Tomorrow x Together on Their New Album, World Tour and 'Those' Outfits: 'We Were Kinda Worried'

The K-Pop group open up about maturing with their music and incorporating their own experiences into their latest breakup-themed release

Tomorrow x Together are all grown up, but they've hardly reached their final form.

For their latest album, minisode 2: Thursday's Child, which came out Monday, the K-Pop group confront heartbreak, the realities of adulthood and the trials of being strapped into head-to-toe leather outfits by dozens of belts.

To TXT fans, known collectively as MOA (for Moments of Alwaysness), Thursday's Child should feel like a natural progression of the five-piece boy band's transition from the sweet concepts of their debut in 2019, through their last record, The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT OR ESCAPE, which saw them enter a darker, more rock-influenced era — and landed them on the "best album" lists of Rolling Stone and Billboard for 2021.

The five tracks on Thursday's Child also continue a storyline set up in Chaos Chapter about a romantic relationship, its pitfalls and now, its aftermath.

"We're trying to convey the emotions of a boy that just experienced a breakup," Soobin, 21, tells PEOPLE. And while TXT keep their personal relationships out of the spotlight, Taehyun, 20, admits: "Our music does contain the stories we've experienced ourselves," noting, "It also contains stories that we've heard from other people and in media, like movies and dramas."

The members — which also includes Yeonjun, 22, Beomgyu, 21, and Hueningkai, 19 — contributed to the writing and production of the album, and as a result, Taehyun promises, "it contains our sincerity."

The name of the album — which originates from a nursery rhyme, and is shared by a David Bowie song and Eartha Kitt's autobiography — and its closing track, "Thursday's Child Has Far to Go," are meant to evoke that "transitional period of turning from a boy into an adult," says Soobin, and show that TXT, who share a record label with BTS and are often labeled as the superstars' younger brothers, are no longer rookies. They've put in the work and plan to be around for a long time.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER
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The group's ever-increasing edginess hit what might be a new peak when they dropped a series of teaser clips late last month in which they donned full leather outfits covered with grommeted straps that quickly set social media abuzz.

"We wore these black outfits and, I'm not gonna lie, there were like dozens of belts all over our bodies," recalls Soobin. "It's not an exaggeration, it took 10 minutes to put them on and 10 minutes to take them off. It was a hard process."

Adds Taehyun, "It does look very different from the aspects we've shown before so we were kinda worried if the fans would find us awkward and unfamiliar, but we were really glad that they loved the new style."

In the video for the album's first single, "Good Boy Gone Bad," which dropped early Monday morning in the U.S., the outfits are a little comfier, but the imagery is equally adult. It features the members lurking in dark alleys and making allusions to a failed romantic endeavor as Hueningkai clutches a bouquet in a graffiti-covered phone booth, Soobin punches a mirror, and Beomgyu hurls a teddy bear into a pile of trash.

But fans of warm, fuzzy TXT, fear not. Taehyun tells PEOPLE, "The concepts and music we're gonna bring in the future are limitless and we're going to bring as many as possible, so you won't have to worry about never seeing the softer side of TXT again."

TXT Album Artwork
HYBE

With the music video pushing nine million views as of Tuesday afternoon, the members are turning their attention to a slew of promo.

TikTok has played a big role in their past success, with their songs becoming viral sounds on the video-sharing platform and the members' own posts garnering likes into the many millions.

Out of the five new tracks, Taehyun predicts "Trust Fund Baby" will "go a little bit viral." Citing that "Anti-Romantic," a slower song off their last album was a hit on TikTok. "We did not expect it at all," he says. "I think people really loved it because of the sincerity and the lyrics, so in that same context, I hope that 'Trust Fund Baby' goes viral."

Yeonjun, perhaps the group's most prolific TikTok user, also teased plans: "We're gonna come up with various challenges, so I hope that it goes viral and people love the trend." The first one is already live on their page.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER
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The group has also announced a world tour this summer, with stops in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and L.A. The live shows are some of their first in two years thanks to the pandemic, and mark only their second tour in the U.S. following a 6-city debut showcase in 2019.

And while they admit there are some nerves among the members about getting back in front of a large crowd, their first live show in Seoul this spring has put them a little more at ease. "For our Fan Live in March, we stood in front of MOA in person and I felt a little bit nervous, but I think the excitement and joy overcame the nervousness," says Taehyun.

After two years of not being able to experience their fans' support in person, Beomgyu's hopes for the tour are simple: "I hope to see as many [people] as possible and feel that energy and hear those chants and cheers."

minisode 2: Thursday's Child is out now.

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