TXT’s music has changed so much since their debut in 2019. Artistic growth should be expected and applauded, but sometimes I cast my mind back to their Crown days and remember how incredibly excited I was about the group and their quirky synthpop style. Since then, they’ve explored almost every genre you can imagine and their title tracks have somehow grown shorter and shorter in length until we end up with the brief fling of Beautiful Strangers‘ two minutes and eighteen seconds.
Overly truncated song lengths is a subject for another post, but lack of development is certainly something that can be touched upon in a song review. Like TXT’s past few singles, Beautiful Strangers has some nice ideas that could have been fleshed out into something more satisfying. It’s the latest song to delve into the angstier side of TXT’s sound — a mopey approach that has never worked all that well for me (apart from the incredible 0X1=LOVESONG).
Another approach that almost never works for me is rock + trap music. It’s so overdone at this point and I just hate the sound of big, atmospheric guitars being supported by tinny, skeletal beats. The contrast feels so chintzy. The thick synth breakdowns that forge Beautiful Strangers‘ post-chorus are more successful in illustrating the drama the track tries to portray. I also enjoy the haunting keys that backdrop much of the track. They’re very Bigbang Monster in style. Remember Monster? THAT is the quality tracks like Beautiful Strangers should be striving for. Instead, the song wastes much of its very limited time on forgettable verses that do little to advance its musical storyline. And without any sort of climax, the track isn’t given a chance to resolve its tension. It’s a shame, because there’s a great song buried somewhere in here. It’s simply in need of much more nurturing, texture and ambition.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Why they trying to be all emo and mysterious😭
Blue hour and crown where did you go⁉️
8/10
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”why they trying to be all emo” when txt’s music has always been 90% emo lmao
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Good point😭
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I love this song but I fear for it’s longevity. I just wish they had cut the first post-chorus and used those 10-ish seconds for a better outro to the song. Really wish we also had that piano a tad louder in the mix.
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not really sure where people are hearing rock in this song claiming it as a rock + trap fusion 😅
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Fair enough. I guess it’s more EDM (?) than rock. I mostly hear the guitars in the pre-choruses.
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it’s a no for me. hated the rock + trap production in Deja Vu and I hate it here too. the instrumental post-chorus sounds dated to me, the same way I felt about Flashover by ENHYPEN.
Song of the Stars is easily the best song on the album and very reminiscent of their debut era.
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it sounds so much like an andteam song it’s so frustrating to me 💀
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&TEAM songs are better than this, though.
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not when war cry exists.
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lol Okay… *recent* &TEAM songs are better than this!
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this has been the issue with their music for the last few comebacks, short track lengths and nice ideas which are severely underdeveloped. it’s very frustrating because it feels like that can be remedied. also agreed, i miss the sound of their brighter, more unique songs
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I normally love the angsty sound (Lovesong is one of my fav kpop songs ever), but this just isn’t it. For an emotionally driven song, I don’t feel the emotion behind it. It lacks momentum. When you mentioned the rock x trap combo I remembered Fake Love, but the emotional core of that song was very strong for some reason. It sounded desperate but in a cathartic way. This one feels dispirited.
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TXT have been around 6 years already since 2019?
The song bears a passing resemblance to ONF’s “We Must Love” also dating from 2019.
I don’t think it is that bad, it is just not that compelling. From the sound of it, is it a romance? A tragedy? What, what human emotion are they trying to convey? No wonder they are beautiful strangers, since none of them seem impassioned enough to care that deeply about this relationship they are singing about. They sing “we do it for love”, but do they? A relationship falling apart and there is nothing imperative happening, just a blasé’ commentary.
A better vocal would elevate the song, more audible breaths. more highs and lows and gasps. A high note that cuts off midair. The production has washed all that away.
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I had the same issue, I just didn’t get the type of emotion they wanted to convey. And I also looked at the lyrics to feel the song better but it didn’t work because even the lyrics were kind of ambivalent, as you say, with the title being the most jarring example.
