Welcome to the 3rd issue of Moament, a bi-weekly newsletter on TXT and MOA by MOA! 🐰🦊🧸🐿🐧
We are already in the month of April! Everything so far on Moament totals 20 thousand words (or 40 pages on a Word document). I don’t think this level of output is sustainable, but I promise to keep the bi-weekly newsletters going.
Everything here is generously linked. This newsletter is 3k words (a 10 minute read).
Table of Contents (scroll to any section you like, it’s long):
Members re-united at last
MOA Sports Day
April Fools
Comeback news
Updates of all sorts
Data and charting
Member updates & social media
Cool things MOAs are working on
MOA fan art and edits
Threads and discussions
Lyrics and music
Starter Pack recommendations
Moaville Tea (fun things)
Michael’s Corner
Time Capsule
Reminders
Michael: There are a lot of sections in today’s Moament (which is great), but I am a bit worried about a) if this is sustainable and b) if current and future readers actually want to read something this long. Going over all the posts I’ve saved took an hour, which means I’ve been using Twitter perhaps too much.
To that end, I’d really appreciate your feedback. Thank you to those who already answered my poll. Seeing 70% of you saying this is great is comforting.
If you like Moament, please subscribe, follow us on Twitter, and retweet. Your help matters a lot! You can DM @moament304 for anything TXT/MOA related.
Source: Weverse
TXT Updates
There are a lot of updates in the last two weeks, partly because there are more things and partly because I’ve been a lot more immersed in Moaville. I will keep this section short with direct links.
Together Again
Hueningkai finished his quarantine and is back home! In fact, before Big Hit could release the official update, Taehyun broke the news himself (which is something he does all the time).
Here are some incredible fan arts to celebrate this special moment.
And this one just breaks me and makes me so happy
MOA Sports Day
MOA Sports Day was on 220326 Saturday. Here is a Korean article on the event. There are some nice moments from the event, but I didn’t save many… You can definitely find some on Twitter, just go to your favorite MOA accounts and specify your search date to 220326 and 220327.
April Fools
Yes, we are in April and yes, clowning is part of the TXT/MOA culture. @txtdcm (who became Krysten for a day, lol) explained below:
There is so much clowning on April 1st, I could have live updated the entire debacle. Fortunately I was busy, so here are some notable moments involving Taehyun trolling the crap out of us and the other members doing their usual stuff.
And MOAs are getting pretty good at tubatu-rolling ourselves. Our friend @txt_book did just that (the new “album concept trailer” looks really nice).
But let’s end with something slightly saner.
Comeback updates
Since we were unofficially officially confirmed a comeback two weeks ago, things have been happening nicely.
NOPE. Nothing happened. Really. NOTHING!!
Yeonjun released his X:Time clip on 220323. Listen to his apology to Choi Odi (for pooping in his room), watch professional gamer C. Beomgyu, and catch two musicians Taehyun and Hueningkai in the studios. Of course, Yeonjun has to end with a video of himself right before the fan live. He always looks so good...
Hueningkai’s X:TIME came out on 220330. Please watch it, because it’s awesome. We will remember the intro for years to come (loud tenor vocal warm-up becomes a tiny hello, so cute). He caught Soobin right after his tea time V Live (I want that jacket), Yeonjun getting emotional over MOA on tape (secretly, hmm), the best dribbling teddy bear CBG (in an outfit MOAs featured in fan art), Taehyun spiking a kiddie ball and looking still fine as hell, and ending with Huening’s plushie collection.
So in the meanwhile, what else do we know? Nothing.
MOAs are practically going crazy and the members can’t say much either.
And as you can tell, even Chinese MOAs are going insane. Look at this Excel chart that takes more effort than college economics courses.
But not all hope is lost. Even after Taehyun clowned us with a clip of cinematic red, we get knowledgable MOAs breaking down the clues from Big Hit style director’s Instagram. We have no idea if it’s a hint or not, but we are all losing our minds so…
Watch even our beloved @txtchartdata lose it (don’t worry, we will get new music soon!).
