THE STAR CHAPTER!? More like, Nap of a Star, this animation suggests!!!!!!
Every comeback I’m reminded why I like this group, and almost every comeback in the past few years I’ve been disappointed by their management team. The concept is so brilliant, but they just haven’t executed it with the same sincerity and depth that they did in 2019 and 2020.
So… you’re telling me that HYBE will put storyline elements on the plushies, but they won’t bother to make storyline MVs or keep the powers and symbols between each member consistent?
HYBEBEEEEEBEBEBBEBEBE IM COMING FOR YOUUUUUUUUU
Maybe after rewriting Kepler’s storyline we’ll do TXT’s…
While listening to Deja Vu a shard of glass fell out of my cracked phone screen and pricked my finger, drawing a single drop of blood. This feels incredibly TXT…
TXT's 3rd Minisode, marking an explicit thematic and aesthetic return to themes discussed in The Dream Chapter, aptly referenced by their title track and it's name - Deja Vu.
Well, it is what it says - FREEFALL. The second and last Name Chapter album, continuing the lighter theme from the first album, but with a very different aesthetic style - with the group landing in the middle of what I assume is New York, rather than being in a psychedelic Magic Island.
Taehyun is... looking at old memories? I guess? Looking at memories of Gyu? Since yellow is associated with Gyu in this MV...
...and the next shot we get is Gyu crying the same odd magic that Taehyun did. I hope those are tears of regret for murdering Taehyun.
This is also the first shot we get of Gyu where he ISN'T glowing all MV - tying him as an opposite to Taehyun who was in the dark/grey all MV.
... He's... trapped in the mirror? Probably not - it's probably more of a 'mirror leads to the magical world' thing. Interestingly, the tears in the mirror are BEHIND Taehyun's head - really showing how trippy all of this is. And suggesting a complete blurring between the real and magical worlds, which is also, fun fact, a motif in TXT's story.
Taehyun's office/room looks like it's from the 90s or something, so we have; Yeonjun in the 30s, Kai in the 40s-ish, Soobin in the 70s or something, Taehyun in the 90s-ish, and Beomgyu being the mandatory dead member for this MV.
A bus - a symbol of transit, and also a way to get to Magic Island if needed. Also very reminiscent of the Eternity/Drama concept images, where Gyu was indeed the main character.
Also, he's in Yeonjun's world.
Yet, inside the bus, he is in a magical world - as expected. And also asleep. As expected.
Soobin, wtf are those shoes? If they're not supposed to be a stand-in for Gyu, I don't know what to say to you, man.
Speaking of, we now get Gyu's tears falling in Soobin's room - or, magic bleeding into the real world, which it only seems able to do via suffering (ahem, CROWN, ahem).
HE'S AWAKEEEEEEE. In a room that seems like a hospital or something - cold and no personality - and in a blue room, which means now we have Gyu, Soobin, Yeonjun, and Kai all associated with blue in this MV.
But Gyu and Taehyun are still connected (as always) through the blue sky, and seem to be having some joint experience.
I mean, Gyu was in a sky with clouds.
Is Gyu... the girl from Eternally who hugged Soobin....?
Also I only just realised that Kai is on a bridge thing, not a boat. My time/period judgement still stands, though.
Well, we all know that gravity only goes funny when you start messing with time and magic, don't we, Yeonjun? Hmm, who burnt down Magic Island, Yeonjun? 'Tis all your fault, Yeonjun.
Anyway, at least he gets to dance his feelings out in this pseudo dream world while he loses grip of whoever he was holding onto in that hand shot.
TXT's storyline? More like sad-Yeonjuncore.
Colour has come back to his world, but I don't think he's happy about it.
Anyway, Kai is running after Yeonjun now too. He's got his hands full looking after everyone.
And Yeonjun is still sad, and Gyu still glows.
See?
I just realised I've been assuming this is Gyu the whole time because of the hair extensions. Pretty sure it is him, but still.
Doesn't that look nice and peaceful?
Anyway, somehow Yeonjun managed to do the impossible and bring Gyu back. Unsure why how or what is going on but it's a nice moment I guess, and probably a reversal - chances are, Gyu slipped from Yeonjun's hand before, and now Yeonjun has to fall so Gyu can save him.
And now the colour is back and everyone is together and happy, right?
Right?!?!!?
Yeah wait until the next album lol I bet.
And that's it for the MV! But we still have the lyrics, and before we have a look, let me just say that I am validated in my music opinions - I can see many people saying in the comments that this feels like a 2nd or 3rd gen song, and like a SHINee song. I'd also like to add Infinite to my original judgement.