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Really dig the production but the chorus is the savior here. The composition is really good but there’s no resolution to the build. It’s giving Deja Vu improved but can’t give it above an 8 bc there’s no bridge.
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“Crown” is such a classic, you see it covered as somebody’s audition song at least once in every survival show these days.
…The kid who performs alone here is Fong Atilla, who I was rooting for on Project 7 and who was rumored to be in B2P but didn’t show. I’m confident that he’ll end up debuting somewhere though. He is a real talent! And so adorable.
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Another two minute and 18 second song? Holy shit 💀
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By far their worst title track and their worst album ever. There’s nothing in this delivery that AI couldn’t deliver as well (and probably did), and they seem to be losing all their peculiar freshness – that was part of their original DNA even when they went bad or dark.
To me it’s a meh out of meh.
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AI is definetly an interesting take. Over The Moon was way worse than this tbh.
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I love this teaser…looking forward to the full song😡
This is insulting at this point. It’s not even about the length, it’s just 10+ songwriters not being able to compose a full song. Where is the rest?!?!?!?!?! Same goes for Upside Down Kiss😤
This could’ve been a 9 if it had a short bridge and an awesome outro.
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Yep, it is insulting. It’s as if the agency is assuming that the fans don’t care about the actual music and that funds should be diverted everywhere else but the actual song. It’s a conscious choice, which is even more annoying.
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I think they are spending way too much money on visuals. On my recent road trips, we visited a used bookstore with a sizeable used kpop section. Hubby was in the vinyl section for hours, as expected, so I had time to flip through them all, or most. The boy bands photobooks all seem to have the same winsome expressions with an over-abundance of coral lipstick.
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I know it’s just a song, but it makes me so mad. Usually I get over whatever bothers me pretty fast but with this song it’s sticking to the point where I don’t even queue it. It’s like I’m angry at it for existing the way it is. It reminds me of how I felt (still feel) about Jimin’s “Who” and Enhypen’s “Bad Desire”, where the excessive autotune killed an otherwise good song😓
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to think crown was almost 4 minutes long and one of their earlier bsides (fairy of shampoo) is a full 4.5 mins ie TWICE the length of this…..hybe u will be dealt w Trust
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I listened to the album. It’s not bad, it’s not terrible, I quite like Song of the Stars and Take my Half, but it feels like Hybe isn’t trying anymore.
I echo most comments under this post but I wanna add something: Not to fearmonger at all but there’s a reasonable chance that Hybe drops txt, since this is their album to conclude the ‘lore’ (whatever the lore is, I haven’t been paying attention personally) and also because they’ve been doing world tours for the last few years, working the boys to death. Throughout my entire listen that’s all I could think about. This may be their last album and Hybe can’t even artistically respect the work txt and their creative team have put in over the last few years? I really hope I’m wrong and if txt announces a comeback next year someone can laugh at me in the replies, I know it’s a pessimistic outlook. But it’s terrible that these songs are what made the cut: Unexpanded ideas, cut versions, even leftovers of other artists for one of them.
Beautiful strangers is fine, I’d rather listen to Madonna.
The boys deserve better.
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Highly unlikely given what the members have said about plans to renew and HYBE being the vultures they are will most likely continue to overwork and hand TXT more weak material and commercial garbage because they know it’ll do well regardless because of their popularity and built-in fan base. Hypothetically speaking however, if that were to happen and being dropped by them meant that they join a different label who has an actual vision for their sound and gives them material that isn’t half baked, I welcome it. There was a time these guys brought a sort of fresh and quirky uniqueness to K-Pop that now feels dulled and watered down, and it’s not because they’re performing any less better. They are quite literally being worked to the bone, and unfortunately the output of their music for past few years hasn’t matched up to that. It’s not fair to the group nor the fans, and it’s quite frankly insulting. To repeat what you said, they deserve better.