Alright, let’s hope for some real updates in the next issue. For now, please save some money for the new album only if you can (discussion on this below) and stream whenever you can. Here are four videos to stream, courtesy of our friends @txtengs and their great website:
Taehyun on Lee Mujin (120k views to 1M)
Cat & Dog music video (5M views to 100M)
Magic special performance (100k views to 9M)
Dynamite Cover (23k views to 7M!)
More Updates
Here are more announcements.
Yeonjun will make his MC debut on Inkigayo this Sunday at 3:50 pm KST! The great @choiyeonjunews compiled essential information below.
Tomorrow X Together will perform at Summer Sonic 2022 in Japan! This is a really big deal, as Sonic is Japan’s largest music festival. So happy for J-MOAs, they deserve so many concerts and moments with TXT.
The 2022 Deco Kit and is out. While the shipping fee is outrageous, the pictures and video are quite cute.
TXT MEMORIES : SECOND STORY is coming out soon. Here is a major moment in the preview video. I plan to write about all these things in a separate future post.
Yeonjun & Soobin were at a Dior pop-up event. Of course they both looked stunning.
The most recent Forbes interview is out. It’s quite good, though I am staying alert due to some particular writers. K-Pop journalism is for another day. Please also read TIME’s interview with Hitman Bang to understand a bit more about the company.
Don’t forget pictures from MOA X Together fanlive on Weverse!
TO DO & Videos
Our favorite TO DO is back with episodes 76 (V Live, YouTube, Weverse) and 77 (V Live, YouTube, Weverse). Watch the boys cook food and bask in Taehyun’s glory.
TXT performed at KOCCA MUSIC’s On The K program. You can watch the live here on Twitter and on Youtube. Sadly Hueningkai was still under quarantine, so the boys were missing him as well.
The full practice video of Sriracha is out! Here is a little bit of TMI.
Let’s never forget the now iconic Beomgyu-K.
And here is some clips for the March ELLE Men shoot!
Smash Villa has a few more episodes!
But somehow I remembered this the most:
To wrap things up, here is Soobin with his favorite younger brother.
Data & Charts
We are back again with @moachartdata and their EXQUISITE website that updates TXT Spotify data live.
First, two crown achievements!
However, that 8M peak was brief and we are now back in the 7M range. That is normal, as @moachartdata explains below. Due to the strong performance of PS5, TXT’s Spotify ML grew more than 40% in a month. That is a crazy good growth rate.
Follow @moachartdata for even more great data visualizations!
Now onto several more social media milestones, including TikTok, Yeonjun, and Jessi Showterview (which the boys will be back soon, fingers crossed).
As for music, there have been quite a lot of milestones! I don’t even think these include everything…
As of 220401, @TXT_bighit has 9.2M followers, @TXT_members has 11.6M followers, @TXT_bighit_jp has 2.4M followers, TXT Youtube has 8.9M subscribers, @txt_bighit (Instagram) has 11.6M followers (@yawnzzn has 7.5M followers), @txt.bighitent (on TikTok) has 16.3M followers, V Live channel has 7.1M members, and TXT Weverse has 5.5M members.
Please share Moament with MOA and people who are interested in dubaddu!
Member Updates 🐰🦊🧸🐿🐧
Before each member’s specific update, let’s welcome our new friends @304sns to Moaville. They will regularly update TXT’s official status. It would be awesome to collaborate in the future.
This section includes Twitter and Instagram updates, V Live, official Weverse posts, and TikTok. We are skipping merchandise announcements (mostly), Weverse stories, and Japan MOA membership content (since Michael doesn’t have one).
Twitter & Instagram
This includes updates on @TXT_members @TXT_bighit_jp and Instagram accounts @txt_bighit and @yawnzzn.
Soobin: Odi, after sports day
Yeonjun: being coy (not to be confused with his sly dancing on MMTG)
@txt_bighit: MOA X Together pictures (one, two, three)
@yawnzzn: no update
Beomgyu: deco kit style,
Taehyun: after live (drink water), basketball,
Soobin & Beomgyu: Ralph Lauren (other posts here)
Soobin & Hueningkai: cold day, after V Live,
Weverse Posts
Weverse posts deserve more description in Moament. After Hueningkai went home, he shared his Animal Crossing island with MOAs (those who play can tell he’s quite good). Then of course all members changed Weverse account names and profile pictures for April fools. Taehyun even clowned MOAs with a “new song” clip (or is it??). Make sure to sign up for Weverse, if you haven't already!
