The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY is Deeper Than You Think

An analysis of the latest installment in TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s ongoing narrative

To those unfamiliar with the TXT Music Video Universe, The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY is still easy to appreciate and enjoy. Layered harmonies and a surprising number of falsetto moments sweep listeners into a dreamy soundscape that stands apart from previous TXT releases. The music is not generic, boring pop; they seamlessly combine R&B, pop, rock, and even dancehall elements. The songs are distinguishable, but the album as a whole makes for a cohesive listening experience, with lyrics focused on themes like paradise, dreams, and eternal love. The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY deserves praise for its smooth yet versatile production and sweet sentiments; these traits are enough on their own for it to earn its spot on “Best New Music” lists like this one!

However, to those who are familiar with the TXT Music Video Universe, the appeal of The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY goes much deeper. The new material provides visual and sonic equivalents for the lessons their characters have been learning. This EP’s relative levity should not be mistaken for a lack of substance. Its relative lightness serves a narrative purpose, while also representing their dependable group identity.

The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY and the Theme of “Tomorrow”

In the era of The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION, TXT realize they cannot trust Peter Pan and his pitching of Neverland as a permanent utopia. Peter Pan is misguided at best and deceptive at worst. He promises TXT’s characters that staying with him in Neverland will be a dream come true, but the members eventually realize it is the opposite. Staying in a frozen-in-time state robs them of chances to grow, evolve, think about the future, and overall build their “Tomorrows.” Staying in Neverland means staying in “Today;” the “Tomorrow” that Peter fears - but that TXT learn to embrace - never comes. As much as they experience the “temptation” to never have to face the future, what eventually wins out is their desire to accept the bad with the good that comes with “Tomorrow;” they would rather live for both “Today” and “Tomorrow” than only for the relatively frictionless former.

In the new song “Over The Moon,” the group sings, “I soar when you’re in my arms,” and they mention the “land of eternity.” The first song on The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY is called “Heaven,” and the last song is called “Higher Than Heaven.” Taken together, these lyrics and titles imply that TXT do not create the most satisfying lives possible through residing somewhere that could be described as “Heaven,” like Neverland, a place with zero problems. Instead, their most worthwhile lives are lived in places with more depth and nuance, for which no words might fully suffice (so they settle for phrases like “Over The Moon” and “Higher Than Heaven”). Neverland has allowed them to go on short-term flights, but long-term “soaring” is what a world with their loved ones offers. “Only when we’re together / Will tomorrow become reality,” they assert. They “soar” once they develop close bonds over time, and that is impossible when residing somewhere where the phrase “over time” isn’t even relevant.

The “Over The Moon” music video symbolizes TXT’s desire to form long-term bonds, by showing the members enjoying “real life,” even with its unpredictability and shades of gray. It rains on and off, the members sometimes hold umbrellas and sometimes do not, and some umbrellas lie on the ground closed while others stay open. The video ends with the members lying on the ground in the shape of a crooked star, with one “arm” of the star bent to disrupt the equal spacing. Like the periods of both rain and shine, the image is both complete and imperfect. As detailed in a previous essay, TXT have developed a post-Neverland mentality of “You can’t have rainbows without rain first.” Peter Pan has tried to convince them to stay with him in a place with only rainbows, metaphorically, but TXT now see through that trap. They would rather live in the “real world,” dealing with rain but also more meaningful rainbows.

It is significant that the “Over The Moon” music video includes a church setting. TXT create their own ideal “sanctuary” there, one that allows them to appreciate things that Peter Pan will never understand, like the freedom of escaping black-and-white thinking (symbolized by embracing different types of weather), and the thrill of what “Tomorrow” can bring (symbolized by being in a location where weddings and other events take place that are emblematic of starting life anew).

The “Chaos Chapters” and the Theme of “Together”

In the “Chaos Chapters,” TXT search for a metaphorical anchor for living in a turbulent reality. That anchor becomes the power of love, which causes their surroundings to melt and crumble in The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE’s concept trailer. (Relatedly, they sing about finally feeling the “warmth of the world” after they have “met you” in the new song “Heaven.”) Their real-world lives are filled with unknowns, but the one known they can draw strength from, the one force reliable and strong enough to end a brutal winter, is the love they feel. This is the theme of The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE’s main track, “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You).” The song equates no love to no meaning in life, and it is about how, as confusing as life’s “equations” can get, the one “variable” they can be certain of is the fact that they love someone.

