Image courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment

With one of the concepts for this album being “Lover,” TXT released concept photos with a cute and lighthearted theme. Showcasing their wholesome sides, they were filled with images that are sure to melt your hearts.

Ending the year strong, Tomorrow By Together (TXT) released an album titled “The Star Chapter: Sanctuary” on Nov. 4, 2024. Moving on from “The Name Chapter,” which had one album and one mini album, TXT announced the start of “The Star Chapter,” which was met with anticipation and excitement from fans. With the meaning of finding true love and lasting happiness, the album tells the story of two people who meet under a starry sky. Each song represents a stage in the relationship of these two people.

Compared to their previous releases, this album was a disappointing length, with only six songs, all under three minutes. In the expanded version, while four extra songs are provided, they are still remixes of the title song. Overall, all of the songs were much shorter and there was not a lot of variety in the melodies.

Additionally, TXT has been famous for having long titles for their songs ever since their debut. However, for their most recent albums, they have been shortening their titles or giving a slightly longer title to their B-sides. It was depressing to see that in this album, not a single song had any outrageously long titles. While this is not a big problem, it was still sad to see that they have moved on from this tradition.

The album opens with “Heaven,” a sweet and romantic song with lyrics comparing different parts of a romantic relationship to Heaven. The lyrics conveyed the lighthearted moments of the start of a relationship, with the first moments being some of the best.

The second song is “Over The Moon,” the title track of this album. It starts with similar lyrics to “Heaven” but soon moves to promise a brilliant future together for the rest of eternity. While all of the songs in this album were short, It was annoying to find that the title track did not have a bridge. While there has been a tendency in the Korean pop (K-pop) industry to remove bridges and have shorter songs, it made the song very short and didn’t give as much time to process the music.

“Danger,” the third song in the album, opens with a much deeper sound than the previous ones, which fits well with its title. The vocals are more raspy and there is an obviously rougher tone to it than the other two songs, which had more dreamy and ethereal feels to it. With lyrics that allude to a deepening, addicting and intense love, the lyrics compare their emotions to crimes.

The fourth track, “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away)” represents the will to hold onto what means the most to you. With lyrics that describe how they would do anything for this person, the lyrics compare themselves to a colorless sunset when they are without this love interest. With a total length of two minutes and nine seconds, this is the shortest song in this album. It was incredibly disappointing to hear that the song had already ended when I was expecting another verse or a bridge.

“Forty One Winks” was their fifth song and talked about the secret language of love between the people involved in the relationship. The lyrics describe that one person is reassuring the other that they still love each other. The “forty one winks” are a secret code that they send to each other to signal to each other that they are still together. It is a cute song that talks about how these winks are like a language from the stars.

The last song, “Higher Than Heaven” is a song that talks about how they know the person they found is their true love. The lyrics talk about flying together to a place higher than heaven by relying on each other for support. They talk about ecstatic emotions and how they now understand the meaning of eternity. “Higher Than Heaven” is the only song in this album that had a bridge. Luckily, this bridge did not disappoint, as it highlighted Taehyun’s amazing vocals, reaching into higher register notes. However, the chorus of the song was not nearly as good as the other tracks. While it showed off the higher ranges of the members, it didn’t have as much structure and was not as catchy as some of the other choruses in this album.

TXT’s album, “The Star Chapter: Sanctuary,” was a cute album about a sweet romance between two lovers. With lighthearted lyrics about falling in love and being in a relationship, the tunes and melodies were super catchy to listen to. While the length of the album was way too short and each song seemed to end too quickly, the songs were not bad overall.