Outside, New York City is hot. Dirty, sultry, makeup running in rivulets kinda hot.
One becomes hyper-aware of the dust and grime embedded their into skin and clothes when walking into the air-conditioned, pristine hotel suite to meet rising K-Pop rookies, Tomorrow X Together. Soobin, the groups leader, Yeonjun, Huening Kai, Taehyun and Beomgyu are neither grubby nor sweaty. Theyre welcoming and immaculate in simple, crisp casual wear; Yeonjuns black and white checkerboard shirt is as loud, fashion-wise, as it gets.
Despite a packed schedule – one journalist after the one other filing in and out of this room – theyre comfortable and alert, if not slightly curious as to what another quickly-conducted interview brings. TXT, as their name is commonly abbreviated to, are in town for two days of KCon, the annual, roving Korean pop music convention, which has drawn thousands of fans to the Javits Center by day and Madison Square Garden by night, and where theyll perform four tracks from their debut EP, The Dream Chapter: Star.
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Onstage theyll wear dress-shirts, ties and, fittingly, school blazers (Yeonjun the eldest at 19, while Huening Kai is only 16), and although they might have initially gained attention for being labelmates with BTS, TXT bear little resemblance to the iconic swagger and disaffection of early BTS.
Theyre successfully walking their own path – boys next door, sweet and wide-eyed, with an upbeat, pop-heavy sound and tongue-in-cheek nods to the prickly confusion and heat that comes with being a teenager. Theres even a touch of surrealism to their work – on Cat & Dog they declare: I dont wanna just be friends… I wanna be your dog as audiences delightedly bark at them.
So, in the spirit of such quirks, we dive into a quickfire conversation and discover TXT never fight, have too many stuffed toys and are very, very good at talking all at once and jumping in to finish each others sentences.
ON AN AVERAGE DAY, TXT…
Taehyun: In the morning, me, Huening Kai and Beomgyu go to school, then we come back to the company and…
Beomgyu: We practice practice practise.
Huening Kai: Practising is our life!
How many hours of school do you do?
Huening Kai: Maybe until, like, 12pm or 1pm.
And so Soobin and Yeonjun just lie in bed waiting for you to come back?
Yeonjun: (laughs) Thats right, we just sleep.
What happens after practice?
Huening Kai: We usually order in food and eat together.
Taehyun: Always together.
Is there a battle over deciding on a menu?
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Yeonjun: (laughs) We dont fight.
Beomgyu: Never!
FOR THE SAD OR BAD DAYS
When youre tired or down, what do you watch to cheer yourself up? Personally, Im on YouTube for cat videos or people falling over.
Huening Kai: I usually watch cute animals, like puppies and kittens.
Beomgyu: When I sleep, I play and listen to rain sounds on YouTube.
Oh, I have a rain sounds app, its amazing. It makes me sleepy but also need the bathroom.
Taehyun: I watch Huening Kais fancams because hes so cute onstage.
Kai, are you aware that he does this?
Huening Kai: No! (laughs)
MY PRECIOUS!
Whats the most precious thing you own?
Yeonjun: Clothes. I love clothes.
Taehyun: I love shoes.
Huening Kai: Lots of dolls and toys. Theyre so soft and squishy. I usually hug them a lot.
How many do you have?
Taehyun: He cant count them.
Beomgyu: 200?
Huening Kai: No!
Yeonjun: 20?
Huening Kai: Umm…
Beomgyu: 300?
Huening Kai: No!
Beomgyu: I have a guitar and a doll too. Actually I have two guitars, one electric and one acoustic.
Have you named your guitars? All instruments should have names, the same as cars and ships.
Beomgyu: Oh, no names, not yet.
ON FANTASY CONCEPTS
Lets match a member with a concept; your options are sexy, retro, horror, futuristic and hip hop.
Huening Kai: Of course, hip hop is Yeonjun.
Taehyun: Sexy is me.
Soobin: No, its me!
Yeonjun: No, its me, Id rather have sexy. Sexy hip hop.
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Feel free to stake the ultimate claim… whos the sexiest?
Taehyun: Maybe Soobin.
Soobin: I think Im the sexiest member of this team.
Yeonjun: No, youre second sexiest.
Soobin: Hey, no.
Keep it moving… whos taking futuristic?
Everyone: Huening Kai!
Soobin: When theres a fashion look that we cant really cant digest, Huening Kai puts it on and suddenly it makes sense. So hes, like, futuristic.
The horror concept, whos the best fit for that?
Huening Kai: Me, I think.
Ok, slow down there, you cant have them all! Now for retro…
Taehyun: Me. I love retro music actually. I love New Jack Swing.
ON COMPOSING
Beomgyu: Huening Kai and I write songs and give them to our members and we all write lyrics. Maybe youll hear them (some day).
How many songs have been written?
Taehyun: Maybe four or five?
Beomgyu: Thats a secret!
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
TXT members use their birth names as stage names, so if you could use a differRead More – Source
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