‘The Chaos Chapter: Freeze’ Is TXT At Their Most Ambitious, Intense, And Complex
TXT have always been something of a wonder. Ever since debuting in 2019, the group have somewhat held on a unique place in their industry. Debuting under BigHit, they stood on the shoulders of their senior group BTS, with big expectations to live up to, but over time have since built their own formidable presence and sound as one of the most dynamic rookies in the scene.
But their latest release, the second full-album ‘The Chaos Chapter: Freeze’, finds them at their most ambitious and far-reaching, but also at their most comfortable at their own place within the industry.
Title track “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)” is grandiose and unapologetic in its yearning, and tinged with some hard-edged punk-rock — as are all the best teen-angst anthems, as the members’ rousing declaration at the height of the chorus “I know I love you”, tip over to featuring artist Seori’s earnest response: “Say you love me / say you love me” repeated over and over, almost like a chant.
The overall effect is comparable to a duet, but in antithesis: here, the boys play the part of impassioned teenage lovers, but there’s a certain underlying agony there, too — one that doesn’t necessarily have a name, but one that’s certainly felt by anyone who’s ever yearned for anything in their youth.
And indeed, this might be where TXT excel the most: in being young, in that one-of-a-kind roller coaster ride that the whole experience of youth is, and particularly in taking hold of each high and low and turning them into song, that listening to the group’s discography feels like a coming-of-age experience in and of itself.
And though their previous albums drew on each of those moods with singular intensity — from the bright, infectious energy that populated much of their debut album to the murkier, angst-driven waters in last year’s ‘The Dream Chapter: Eternity’ — there are newer, more complex layers of emotion that the band unfold in ‘Freeze.’ After two years in the industry, the boys have grown and matured, and so have their music alongside them, as the boys grapple with the more complicated implications of young adulthood.
But as their following releases have since proven, TXT have never been one to shy away from ambitious undertakings in their music, whether it’s in taking bold risks in their production — their track “Eternally” comes to mind — or in chronicling the small specific moments that come with larger-than-life feelings, as they most usually do when you’re young.
But if there’s anything that marks ‘The Chaos Chapter: Freeze’ from their previous releases, it’s an underlying current of contradiction and antithesis that’s present in most of the album’s tracks. Sometimes it’s impassioned romance paired against the agony of uncertainty, as is in their title track, other times it’s in exuberant and tropical-tinted electro-pop production against gloomy lyrics, as is on “Ice Cream.”
Album standout ‘Anti-Romantic’ is tender and bitter all at once, a slow-burn lament of a ballad that’s equal parts retrospective as it is hopeful: TXT will declare themselves as “anti-romantics” at the beginning of a line, only to turn around and counter themselves in the next, declaring their “heart chasing” after a certain someone.
BigHit’s presence is still undeniably present within the album, most particularly in the production of the gritty, hard-edged “Frost”; and again in “No Rules”, both of which are all heavy accentuated beats and the same explosive, heavy-handed vocal processing that’s populated their previous music, as well as BigHit’s other group, ENHYPEN.
But in all that, TXT remain as jubilant and good as ever, their vocal abilities proving to grow more and more dynamic, as the members each take turns at explosive rap verses and soaring falsettos, always playing off each other’s strengths. At their very best, TXT’s music take on a uniquely euphoric quality in such a way that makes their most memorable tracks shine, like in their previous title track “Run Away (Nine and Three Quarters)”, or in last year’s “Ghosting”, and it’s definitely more than a welcome feeling, especially in trying times like these. But the boys are growing up, and as they do, the depths of their music grow deeper, their emotions more complex and profound.
Hardly anything in ‘The Chaos Chapter: Freeze’ is clean-cut, no emotion prevailing above the rest to encapsulate the entire album. Instead, the band sit with these complicated, sometimes erratic feelings and play around with them, crafting music that’s both emblematic and reflective of where they’re at right now — and there’s a kind of fearlessness in that itself. Here’s to being young and unafraid.
