TXT’s Yeonjun Isn’t Concerned With Meeting Your Expectations on His Debut EP, ‘No Labels’

Yeonjun isn’t wasting time on labels.

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

It’s different to see the personable singer on his own. In 2019, Yeonjun debuted as the oldest member of BigHit Music’s 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’s sound has matured alongside them, however, there’s still plenty of genres to explore. For Yeonjun, that exploration has led him to his debut EP, No Labels: Part One.

No Labelswhich 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’t looking to tell a larger narrative; it’s 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.

Below, 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’s not concerned about the fact people will either love or hate the album.

Why was now the right time to release your first solo EP?

I’ve always wanted to share my stories and my music. After the release of my first mixtape, “Ggum,” I got really confident about [sharing my music]. I decided I really needed to do this, and I jumped right in.

Sonically speaking, this is a very new direction for you. That’s exciting. Did you have any apprehension about that? Were you purposely trying to do things you maybe wouldn’t do with the group?

I wouldn’t 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’s why this album turned out to be like this.

You 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?

I could just get a song and become a person that fits that song, but rather than doing that, I think it’s 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.

Did you feel any pressure during this project? This is your first EP outside of Tomorrow x Together. When you’re in a group, you always have someone to lean on, but this was all you. How was it different for you?

First 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’t have much personal time and that was quite tough. But in retrospect, the whole process was so much fun. I think that process was almost another youth for me.

Why did you decide to bring several songs into your music video?

The three tracks that went into the music video — “Coma,” “Let Me Tell You” and “Talk to You” — are really good songs. I wanted to try something different and new. I did the shoot, and I think the final result is going to be really cool. I think it’s going to be really amazing.

It’s an interesting way to incorporate a visual component. Was this about telling a narrative, or did this happen organically?

It wasn’t 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’t really about telling the narrative.

You worked on the composition for the lead single, “Talk to You.” Do you find working on the music makes it more personal for you? It certainly doesn’t have to be autobiographical, but I imagine there’s more of yourself in the music when you’re making it.

Of course not all songs are autobiographical. It could be that you’ve chosen a specific character and you decide to tell the story about that character in a song. With “Talk to You,” it wasn’t really about me. Instead, I think I was imagining things more when I was writing this [song] based on things that I’ve heard, based on things that I’ve seen or based on my actual experience. It was more of an imaginary project.

You said before you didn’t 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?

I don’t think I leaned on anyone per se because there wasn’t 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’t really lean on anyone, but the entire process was a very meaningful time for me.

I know the whole album is called No Labelswhat does that mean to you?

No 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’t. Through this album, I was able to know more about myself. It was a process of learning about me. Compared to before, I’ve become a person who’s 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.

This is something we actually talked about with TXT, but I imagine your feelings about you as a solo artist are different. As a creative person, you don’t have much say in how you or your work is perceived. That is unfortunately very much out of your control, but you have obviously worked hard and are putting a lot of yourself into this. How do you hope to be perceived as a performer?

Of course, it would be great if a lot of people like this album, but for sure there will be people who don’t. How people see me or my music isn’t the most important thing to me. Rather than trying to meet everyone’s 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.