Alright, time for -
The Lyrics.
Well, I'm a happy camper. There's a LOT, and I mean A LOT of references to Dream Chapter themes in these lyrics (A RETURN TO THE DREAM CHAPTER IS COMING EVERYONE BOW DOWN FOR THE QUEENS OF TXT ALBUMS).
For instance;
Dreams
Names
Crown
More code
Promises
Nostalgia
Stars and starlight
Memories and friendship
Running to leave things behind
Fate
Beginnings vs the future - past vs present vs future
Rain vs fire
Eternity
Togetherness and friendship
Becoming beautiful BY each other/sorrow becoming beautiful through togetherness
Soulmates
The desolate outside world
Repetition/time/repeats
Light
Yes, a lot of these things have appeared in later comebacks, but they were ALL cemented/introduced as concepts in THE DREAM CHAPTERRRRRRRRR!!!! YEAH.
So yeah, the song feels like it's entirely a reference to TDC. They even brought back Morse code to title one of their songs on this album.
Now, in this song Kai uses the word 'anomoia,' which is basically just a kind of nostalgia - for a place or time you've never known - aka, a Utopia, or some other dream-like, magical place. Very on-brand and fitting for both the DREAM chapter, and this song.
Conclusions
As I said, I am a happy camper. This is, as I predicted and hoped, a return to/reference to The Dream Chapter - in concept, in story, in music, in lyricism, and more.
I suppose you could say, it evokes Deja Vu of The Dream Chapter?
Well, um... I was right. Much more LOVESONG and Run Away than LOSER=LOVER of GBGB. Another notch on my mastery of TXT's concept. But not my mastery of their storyline.
Also, why does this song sound to be like a nice blend between something ENHYPEN would make and something SHINee would make? Odd.
So yeah, fun song, I like it. The story is confusing me immensely, since colours for each member are back - something from Chasing that Feeling - but they aren't the same colours per member. Is this on purpose? Are they trying to change the symbolism? Was Chasing that Feeling just incredibly lacking in preparation and thought? I feel it's the latter, because Chasing that Feeling has like NOTHING, but still, confusing, and forces us to basically make this MV a story devoid of the rest of TXT's storyline, which is weird and annoying. I'm sure Laina will have many things to say about it though :)
Full thoughts below the line.
I was watching Girl's Planet for my podcast episode on it when I opened this, and this orb confused me so much. Tell me this doesn't look like the openings of Girls Planet and Boy's Planet.
Especially with the two colours circling each other and the cosmic swish sounds.
Here we get the fox from the trailer - and also from the Little Prince. It's glowing and colourful - it's clearly from a different planet, and this shot of it descending into darkness mirrors TXT (in the form of a multicoloured cloud of energy - see the similarities) falling from the sky in Chasing that Feeling.
Also, the shape it moves towards id kind of like an eye, but also kind of like the drains from Chasing that Feeling. Some other important instances of eyes in TXT's story? The cat with heterochromia, Kai and his eyepatch, and the massive eye shape behind them in GBGB.
This segment has the subtitles that some things are precious, but invisible, and we pass them by. The eye is crying this pinkish liquid - which will come back later.
Basically, some precious things are either invisible or passed by. What things? TXT, the fox, and friendship would be my best guesses. The fox especially was left behind in the concept trailer.
The tears obviously show regret, and since the fox disappears into a star-like twinkle in the eye, it suggests that, despite being passed over, the important things will be with us forever.
Whose eye is it? Taehyun's. How do I know that? I'll get back to that later.
Here we get our main character - constantly dead Yeonjun. He's in this field with.... giant balloon animal things? Which I assume are supposed to represent the magic in the world, since they disappear when the colour (magic/power from CTF) also disappears.
Now I will point out that Yeonjun is running, the world is red, and he has holes in his shirt. Aka, Yeonjun is likely in pain. A very common motif/story element in the TXT story. Story Yeonjun is going to need billions of years of therapy after everything he's been through.
But this is also where my annoyance shows up - because in CTF, red was Soobin's colour, not Yeonjun's. Is this supposed to tie him to Soobin? Or did they just choose red since he's in pain? I'll let you choose.
This shot suggests to us that, like the fox, Yeonjun is incorporeal, and this is either his soul or consciousness floating around without his body. Everything in the red shot is an entire world that exists within this red orb in the grey 'real world'. Keep in mind - the grey, or dark, real world which contrasts Magic Island is something that's been around since the very first TXT song ever - Blue Orangeade. It's very well established in their story.
