album review: the star chapter sanctuary, tomorrow x together (2024)
the short song trend has to END
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I originally wrote this back in December, but never got around to finishing and publishing it until today. Now TXT has just started their hiatus from official activities, and publishing a not-fully-positive review of their latest album feels… wrong. But I also know that if I don’t get this out now, it’s never going to get published. Ah well.
Oh boy, I’ve been a MOA for nearly two years now and I have thoughts and feelings.
I’m going to resist the urge to yap about the lore surrounding this album and its place in TXT’s narrative arc, partly because that would take forever, but mostly because I don’t think you need it. You can listen to this album on its own without knowing the rest of the group’s narrative.
When the early promos for the album started coming out, it was clear that The Star Chapter: Sanctuary was going to be a romance album. A pure romance album, fluffy and warm-hearted —and TXT had never done anything like that before! They’ve done romance songs before of course, one of their most popular songs is even called “0x1 = LOVESONG,” but their previous forays into romance have always been secondary to the coming-of-age story of their previous albums. The romance there was angsty and unstable since it was from the point of view of a teenager whose world was falling apart. But this time there’s no angst! Just sweet romance from the point of view of someone who has grown up and learned to love with their whole heart. And that’s exciting! A romance album after years of angst and melancholy and finding oneself — it could be cathartic!
But at the same time, I was wary. I wasn’t particularly a big fan of TXT’s last album; I liked “I’ll See You There Tomorrow” and I had “Deja Vu” on my regular playlists, but the album as a whole hadn’t really charmed me. It felt too short and at times too artificial in the way it approached its emotions and themes. Add in my disappointment with “GGUM” and my anticipation was a lot more toned down. I just didn’t trust Hybe or BigHit to make good artistic decisions over music anymore, not when they’d shown that they were willing to toss that out the window in favor of some numbers game. Streams, chart positions, popularity-based awards.
Turns out I was right not to trust these companies! I was, uh, whelmed with this album. I didn’t dislike it, and in fact I liked its overall sound far more than minisode 3: TOMORROW. But listening to the album felt like reading a book that was decent and even compelling at times, but was edited so poorly that it was missing whole chapters and the ending. Everything was so damn short to the point that whatever buildup the songs had instantly fizzled out. Why is everything under three minutes? Where are the bridges and final choruses? Is developing your musical ideas not a thing anymore?
I know what trick the corporate overlords at Hybe are pulling with this one: They want to make the songs so short yet so catchy that you feel unsatisfied and want to play the album over and over again. That boosts streaming numbers, especially since short songs can be played more frequently than long ones in the same period of time. But that just leaves me frustrated. And contrary to what the corporate overlords want, I don’t particularly want to replay an album where the main takeaway emotion is frustration.
It’s a shame, because some of these songs could have been great if they had been given more time to get fleshed out. Track-by-track thoughts below.
Track 1: Heaven
What a lovely little opener! It’s not unusual these days for TXT albums to have at least one trend-chasing song, and “Heaven” is definitely modeled after the dreamy, fluffy pop sound that’s popular these days. The song reminds me of “Cupid” by Fifty Fifty and even “Nonsense” by Sabrina Carpenter, and that’s not a bad thing — this pop trend happens to be just up my alley. Would I have liked this song to be longer? Of course. But the track length here isn’t as offensive as the other tracks on the album, just because it doesn’t sound as abrupt.
Track 2: Over the Moon
This would be such a sweet, feel-good song… if it sounded complete. Everything about it is designed to make your heart flutter, from the unapologetically romantic lyrics (“Let’s make an ancient future, live in the same house / Age as much as our memories heap”? That’s a wedding vow right there), to the boppy melody and falsetto-laden chorus. But just as I’m getting into it, it… stops, and the song’s momentum just grinds to a halt. Even playing the song more than once feels more frustrating than satisfying! And it’s a shame because this is the title track. This is the track that needs to soar the most, to carry me off on a cloud of emotions, but unfortunately it doesn’t stick the landing.
Track 3: Danger
Speaking as someone who’s been listening to BigHit groups for a while, naming this track “Danger” is certainly a choice, because it just reminds me of the BTS song of the same name. Anyway, this is the dark, sultry track of the album, though not as dark or as sultry as their, say, Temptation era stuff (but that’s not necessarily a bad thing). It’s a decent enough track, not my favorite but not bad, and I do enjoy its groove and 2000s R&B-pop-esque vibes. The shift to a more melodic line in the chorus is pretty nice! And then it… ends. Okay.
Track 4: Resist
Sadly, this is my clear least favorite track on the album. It reminds me of 2000s dance-pop a la Timbaland, a genre I’m fine with but am not particularly attached to. But what really kills this track for me is the heavy falsetto in the choruses — no offense to TXT, but… they just don’t sound good in those parts. I don’t know enough to say if it’s a mismatch in timbre / vocal color, or if they haven’t received the right vocal training for it, or if it’s a mixing issue, but it’s just not pleasant or interesting to listen to. It doesn’t help either that this track is far too short (just barely over 2 minutes!), so those falsettos feel like they dominate the track.
Track 5: Forty-One Winks
Another lovely little track! This is the one track that has grown on me over my relistens. I can’t help but feel like it reminds me of a specific 2000s R&B/pop song, yet I can’t seem to think of a specific one. Either way, it hits exactly the vibe that it’s going for, and it flows so smoothly. My one complaint is that if it really wants to embrace those 2000s vibes, it needs to be longer! (Yes, this is a running theme here.) I vaguely remember that those songs in this style were long, with the last part of the song being used to show off the singer’s or group’s vocal runs. Or it would have had an extra romantic bridge! Instead this song, as it is, feels like it’s missing something.
Track 6: Higher than Heaven
For the final track, TXT returns to its familiar pop-rock ground and man, I have such mixed feelings about this song. I don’t hate listening to it, and it sounds pleasant enough, but it also sounds so goofy, like a kiddie version of a pop-rock song. When they sing the (riff, riff) hiiiigh part of the song I imagine a family-friendly car commercial about a bunch of young kids getting taken by their parents on a vacation in their shiny new sedan. Or I imagine it being performed by the bad boy-lite character in a Disney Channel original movie. And those things should make the song annoying to me, but it doesn’t! Not completely, at least. So I don’t know how to feel.