K-pop stars Tomorrow X Together are back with their latest studio album, The Star Chapter: Together. The five-member boy group, usually referred to simply as TXT, has spent the six years since their 2019 debut focusing on growth — whether that be as individuals growing into their early-to-mid 20s, or musically, evolving from the fresh and energetic early songs like “Crown” and “Blue Hour” to the more mature recent singles “Love Language” and “Deja Vu.”

Together sees TXT — comprised of members Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai — leaning into their signature sound. “Upside Kiss,” which Yeonjun contributed to writing on, is a synth-heavy pop track, while the standout of the album, “Beautiful Strangers,” is a piano-meets-synth pop track that could easily be added to the batch of quintessential TXT songs.

The album officially closes the group’s Star Chapter, which has thematically and visually guided this and their last release. They’ve previously released albums with the monikers of the “Chaos Chapter,” “Name Chapter” and the “Dream Chapter.”

With Together, the group also ventures into new territory: solo songs. It’s not a completely new concept — Yeonjun and Beomgyu have both put out solo releases — but it marks the first time each member will have their own track on an album.

TXT spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about their latest album, the choice to include solo songs and why they’re entering “version 2.0 of Tomorrow X Together.”

How are you feeling about the new album, The Star Chapter: Together, and the lead single “Beautiful Strangers?”

BEOMGYU This album and this song really brings the Star Chapter [series of albums] to a close. We really focused on the message that we want to convey through this track.

HUENINGKAI The seventh mini album, The Star Chapter: Sanctuary, was all about us being able to transform ourselves thanks to the love of you [the fans]. This time around we are using the love and power that has been bestowed by you and we are using that to save you — save us and the world. I thought that was very romantic.

With this being the end of an album series, do you treat that differently than other albums?

TAEHYUN Yeah… I think I want to talk a little bit about the final track [on the album], which is “Song of the Stars.” I think the track really embodies our full growth, and it really shows who we are as Tomorrow x Together and what we’ve been through all this time. When we were recording that song, I felt a lot of different emotions swirling inside of me.

Do you have any personal favorites on the album?

TAEHYUN “Song of the Stars.”

HUENINGKAI I agree.

SOOBIN I would also say “Song of the Stars.” It just kind of touched me.

BEOMGYU I would choose “Upside Down Kiss” because I think the performance is going to be really cool.

This is the first time you’re including a solo song for each member on an album. Some of you have done your own solo projects, but what made you want to include these songs?

HUENINGKAI I think it was a very natural choice because MOA [the official name for the group’s fans] always want solo tracks. We thought it was the right timing for us to have our own songs with just our voice on it, so it was very natural for us.

TAEHYUN When we are [performing] at concerts and tours, it just adds a new twist to the tracks that we perform, so I’m looking forward to our next tour with all the solo tracks.

Did you find the process to be different given you mostly record songs together? Was it more exciting or more nerve wracking to be doing it alone?

BEOMGYU As you said, it was our first time having our solo tracks on our album, and it felt very new to us. We could just fully unleash our own colors, our own perspectives, so I think it was a very fun process for us.

TAEHYUN I found it was very interesting to go through all the emotional evolution just by myself in that one song because when we have a group song — when we have five of us doing different parts — then the emotions change very naturally when the part changes to a different member. I made sure that I didn’t make it boring for the listeners. I wanted to make sure that they could follow my emotional evolution — from the beginning, the verse and building up the emotions to the chorus — that was the really fun part for me.

Yeonjun and Taehyun, you both contributed to writing on this album. Can you tell me a bit about that process, and why you wanted to?

YEONJUN The reason why I wanted to participate in the writing of the song is because we have solo tracks [on this album], so at least for my solo track, I wanted to contribute to the lyrics.

TAEHYUN I contributed both to the lyrics and the writing of the melody of the song. We actually had the entire song [done] except for the pre-chorus part, and the producer and the A&R team told me that this pre-chorus needs further development — do you want to give it a try? I came up with three different options, and there was one that everyone liked, so that became the pre-chorus.

How do you feel you’ve changed since your debut, in terms of finding your own style and how you mesh together?

TAEHYUN The reason why we’re wrapping [this album series] is because we had a lot of growth. I think it’s worth wrapping because we’ve been through and experienced so much growth, not only as individuals and members of this group, but as a group as well. Now that we’re moving on to version 2.0 of Tomorrow X Together, I think there will be new challenges, but we need a new quantum jump.

Considering this album is wrapping up a chapter for you, looking ahead is there anything you haven’t tried yet that you’re hoping to in the near future? Whether that’s in terms of style or genre?

HUENINGKAI Whatever genre, whatever style we can nail. I think our group has the [strength] of having songs that people can really resonate with, especially our own generation. I think we’re going to keep focusing on the emotions that we and our generation feel growing up, and we are going to strive to make a better tomorrow with all of them.

How has your teamwork with one another evolved as you’ve grown?

BEOMGYU We’ve become a family.

SOOBIN We have grown into a group of people who don’t need words. We just lock eyes and we know how each other is feeling. Our teamwork really shines when there is something that’s going wrong on a stage or a performance, or [there’s] something that we need to clear up. You can really see our teamwork shine [during] those hard times.

Do you feel that that was something that happened naturally over time, or is it something that you guys put a lot of work into consciously?

TAEHYUN Lots of work is necessary.

HUENINGKAI I mean, of course time helps, but all of us, we put a lot of effort into building our teamwork, and that’s why we have what we have now.

As performers in the public eye you, unfortunately, don’t have much say in how people perceive you. But you’re working hard at making music and building your career, so I assume there’s a way you’d like to be percevied as artists. Who do you want Tomorrow X Togehter to be? Do you feel it already is?

HUENINGKAI I just hope that Tomorrow X Together is a group that lasts long in the memories of the fans. I hope that we can make people feel heard by listening to our music, and that they can feel something in their heart when they’re listening to our music.

Anything to add about the new album?

BEOMGYU This is an album that really brings closure to our narrative and because of that, it means so much to us. I hope MOA stay tuned for this and enjoy the album.