The repackaged album, The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT OR ESCAPE, equates love to losing if it is based on something material, like money. In “LO$ER=LO♡ER,” they sing, “Lover with a dollar sign / Is a loser;” they know real love is unconditional, not transactional. This lesson is alluded to in “Over The Moon,” when they describe loving relationships as their main source of “order in [their] time and space.” Real lasting love, platonic and otherwise, takes abstract forms. Again, Peter Pan will never understand this, due to both immaturity and the fact the term “lasting” is irrelevant to him; it implies a future that he will never acknowledge.

The Little Prince and the Theme of Building “Tomorrow Together”

An example of a truly meaningful bond that transcends words and objects is the bond between a fox and the prince in The Little Prince. This literary inspiration, on which the minisode 3: TOMORROW era is based, teaches the lesson that “Tomorrow” only means something if it involves togetherness. The magical fox tells the young prince that knowing the prince plans to visit the fox at a specific time each day is what gives him something to look forward to, which therefore makes each day feel special and worthwhile. The fox’s days will blend together as an unmemorable slog if not for getting to anticipate his friend’s visits. The lyrics in “Higher Than Heaven” have the same sentiment: “I met you and created countless tomorrows;” “Together in the tomorrow that will come.” Excitement can override the fear of facing “Tomorrow” if TXT keep a reason for excitement about it in mind.

Just like the prince and fox’s times together have to become habitual in order for the fox to feel “tamed,” TXT’s bonds with both their audience and each other are made meaningful because of their consistent commitment. Whenever TXT allude to a past era in a new one, it signals both image and story continuity. Key words from past eras fill The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY, including “Promise” and “Eternity.” In “Over The Moon,” they sing, “Promise that I’ll always be anywhere you are,” and in “Higher Than Heaven,” they sing, “I think I know the meaning of eternity now.”

There are multiple nods to the main track of The Dream Chapter: MAGIC in The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY. The “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)” choreography involves an ear-tapping gesture that is also part of the “Over The Moon” choreography. Also, in “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away),” they sing, “Run away with me,” and one of the songs on The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY is called “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away).” After promising to run away with “you,” they promise not to leave this “sanctuary” in which “you” are now together.

Other “Dream Chapter” Easter eggs in the new material include a reference to Morse code in “Forty One Winks” (the group’s debut single, “CROWN,” starts with a Morse code message) and a reference to sunsets in “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away).” A day when TXT do not show up for “you” feels like one with “a sunset that [has] lost its color.” This brings to mind both the little prince’s love of sunsets in The Little Prince, because they give “color” to his days, and TXT’s minisode1 : Blue Hour era, in which sunset is a time when literal magic happens.

Through all these nods to past eras, TXT reiterate the theme of making a meaningful “Tomorrow” actively, persistently, and while believing in the magic that is buried within “the real world” - if only people are there to help them find and enjoy it with them.

Conclusion

By moving even further away from “Neverland” and channeling the lessons from The Little Prince, the world that TXT describe in The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY looks as close to a true sanctuary as it gets. It is one that runs counter to the sanctuary in which they used to be tempted to reside. This one favors impact over immediacy, meaning-making over monotonous days in a permanent cocoon of childhood comforts, and adventurousness over fear-induced avoidance. This one is about the positive outcomes after taking a “freefall” into “the real world,” the fall they make in The Name Chapter: FREEFALL era and reference now in the song “Danger” (they mention a “violent crash landing”).

The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY has much more meaning and specificity to its storytelling than what first meets the eyes and ears. TXT have once again excelled at making music that speaks profound volumes but does so beneath deceptive packaging. To dive deeper into the meaning of their work requires extra commitment and emotional investment - the traits required to make and appreciate everything that makes “Tomorrow” worthwhile!