{"id":277239,"date":"2025-11-07T12:36:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T12:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/277239\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T12:36:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T12:36:16","slug":"tomorrow-x-togethers-yeonjun-on-no-labels-finding-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/277239\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomorrow X Together\u2019s Yeonjun on \u2018No Labels,’ Finding Himself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tYeonjun isn\u2019t wasting time on labels. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe 26-year-old K-pop star, a member of boy group Tomorrow x Together<\/a>, also known as TXT, is at a place in his career where his love for music<\/a> is the guiding light. \u201cRather than trying to meet everyone\u2019s expectations, I just try to focus on making music that I truly love and believe in,\u201d he tells The Hollywood Reporter on a late-night Zoom from Seoul.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s different to see the personable singer on his own. In 2019, Yeonjun debuted as the oldest member of BigHit Music\u2019s newest boy group. Over the last six years, the members of TXT have grown from bubbly, bright teens to men in their early and mid-twenties. The group\u2019s sound has matured alongside them, however, there\u2019s still plenty of genres to explore. For Yeonjun, that exploration has led him to his debut EP, No Labels: Part One. <\/p>\n

\n\tNo Labels, which holds personal meaning to Yeonjun, is the perfect moniker for the six-track album, which weaves its way in and out of different genres. Yeonjun says he wasn\u2019t looking to tell a larger narrative; it\u2019s clear on the first listen that the album is all about spreading his wings sonically. The singer takes risks, and they greatly pay off. No Labels is equal parts catchy and impressive.<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Yeonjun speaks with THR about his journey of self-discovery thanks to his debut album, the reason he decided to change up the music video format and why he\u2019s not concerned about the fact people will either love or hate the album. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhy was now the right time to release your first solo EP?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve always wanted to share my stories and my music. After the release of my first mixtape, \u201cGgum,\u201d I got really confident about [sharing my music]. I decided I really needed to do this, and I jumped in right away.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tYeonjun for \u2018No Labels.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBigHit Music<\/p>\n

\n\tSonically speaking, this is a very new direction for you. That\u2019s exciting. Did you have any apprehension about that? Were you purposely trying to do things you maybe wouldn\u2019t do with the group?<\/p>\n

\n\tI wouldn\u2019t say it was intentional. Because this is my solo album, I thought I would have to capture 100 percent of my stories and capture 100 percent of my style, and that\u2019s why this album turned out to be like this.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou were also heavily involved in writing lyrics on most of the songs, and you also worked on the composition of some of them as well. Why was it so important for you to be creatively involved?<\/p>\n

\n\tI could just get a song and become a person that fits that song, but rather than doing that, I think it\u2019s more fun and good to actually write the lyrics, compose and tell the story myself. Not being able to do that through music would be a shame. In the process of writing lyrics, composing and participating in the creative process of the performance, I was able to find myself, who I really was. It was a journey of self-expression.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you feel any pressure during this project? This is your first EP outside of Tomorrow x Together<\/a>. When you\u2019re in a group, you always have someone to lean on but this was all you. How was it different for you?<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst off, physically there was so much to do. I had to write the lyrics of the songs. I had to participate in the composition and choreography. I had to confirm the choreography and participate in the direction. I didn\u2019t have much personal time and that was quite tough. But in retrospect, the entire process was so much fun. I think that process was almost another youth for me.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tYeonjun for \u2018No Labels.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBigHit Music<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy did you decide to bring several songs into your music video?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three tracks that went into the music video \u2014 \u201cComa,\u201d \u201cLet Me Tell You\u201d and \u201cTalk to You\u201d \u2014 are really good songs. I wanted to try something different and new. I did the shoot, and I think the final result\u2019s going to be really cool. I think it\u2019s going to be really amazing.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s an interesting way to incorporate a visual component. Was this about telling a narrative, or did this happen organically?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was not really about telling a narrative or the story of the album. Rather, I was looking for the right performance and right images and videos that fit the story to create an omnibus style music video. It wasn\u2019t really about telling the narrative.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou worked on the composition for the lead single, \u201cTalk to You.\u201d Do you find working on the music makes it more personal for you? It certainly doesn\u2019t have to be autobiographical, but I imagine there\u2019s more of yourself in the music when you\u2019re making it.<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course not all songs are autobiographical. It could be that you\u2019ve chosen a specific character and you decide to tell the story about that character in a song. With \u201cTalk to You,\u201d it was not really about me. Instead, I think I was more imagining things when I was writing this [song] based on things that I\u2019ve heard, based on things that I\u2019ve seen or based on my actual experience. It was more of a imaginary project.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou said before you didn\u2019t have much personal time or down time when making this. Did you have anyone you were leaning on creatively or confiding in creatively to act as a sounding board?<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t think I leaned on anyone per se because there wasn\u2019t even time to do that. I tried to withstand everything on my own, which led to me spending a lot of time thinking. Through that process I learned a lot, felt a lot, and ultimately I made it on my own, and through that I think I was able to grow. So no, I didn\u2019t really lean on anyone, but the entire process was a very meaningful time for me.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tYeonjun for \u2018No Labels.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBigHit Music<\/p>\n

\n\tI know the whole album is called No Labels, what does that mean to you?<\/p>\n

\n\tNo Labels is a phrase that really boosts my confidence because if you think about it, before working on this album, I wonder if I was a person who could be described as someone with no labels. I think there were times when I wasn\u2019t. Through this album, I was able to know more about myself. It was a process of learning about me. Compared to before, I\u2019ve become a person who\u2019s closer to the description of No Labels. It has a really significant meaning for me, and I think also through this label I became more me.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is something we actually spoke about with TXT, but I imagine your feelings about you as a solo artist are different. As a creative person, you don\u2019t have much say in how you or your work is perceived. That is unfortunately very much out of your control, but you have worked hard and are putting a lot of yourself into this. How do you hope to be perceived as a performer?<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, it would be great if a lot of people like this album, but for sure there will be people who don\u2019t. How people see me or my music isn\u2019t the most important thing to me. Rather than trying to meet everyone\u2019s expectations, I just try to focus on making music that I truly love and believe in. That feels the most meaningful to me. Ultimately, I would like to be perceived as a person who makes music as he wants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yeonjun isn\u2019t wasting time on labels. The 26-year-old K-pop star, a member of boy group Tomorrow x Together,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,2091,25702,216,29279],"class_list":{"0":"post-277239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-international","10":"tag-k-pop-news","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-tomorrow-x-together"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}