Here he is, the man himself, and thankfully he was probably just dreaming, With his horn/fang earrings (ahem, animal imagery, ahem, the fox which Yeonjun is tied to above all the other members, ahem).
My big question is why is Beomgyu glowing? Is it because he murdered Taehyun and may or may not have claimed his power? Is he the most powerful since he got his power first in CTF? But his power was green, not yellow. Has he DIED???? Lol. Goodness knows. But it is very evocative imagery, the only problem is I don't know what it's trying to evoke.
Here we are again in the grey world, and since Soobin is definitely not driving and probably not being driven, I imagine the shadows are changing over his face quickly to show the passage of time - TXT are out of the timestream - I mean, time and not following it correctly have also been a concept of theirs since almost the beginning.
Ahem, dead Kai, ahem???!?!?!!
Probably more like 'living on the edge, being risky, being a TEENAGER!' Giving himself up to feeling, you know?
And yeah, I understand that water IS blue, but blue is Yeonjun's colour in CTF, not Kai's?!?!
That said, we can still apply the same principles - blue for relaxation, which he clearly feels in comparison to Yeonjun. Colour also = magic and a different world - and Kai is literally separated from the otherworldly, magical space that is the ocean, by the grey boat he is in. He's almost reaching out to the magic that he grew up with on the island.
And this shows us how out of the world they actually are - dissociated to the highest level on the side of the path.
But also - these sports uniforms are really odd looking - they're old fashioned, they look like they're from the 1930s or something, and considering it's a group of boys running in a field with what looks like a stereotypical European boarding house behind them - I think Yeonjun may or may not have time traveled himself to 20s England or something.
This can be applied to the other members too - Soobin's car looks like a model from the 60s or something, and the boat Kai is on has these nuts that are far more common on ships from the 20s-50s than anything more modern.
I mean these nuts, fyi.
They all have masks - they are all brainwashed boring denizens of the grey world, not Magic Island. Or at least, that's my interpretation.
Yo wtf where did Kai come from? Also, Yeonjun goes right back to his dissociated sleep as soon as Kai shows up - is this supposed to show how their magic keeps them connected despite the distance? Don't forget that Yeonjun and Kai are one of our best-associated pairings in the storyline.
Well I don't think I need to tell you that people holding hands and losing grip of each other is a symbol of desperation and loss, do I?
Henceforth, Beomgyu will be known as 'glowing Gyu.'
Still not sure WHY he's glowing - and in Kai's colour, too. He is singing about stars here, so that does make sense. Has he returned to the world of magic to the extent that he's basically BECOME it?
Ahem bias alert.
The shots before this show us that 1) Taehyun is still the only member with no colour (while glowing Gyu who murdered him in CYSM is the only one with no black and white/darkness), and 2) that he looked up, just in time to see both glowing Gyu, and dark Soobin (whose colour is a mix of Yeonjun's blue and Beomgyu's green). Are they going to fight?!?! Is Beomgyu Taehyun's saviour, or is he looking at him in anger for being murdered?
Am I too hung up on the murder scene from CYSM? Yes, but it's still kind of insane that one of the members of this boy group just... murdered another. In their SECOND COMEBACK, no less!!!!
Anyway, Soobin - he's in this weird space with this scaffolding which also kind of creates watery mirror shapes. If that isn't either hallucinations or magic, I don't know what is. It's also - duh - dark and stormy - a likely reflection of his mindstate. If it's not, well, that would be bad visual storytelling.
He could also be evil, while Gyu is good - a reversal of their previous roles. That said, Taehyun and Soobin were the liars in CYSM, and Taehyun was kind of muted in the concept trailer, so maybe they're teaming up against Gyu....?
This is the problem with making your members good for some comebacks and evil for others - the story can get confused. It doesn't even really work to make them well rounded characters here either, since we're unsure on the motivations. The only characters this works for here is Kai and Yeonjun - since they are both tortured souls with two curses each - Yeonjun is traumatised and made a deal with the devil, and Kai has the angel wings, but also a lost heart, so of course he also needs to be a devil.
Not entirely sure why Kai is in Soobin's realm with the glowing globs - is he checking in on people - Yeonjun and now Soobin? Also why does he have this shocked expression on his face lol. Is he shocked that Soobin was secretly a liar?
On a quest to find his leader?
Also may I say - Kai has brought all the extra colour. Because he may have an evil alter ego, but at the end of the day he's their cute innocent maknae.
And instead of finding Soobin, he finds glowing Gyu. Has Soobin entrapped glowing Gyu?
