There’s a new mystical release from rising K-pop boy band TOMORROW X TOGETHER on Monday (Oct. 21). Just a few months since they arrived with their debut EPThe Dream Chapter: Star in March, the five-member team, also known as TXT, have now released their first LP The Dream Chapter: Magic, fronted by the addicting electro-rock-infused dance track “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away).”
An upbeat, explosive tune that blends vibrant rock instrumentals with the quintet’s clear and bright vocals, which are given a larger-than-life quality through a variety of dynamic vocal effects and Auto-Tune, TXT’s latest is a fantastical, festive song that revels in the idea of running away to “get to the hidden 9 and 3/4” and turn their dreams into reality. Magic is a theme emphasized throughout the song’s lyrics (“Please take me now, to the magic named ‘us’”), and outside magical mediums are also referenced throughout; the song’s title is a nod to the Harry Potter series, and the inclusion of the phrase “bibbidi bobbidi boo” is straight out of Cinderella.
The music video for “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)” poses the members of TXT as high schoolers who dream big and discover how their reality is all that more magical than it seems. Throughout, they revel in their time with one another and perform the high-energy choreography as time and reality shifts to being reversed and upside down. They eventually go through a trapped door at the bottom of a pool, and enter what looks like an enchanted forest only to see a giant door, which they find aflame. As they sit, Yeonjun sees that a wound of his is healed, and shortly after the rest of the members are seen walking away from Taehyun, leaving him on his own with a stuffed animal keychain by his side.
TXT arrived on the scene in March as the first new act from Big Hit Entertainment since the company launched BTS in 2013. They debuted on the Billboard 200 with their first album at No. 140 on the chart dated March 16, and their follow-up album definitely doesn’t disappoint. The Dream Chapter: Magic offers up a complex, varied soundscape inspired by the titular theme, with elements of groove, punk-pop, R&B, house, and a whole wide range of other genres littered throughout as the five — Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Huening Kai — share more sides to themselves as one of this year’s most sonically exciting rookie acts, who debuted at No. 1 on the Emerging Artists Chart in March.
Watch the music video for TXT’s “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)” below.