Soobin: Odi getting squeezed
Taehyun: April fools new song prank
Hueningkai: Animal Crossing showoff, April fools plushies!
And here is the official MOA X Together photos!
V Live
MOAs are well-fed with V Lives after the members reunited. Five lives in two weeks, counting TO DO that is something every other day!
Beomgyu: birthday live 1 🧸🎉🎂, birthday live 2 🧸🎉🎂
There are several notable moments during Beomgyu’s birthday live about Wonder (Soobin exposing him, filming video, direction, boyfriend vibe), birthday messages (Hueningkai, Taehyun, ), and his soulmate, and wearing Yeonjun’s presents.
Taehyun: Did you eat?
Hueningkai: HUE-ranghae💖 (and a viral tweet here)
Yeonjun & Taehyun: bread & Pokemon mukbang 🦊🐿🥖🥐🥯🍞
Soobin & Hueningkai: Glued🍓🍌🥭🍊🫐 (remembering trainee days)
TikTok
Following the relative hiatus over the last two weeks, members are back with more crazy videos! These are even more random than other social media updates, so I felt like adding some comments in the parentheses.
A MOA summarized TXT’s style quite well:
Taehyun on repeat challenge with Ray Charles (man’s got good taste)
Soobin’s favorites (of course it’s MOA)
Beomgyu looking perfect in every angle (imagine when he masters selca…)
Taehyun doing some phone skipping stuff (who filmed him…)
Soobin and Taehyun back at it again with Michael Jackson moves
Hueningkai saying MOA is best (duh!)
Yeonjun being hot AF like usual (where did he learn all this stuff...)
Soobin lip-syncing in his velvety comfy pajamas
Some Notable Comments
There are dozens of comments in any given two-week period, so I will try my best to save a few notable ones.
If you have any suggestions for this section, please leave a comment and DM @moament304 on Twitter!
MOA Ments
Moa Ments is my favorite section because it shows the vibrancy, creativity and love from Moaville.
Really Cool Stuff
@yvesfreeze and friends started a Heardle game for TXT discography! It’s super good. I’ve been getting everything right on the first go, how about you?
Here is another game under development for TXT. It seems so cool.
A conceptual design for Minisode1: Blue Hour.
Some beautiful typography for our boys’ music video titles.
Tote bags!
So much to look forward to this section in the future. Please keep them coming!
Fan Art & Edits
MOAs are incredibly talented and creative.
Today let’s focus on a few great art accounts:
@daehwisdays is a great illustrator
@304files has impeccable taste
@aiartxt is simply chef’s kiss
Now let’s look at some great fan art and edits, in order from groups to individuals and then some pairs (I promise I will include more Soobin and Hueningkai in the future, darn you Twitter algorithms). Let’s give a round of applause and hug to all the artists! They are all incredible.
This is a special project for Beomgyu’s birthday. It’s really awesome.
Threads & Discussions
Aside from things mentioned above, here are some ongoing discussions in Moaville that deserve more attention. Depending on the topics and my time, I will write about some more in detail either in Michael’s Corner or in another TMI.
@mymusetxt reminds us that steady growth is the best growth. It’s true. We want to be here for another ten years. Growing 3% each month for a year equals 42.5% growth, not the 36% we expect (3% * 12). In five years that equals a 489% growth, not the 180% we expect (3% * 60)! Just think about 5x everything…
A reminder to respect members’ wishes about using specific pictures. Memes are fine if they let you. Please don’t have fun based on other people’s pain.
Regarding saving money, it’s only if you can afford it. All MOAs are wonderful. Don’t go broke to support the artists you like, because they wouldn’t want that for you either. Remember IU telling her younger fans to just listen on Youtube instead of spending their allowance on her albums? I’m sure the boys love every MOA.
There is a lot of work for us to do in terms of the comeback. I hope to collaborate with the awesome @magicyeon5 to make a special post on comeback strategy!
Music & Video
This is now officially a permanent section, because #MOAMusicMonday is here to stay! Our great friends @txtlyricism are doing awesome work on this front.
The first song is Eternally.