And I'm guessing this is some psychic/magical defense Soobin has on Gyu?
HE'S GETTING AWAYYYYYYYYY. Or, getting FURTHER away. And being pulled into that eye. Whose eye? Taehyun's. Why Taehyun's? I'll get to it eventually I swear.
I mean, I imagine this is supposed to look like an eye, but because it moves so quickly in the actual MV and is kind of like soap suds or something, I'm not ENTIRELY sure. If it wasn't meant to be, the editors have some issues.
Poor dude has been left all to his lonesome.
Now the fact that 1) we were in some dream world, and 2) Soobin is sleeping suggest to be that this was all subconscious on his part. Interesting...
One eye is covered - a representation of Kai's curse, and also of having lost sight of one's purpose - in this case, friendship and being the group's leader. Because, you know, he was a liar.
Who is holding him? Based on the shirt, I'm going to say Taehyun - which would mark the first time Taehyun is given colour in this MV. Interestingly, it's as part of Soobin's story/in connection with Soobin, and both of them are costumed in yellow - which shows comraderie, but is also Kai's colour? Unsure about Kai here - I would have expected them to be in green to show their revenge on Gyu. Then again, Gyu IS yellow in this MV, so....
IT'S NAP OF A STAR, IT'S ETERNALLY, IT'S A CONNECTION WITH YEONJUN, IT'S A REPRESENTATION OF BEAUTY IN DEATH AND SELF SACRIFICE, IT'S THE EYE FROM THE OPENING OF THE VIDEO, IT'S TAEHYUNNNNNNN.
(um bias alert, I am indeed very biased, you've got to remember that after Soobin this dude is my bias in TXT)
So, Taehyun was the one who witnesses Yeonjun's death in Eternally, and now he too is covered in flowers, probably dead, and producing purplish liquid. This liquid is the same colour as the fox (which he was associated with in some of our concept pictures), and the orb from the beginning of the video - the representation of otherworldlyness and magic. Not only is he crying literal, pure magic, but also likely regret at the things that have been lost - possibly included among them, his life which was, I'll say it again, taken from him by glowing Gyu.
Also, the tears themselves are purple, but purple is made of red and blue - colours associated with Yeonjun and Soobin in both this MV and CTF. Yeonjun because he is dead. Soobin because he too is a liar.
The stop-motion style of this shot, and the use of flowers and nature imagery, ties it to Nap of a Star, while the colour purple is both 1) Eternally 2) Yeonjun's blood in Eternally, and 3) the colour associated with Taehyun in CTF.
It's the first time we've seen Taehyun explicitly with a colour in this MV - and the second time overall.
It seems to bring him out of the grey and into the colour, since afterwards we see him in colour.
This is Yeonjun, yeah? I'm not quite good enough to know the members by the backs of their heads, but this IS the shirt Yeonjun was wearing, and that's his hairstyle and ears, so yeah. Looks like he has joined Kai in searching for glowing Gyu.
Taehyun in full colour woohoo.
I like this shot, which is of their dancing feet, upside down, in the dream-Soobin world, which is then mirrored/contrasted by their feet, dancing in colour in this training studio thing?
This is such an unflattering screenshot I'm so sorry TXT. But, the room does have purple (Taehyun's colour) opposed with green (Gyu's colour). Fun fact. But it also changes, so there's not much we can take from it. Sad fact.
And I have hit my image limit, so I'll see you for the rest in Part 2!
I can’t tell if it’s upsetting or an amazing testament to TXT’s storyline consistency that I knew right away the dude in the Deja Vu teaser was Yeonjun, since, well, if one of the members is sitting in a field crying, it’s Yeonjun…
These ‘necklace in mouth’ concept photos are no lie, my least favourite kinds of photos ever. It’s like fake sexy but also kind of not?
Anyway, while Light was the ‘Nap of a Star’ version, and Romantic is more of an ‘Eternally’ and ‘Sugar Rush Ride’, this is our ‘Lovesong’ - firmly cementing my hope that PLEASE MAKE THIS COMEBACK LIKE THE DREAM CHAPTER HYBE I AM 4K WORDS INTO A PODCAST SCRIPT ABOUT HOW EPIC TDC IS PLS.
Well that’s some CROWN ‘abracadabra the sadness away’/pain becoming beautiful kind of thing if I ever saw it.
Who is this? Well, considering the trailer and how he always gets himself hurt, my bet is on Yeonjun. Duh. (But believe it or not I’m not actually a big enough TXT fan to know what their hands look like, so I could be wrong).
