Sam Fang
Tomorrow x Together is all about living in the moment, and their latest single “SETSUNA HANABI” is the proof. The band’s latest Japanese single release manages to feel considerably more substantial than its runtime might suggest.
Haunting, gorgeous and emotionally resonant, the new song and its accompanying music video continue to demonstrate just how far TxT have come from their early days as bright-eyed rookies. Even more impressively, “SETSUNA HANABI” doesn’t feel like a side project or an obligation to their Japanese audience. It feels like a genuine extension of TxT’s artistic identity.
A Firework That Burns Too Quickly
The title track of the special Japanese single release, “Setsuna Hanabi,” is the obvious centerpiece — and for good reason.The name itself translates roughly to a “fleeting moment” and “fireworks,” perfectly capturing the song’s central idea: those beautiful moments we desperately wish could last forever, even though their impermanence is what makes them beautiful in the first place.
There is a wistfulness woven throughout the track that makes it feel almost cinematic. Rather than simply telling listeners that moments are fleeting, TxT create the sensation of actually watching one disappear. The song’s haunting beauty gives it an emotional weight that lingers well after it ends.
The accompanying music video only strengthens that feeling. It’s a particularly striking visual companion to the song, embracing the fleeting, dreamlike quality of the music rather than simply providing a collection of pretty images for the members to perform against. Together, the song and video create something that feels cohesive and deliberate, and it’s a small story about beauty, memory and the inevitable passage of time.
The track’s choreography is interesting – and perhaps a bit out of place with a rather introspective song, but it highlights the group’s dancing abilities nonetheless. And for a group whose music has increasingly explored growing up, uncertainty and the complicated emotions that come with it, the concept and choreography feel particularly appropriate.
TxT Go Quiet When the World Gets Too Loud
While “SETSUNA HANABI” takes the spotlight, fans should still give a listen to the two other songs released as B-Sides along with it. The rest of the release doesn’t simply exist to pad out the single. “Silence” might actually be the emotional knockout of the three tracks. Where “Setsuna Hanabi” finds beauty in impermanence, “Silence” finds comfort in shutting out the overwhelming noise of the world.
The lyrics are devastatingly simple: “Need my headphones to survive / Try to drown all the noise from outside / I was drifting along the tide” And then comes the line that absolutely destroys you: “When the world gets too loud / You are my silence.”
Pause to find a box of tissues. There’s something incredibly intimate about that sentiment. In a world where everything seems to demand attention — notifications, expectations, opinions and endless noise — finding one person who makes everything quiet becomes its own kind of sanctuary.
It’s the kind of sentiment that TxT have become increasingly good at expressing: taking an enormous, universal feeling and reducing it to something deeply personal. “Silence” is heart-wrenching without becoming melodramatic, and it may be the release’s most underrated track.
Finally, “Nice to Meet Ya” brings the energy back up. It’s the most conventional boy-band offering of the three, delivering the upbeat, feel-good energy you’d expect from a Japanese TxT release. It’s fun, catchy and perfectly enjoyable, particularly for Japanese fans who have followed the group’s Japanese catalog.
But placed alongside the emotional weight of “Setsuna Hanabi” and “Silence,” it inevitably feels like the lesser of the three.
The strange thing about “SETSUNA HANABI” is that calling it a “single” makes it sound smaller than it actually feels.
Across just three songs, TxT manage to cover wistfulness, heartbreak, comfort and pure pop jams while continuing to demonstrate the increasingly sophisticated sound they’ve been developing throughout their career, and this may be one of their finest examples yet.
Like the fireworks that inspired its title, the release doesn’t need to last forever to leave an impression. It burns brightly, disappears quickly in comparison to a full LP release, and leaves you staring at the sky for just a little longer in Silence.
For TxT, that’s a remarkably fitting metaphor for where they are as artists: still evolving, still experimenting and increasingly capable of turning a fleeting moment into something you’ll want to hold onto.
