21st Century Romance
Updated: 1 day ago
⋆ Genre: Alternative R&B
⋆ Producing Credits: Elof Loelv, Slow Rabbit, Maiz
⋆ Writing/Composing Credits: Elof Loelv, Maiz, SPOON (153/Joombas), Slow Rabbit, Woo Seung Yeon (153/Joombas), Hueningkai, Na Yun Jeong (lalala studio), Gu Samyoung (153/Joombas), Kim In Hyung, Bay (153/Joombas), Zaya (153/Joombas), Kim Chae Ah (153/Joombas), Shaillo (XYXX), chaeryn (153/Joombas), January 8th, Jeon Jieun, Moon Ji Young (lalala studio)
ABOUT/MEANING: “21st Century Romance” moves through a world that feels simultaneously overstimulated and emotionally distant. Surrounded by constant noise, repetition and distraction, the speaker struggles to distinguish genuine feeling from everything competing for his attention. The problem is not that he rejects the world around him, but that living within it has made it increasingly difficult to hear what he actually feels.
Against that numbness, “romance” becomes a search for something authentic. Rather than representing simple romantic certainty, it emerges through moments of genuine feeling and connection - evidence that beneath the noise, the speaker remains capable of recognising what moves him. As the search gradually turns inward, that authenticity becomes connected not only to finding warmth in another person, but to recovering a voice and sense of self that had become difficult to hear.
That search carries particular resonance for TXT after seven years surrounded by expectations and interpretations of who they are and what they should become. At a point when the group are considering their future direction, separating their own instincts and desires from everything accumulated around them becomes especially important. Before deciding what comes next, they first have to recognise what still feels genuinely theirs.
Within 7TH YEAR: A Moment of Stillness in the Thorns, “21st Century Romance” therefore finds possibility in learning to recognise that quieter signal. It does not provide a clear answer about TXT’s future; instead, it suggests where that answer might begin - by listening closely enough to distinguish what genuinely moves them from everything telling them what they should become.
LYRICS - ENGLISH TRANSLATION (translations by @translatingtxt)
A noisy, gray city
Only growing numb
Swiping out of habit
In this emptiness
Surrendering myself to
The world of zeros and ones
Within all this excess
In the end, I can’t find nothing at all
It’s a 21st century romance
A fleeting soulmate
Like a foam bubble
TRANSLATION NOTE: 물거품 (mulgeopum) literally means “foam” or “bubbles on water,” but is also used figuratively for something that disappears or comes to nothing. Comparing a “fleeting soulmate” to 물거품 therefore emphasises how quickly a seemingly meaningful connection can vanish.
21st century romance
We who embrace even the emptiness
Amidst the abundant noise the world makes
I think I heard something in the distance
It’s a 21st century romance, maybe
Eyes closed
Tuning into the frequency
My voice I had slowly been forgetting
Beyond this excess
Following the faint signal coming through
It’s a 21st century romance
We could be soulmates seeking warmth
21st century romance
Listening closely
To the sound within me
Amidst the abundant noise the world makes
If I can hear my own sound
It’s a 21st century romance, baby
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