TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Beomgyu Is Finding Joy Everywhere
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To compliment our TOMORROW X TOGETHER cover story, we’re shining individual spotlights on each member of the K-pop act, and today sees Beomgyu take center stage. Take a look back at Soobin and Yeonjun’s profiles, and don’t forget to get your copy of the limited edition magazine collector’s box featuring six exclusive TXT covers and more. Pre-order now at the Consequence Shop.
“It’s been a perfect day so far,” Beomgyu announces as he takes his seat in an Osaka, Japan hotel room. It’s a sunny day, near lunchtime, and while the members of TOMORROW X TOGETHER don’t have a concert the day we meet, there’s still plenty on the agenda for the bandmates (this solo interview included) as they prepare for tomorrow’s show.
If the day’s schedule feels daunting at all, Beomgyu, who is essentially the middle child of the five-member group, doesn’t show it. He seems genuinely happy to chat, happy to be on tour, and happy to reflect on the factors that coalesced to get TXT to this point in their career. In fact, the longer the day goes on, the more enthusiasm Beomgyu seems to have.
Beomgyu was known as the “mood maker” of the team for a long time, a phrase mostly used in K-pop to designate a group member who can be counted on to energize everyone around them. “I always think I should pay back all this energy and love,” he says, nodding as he speaks, his shaggy black hair swishing in front of his eyes. “So I try to do that.”
These days, though, he doesn’t feel as much responsibility to set the tone. “The joy that I get the most in my everyday life is my members,” he explains. “Recently, all the members have become mood makers.” Beomgyu notes that his fellow TXT members (Soobin, Yeonjun, Taehyun, and Hueningkai) tend to see each other more often than they see their biological family these days. “I think we were close to being best friends before, but now I think we are a true family,” he says with a smile.
The group is on the road right now for the “ACT: SWEET MIRAGE” tour (secure tickets here), and Beomgyu shares that prior to 2022’s “ACT: LOVE SICK” tour, he didn’t get nervous in the moments right before the band steps onstage, when the crowd’s anticipation reaches thunderous levels. This year, though, the scale has increased: “Now, since the stages got bigger, and the venues got bigger, and I have to fill up a bigger stage, I think there is more pressure. I try to change the pressure into good nerves.”
Like the mood maker aspect of TXT’s group dynamic, the members share responsibilities musically, too; they each sometimes sing and sometimes rap, and all are very strong dancers. Beomgyu’s deeper, huskier voice is easy to identify in the mix. The story goes that when he first appeared on the radar during a talent search, staff members at the former Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE) were willing to travel to Beomgyu’s hometown of Daegu, South Korea to complete his audition since he was nervous about missing school. They weren’t going to let a talent like this get away, even during exam week.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Beomgyu, photo courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC
There’s a concept in K-pop called “duality,” and Beomgyu is considered a prime embodiment of this phenomenon. The term refers to the switch some artists can pull off between their onstage and offstage personas; Beomgyu’s reputation when spending time with his members is sillier and goofier than the sharp, poised identity he can assume in front of audiences or the camera.
What’s even more fascinating is the way he can transition back and forth between the two: During the concert at the Maruzen Intec Arena in Osaka, Beomgyu sections off part of the crowd near him and leads them in spontaneous choreography with their bright, glittering lightsticks. To an outsider, the audience members appear so coordinated that they might assume Beomgyu had planned this moment ahead of time; in reality, the onlookers are just that locked in when he stands before them. They’d follow him anywhere. Moments later, still giggling as the next song begins, Beomgyu slips back into professional mode without batting an eye.
Beomgyu clearly finds joy onstage, but he also revels in the magic of songwriting. He’s not the sort of creative that keeps a notebook of ideas, he explains, but rather the kind that has to let inspiration strike. “I have to walk the corridors or watch the sunset, and then I go into the studio right away and do all nighters for two or three days,” he shares. “I someday want to write a song that solely has my story and my vibe.”
Throughout the “ACT: SWEET MIRAGE” tour, the members have been performing a currently unreleased song called “Blue Spring,” which Beomgyu says “incorporates the stories of all the members.” By the end of the global trek, as audiences continue to familiarize themselves with the song, he’s hopeful that the crowd will be singing the lyrics back at full volume. In the meantime, though, his priorities are set: “I just want to pull off a really perfect show with my members,” he says.
As for what Beomgyu envisions beyond the working world in which the five members are so enmeshed, he’s content taking it day by day. “My goal is living happily and finding small happinesses,” he says before pausing, thinking about a time even further down the road. “Maybe one day I can open my own coffee shop and live quietly.”
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TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Beomgyu Is Finding Joy Everywhere
Mary Siroky
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