The second one is Ghosting. We collaborated on a special feature! It’s quite an awesome experience, even my non-MOA friends loved the song!
Below are some more great posts on TXT songs in general.
Moaville Tea
There isn’t any love triangle drama this week like before, but being the clowns we are, MOAs will never stop posting funny and interesting stuff.
Enjoy!
And to wrap things up, some member related posts.
Starter Pack
Given comeback is around the corner, it makes sense to gather some resources for new MOAs (and to be honest, old MOAs too). There are videos and watch and re-watch, moments to live and re-live, and emotions to feel and be felt again.
Moament is hoping to collaborate with a few MOAs (e.g. the ones mentioned today) to create comeback guides for MOAs, as well as adding sections to the regular newsletter during comeback season.
Michael’s Corner
Honestly, I’m so spent writing this edition of Moament, I want to honestly skip this section. Even though I’m writing a lot fewer words, cataloguing and quoting Moaville takes much longer. I will keep my thoughts brief today.
Writing the TMI on haters and antis a few days ago actually opened my eyes to a lot of new things. I never realized I have thought so much about subjects like these. It is an empowering experience and I hope more MOAs will feel comfortable penning their thoughts like this. Tweets are great. TikTok videos are great. Edits and artworks are great. So why not give long-form writing a try as well?
Moament is growing at a good pace. I’d like to reach hundreds of readers (and perhaps a few thousand subscribers) by our next comeback and I think it’s quite doable. However, the number doesn’t matter much, as long as I know some of you find it worthwhile. So please comment and message whenever you can, because that’s the only way I really know what people think.
I am near the end of my current life stage, so things are changing pretty dramatically. But I know this newsletter is something I want to keep writing. I first fell in love with BTS and all I’ve learned from Bangtan I hope to do the same for TXT. I think these five boys (Yeonjun being exactly my age/month) have so much potential and they will do even better in the future. I will write about my bullish vision in another essay at some point.
Since I’m trying to sustain my efforts, I will take things easy in terms of projects outside of our main newsletter. The collaboration and essays so far have been great, but they probably can’t be expected on a regular basis. However, before comeback season officially starts, I would like to get a few things done:
A Starter’s Pack document for new MOAs, a TXT 101 course, if you will
Cataloguing TXT discography and shows in a database
A coherent comeback strategy plan for the broader community
In-depth analysis on streaming data for various platforms and shows
Merchandise guide and how/where to buy things within your budget
More collaboration on music and social media
It’s been wonderful to collaborate with a few MOA friends already, and I hope to work with even more of you! Ultimately, MOAs win if all of us work together and enjoy one another’s company. There are hundreds of you that do so much, I want to meet you all!
Till we meet at our offline concert or group meeting. - Michael
Time Capsule
Once in a while I watch TXT’s old content and feel both joyful and sentimental. To that end, I want to include a time capsule section to remind us all how far we have come. Please follow @txtoldcontent for more of those refreshers.
First up, watch Bebe Rexha’s Instagram live with TXT. This is literally Soobin’s dream coming true! He is so happy. It’s such a nice and wholesome moment. And let’s be honest, Bebe asked better questions and made the boys feel comfortable than most interviewers ever will (I think I can interview them well because I’m shameless haha).
Second, Taehyun’s promise with Beomgyu to go see the stars together. This is after Beomgyu’s Weverse diary about his camping trip. You can read more about it in my Beomgyu essay.
Reminders!
Stream for TXT! Our friend @txtengs has a great website with targets.
Follow @moachartdata for beautiful data analytics and their website.
Stay on track of TXT schedule with our friend @txt_book.
Learn with @txtlyricism @txtmvstills @dreamsputnik
Follow @304sns on TXT official social media updates.
Love yourself and love TXT. Be happy.
If you find Moament interesting, please share with people, follow us, DM us, and subscribe with email. It means a lot to us.
Read previous issues: issue 1, issue 2, Beomgyu essay, and Ghosting essay. You can find the tweets here (1, 2, BG, Ghosting).
If you want to be included in future reminders and shoutouts, feel free to contact Moament!
Ending with a Beomgyu quote and him making Yeonjun happy:
Moranghae. 🐰🦊🧸🐿🐧
Have a good weekend everyone!! Please share and subscribe if you read it this far.