will stream worldwide on platforms including V Live, YouTube and Twitter.
TXT made its debut in March with the EP The Dream Chapter: Star, which topped the charts in 44 regions worldwide on iTunes Top Albums and launched at No. 140 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, making it the highest-charting debut album by an all-male K-pop group.
The group sold out their first U.S. showcase tour of six cities in May and was nominated at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards for Best K-pop Act, the only newcomer in the category.
The video for "Crown," the debut single from the EP, also broke the record for the most YouTube views of a debut track by a Korean male artist, with 15.1 million views in its first 24 hours.
The Dream Chapter: Magic consists of eight tracks: "New Rules," "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)," "Roller Coaster," "Poppin' Star," "Can't We Just Leave the Monster Alive?" "Magic Island," "20cm" and "Angel or Devil."