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God, that makes this worse. I have no idea why they would want to renew. I understand if they still want to be a group but they can be a group under a better company. I feel for the guys.
I’ll reword myself then: The fact that Hybe can’t artistically respect the lore txt and their creative team has built, and their influence of the conclusion of the lore being unexpanded ideas and cut versions is an absolute joke. I recently became a part of the txt fandom last year but if the future of their careers is going to be more tours, sparse solo activities (despite me not liking Ggum and Panic that much I do think if given the resources members seeking solo ventures can absolutely thrive, so do the ones doing variety/personality content), and uncreative comebacks, AND majority of the fandom inhaling copium in terms of the artistry, I’d rather not be a part of it.
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You admit you haven’t followed the lore, but then go on to speculate that HYBE is dropping TXT and that this might be their final album? That’s a pretty big leap.
It’s totally fine not to vibe with every track, but calling them leftovers or cut ideas really dismisses the work the members and their creative team put in. TXT has consistently pushed boundaries with each release, and this album is no exception.
You don’t have to love the whole album, but maybe don’t write off a group’s trajectory based on assumptions. TXT’s artistry deserves more credit than that and the boys deserve better indeed!
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I think what Deer said is what a lot of fans think during the sixth or seventh year since debut, in front of them there’s uncertainty, an album that doesn’t meet expectations, and a brand new group from the same sublabel hanging above everyone’s heads, the clock is ticking awaiting their debut, all while the current group is reconsidering their choice of whether or not to renew the contract. I wouldn’t be saying all of this if it weren’t a pattern, so I see where Deer is coming from, of course, doesn’t mean it’ll all happen the way they said.
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I don’t think you read my comment to the reply above, I corrected myself and rewrote my thoughts in a better way.
Assumptions? Yes, but these are assumptions based off observations. We’ve seen how Hybe has dropped groups after their lore was completed (Gfriend) and for no reason at all (Nu’est). The company’s unpredictable. My speculation isn’t whether the boys will renew it’s more with whether Hybe sees a future which again, it’s unpredictable.
You missed my main point: I’m not complaining about the creative team, I’m complaining about the executives, the ones calling the shots, the ones sabotaging each comeback. Beautiful Strangers could’ve been great, but because Hybe wants to keep their music trendy and short in a world all about streaming it ended up being just that. A song. Not a good song, just a song. And we know txt and their team can do better cause they have, but we’ve been stuck in this cyclical loop for a few years now where any musicality gets limited because of Hybe’s philosophy.
I can’t overestimate how much the members mean to me, they’ve been with me through my teen years and they’re one of the only groups of whom I regularly listen to their softer songs/ballads. They mean something to me. I wouldn’t be ranting if they didn’t mean anything. I wouldn’t be commenting. But because I’m a fan doesn’t mean I can’t worry about them and their legacy. The boys have done so much that I shouldn’t be worrying or speculating how the next years are gonna go, but I am because this is Hybe.
You can like the album, as I said before I quite like Song of the Stars and Take my Half (unsurprisingly the one song produced by a member is my favourite solo from it) but we as fans should demand more. We shouldn’t just eat everything up because our favourite idols are singing. It’s not just txt and their creative team that deserve better, but it’s the fans too.
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I wish the song was longer. My favorite songs off this album are Yeonjun’s solo and Song of the Stars.
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I love the song, it’s too short though. all parts are beautiful. the performance is great, good choreo. I’m sad for the length, I wanted more so it’s 8/10 to me. still a strong rate because all parts are good and their vocals are good.
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So this is “probably” going to be their disbandment song?
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literally not whatsoever.
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I felt similarly lukewarm about the title track. It was too short and underbaked on all fronts that it just missed the mark entirely.
The only song I really enjoy on this EP is Beomgyu’s solo, “Take My Half”, which feels like the sister to his previous solo “Panic”. It’s a solid rock ballad and you can sense he really means what he’s singing.
But overall, the EP should’ve stayed in development and production longer.
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