Hi everyone! Happy Saturday and May.
We are starting a new series for Moament called Moaville Stories. This series dives deep behind the minds of MOAs who do amazing work in Moaville. While we all celebrate Tomorrow X Together, we also shine light on those making this community a beautiful place to be.
Our inaugural conversation is with the admins of @txtlyricism! They have been really supportive of Moament since its inception and we have collaborated on #MOAMusicMonday for Ghosting. It’s a pleasure to welcome them back. Let’s look at how they started their journey with TXT and all things music!
Fun fact: the admins behind @dreamsputnik (a great lyric video account) are the same as @txtlyricism!
If you’d like to recommend MOAs to feature, comment or DM @moament304!
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity. Today’s article is around 2k words, a 5 minute read.
The Story Behind
Do you have a nickname you’d like MOAs to call you other than @txtlyricism?
We’ve been called “lyricism” sometimes. It’s kinda funny but it also works. Since it’s not ran by only one person and you can’t really pinpoint which one of us is posting and interacting (plus we like keeping the “anonymity”).
Where are you based?
All across Europe!
When and how did you come across TXT? What made you fall in love with them?
Admin 1: I got to know them shortly after I started getting more into their label-mates, around this time (May/June) in 2020. They were promoting The Dream Chapter: Eternity and I was really fascinated by the sound of “Fairy of Shampoo”, so I decided I would check out the whole discography. Needless to say the range and the variety of genres, concepts and themes stole my heart (and ears) immediately! Since I’m someone who can easily get bored sticking to only one genre and tries to expand their taste, TXT’s carefully curated musical diversity impressed me so much I didn’t think twice about sticking with them throughout their artistic growth.
Admin 2: As for me, I started gaining interest in k-pop in January 2021 and found a video of TXT covering a song. Later on I heard Eternally through a friend’s playlist and its uniqueness intrigued me, so I started listening to more of their music and discovered their Melon Music Awards 2019 performance. Their passion and hard work exuding from that performance was so visible to me that I made the final decision to stick with them. To me, it was a mix between their music, performances and overall personalities that resonated perfectly with me and I could connect with.
You started @txtlyricism in August 2021 around the LO$ER=LO♡ER era. What is the story behind that?
I’m not the only admin but I did start this project by myself. Soon after The Chaos Chapter was released I experienced this growing necessity to find a point of reference when it came to discussing txt’s music. I expressed my frustration to some MOA friends about the lack of these spaces in the fandom. I honestly thought for some time that many MOAs weren’t really interested in the musical and lyrical aspects, but after talking to my friends I realized that maybe we all needed some motivation and the same point of reference that I had been searching for.
I was very indecisive about taking this matter in my hands, since I thought I couldn’t live up to the expectations I created for myself and I wouldn’t have much time to spend on it, but I told myself why not give this a shot and see how it goes? And like that, @txtlyricism was created. I told my friends and among the ones that were the most excited about this project was the person that I would soon ask to share this experience with, the other half of the brain behind the account: our amazing admin!
TXT & Lyricism
Why are TXT lyrics so special? What makes them different?
There’s a lot of things that make TXT lyrics special but what stands out the most is probably how relatable they are, not only for people around their age. The concerns and emotions we go through as teenagers approaching and facing adulthood, heartbreak, grief and healing are universal experiences that TXT talk about carefully through their lyrics (never in a banal way). Perhaps the fact that these walks of life are something that they discuss wholeheartedly with us MOAs even outside of music and performance makes them even more relatable. In my opinion, realizing we can connect with the people we look up to through this raw human experience is what ties MOAs and TXT’s souls so strongly together in an unprecedented way.
Michael: As someone who pays special attention to the lyrical flow, I find TXT lyrics nuanced linguistically and contextually. The key is to make candid and blunt observations about the living experience (e.g. Ghosting). Big Hit artists and producers then relentlessly polish the lyrics. I like to say Big Hit takes their mastery from their BTS success and cultivates it further with TXT.
What is your writing process like? How do you find the ideas to write in depth?
It’s honestly difficult for the both of us to really pinpoint how our writing process starts and develops since it’s usually spontaneous. Ideas might sprout from reading one particular line of the song or just feeling inspired by listening to one of their songs in a certain moment of the day, when we’re in a certain mood. Sometimes, inspiration also comes from making connections with our knowledge about literature, cinema, etc. (for example the thread about Dear Sputnik and Haruki Murakami’s book Sputnik Sweetheart). The interpretations, of course, all start from reading the lyric translations. Ideas simply start flowing from that point. Needless to say, our interpretations are really subjective and different opinions are always welcome in our account, be it from commenting under our tweets, joining #MOAMusicMonday or writing them using the hashtag #txtlyricism.
As for the informative threads, which are a fairly new addition to our account, the writing process is a little different. Since we want to be as accurate as possible, when we choose a topic we research about it from various sources and sprinkle our own knowledge on top. We really care about not spreading misinformation, so we try to be as accurate as possible and write in a way that can be comprehended by anyone regardless of their understanding of these topics.
What are some challenges behind running your account? How do you manage your personal life and such a prominent role in Moaville?
The biggest challenge is actually juggling between running the account and managing our personal lives as full-time students with many tasks and interests outside of being a MOA. The #MOAMusicMonday weekly appointment, for example, can be hard to keep up with sometimes, since our daily lives don’t always have a fixed schedule unlike @txtlyricism. But we try not to be too hard with ourselves nor sacrifice anything. We tend not to force ourselves to write a certain amount of content within the month, but rather follow our inspiration since things like writer’s block can occur.
Another challenge might be facing backlash, which has rarely ever happened to us but with a platform that’s constantly growing it is something we should expect. We’re learning not to make it affect us too much. I guess not pressuring ourselves too much and being able to support and count on each other at all times is what helps us the most with running @txtlyricism smoothly.
Michael: This is so beautifully put, both the external and internal pressures any creators face, especially those in fandom communities. So as readers and fellow MOAs, let’s also be more supportive for our creators in Moaville.
You are very well versed in musicality and lyricism. How did you come to understand music so deeply?
Admin 1: I personally am not musically trained besides some things I’ve learned in school and a couple years of trying to learn how to play the piano. Honestly most of my knowledge stems purely from a mix of curiosity, being around musicians in real life and the fact that I’ve always been exposed to various types of music in different languages since I was very young. As I already said, I like to hop across very different genres and artists and read about the influences and history behind them.
Admin 2: I do have a background in classical music, actually. I’ve played the cello for almost 13 years and have been part of orchestras. Music has always been an integral part of my life and it made me come to appreciate the structure, composition and harmonies within. However, one doesn’t require a musical background to understand music. To truly understand music means that you feel a connection to it and it makes you feel emotions. And TXT manages to make me feel these emotions.
You’ve written a great deal about tracks across different eras and their thematic connections. Is there anything about Thursday's Child that stands out to you even before its official release (on Monday)?
The thematic connections have been consistent since their first ever release, so what we expect the most is a continuation of their stories about the challenges of growing up. Judging by what we’ve found out so far, we’ll be diving deeper into the heartbreak dimension and we honestly can’t wait!
Resources & Future
What are your favorite threads? What are your most popular ones? What tweets and threads and songs do you want more MOAs to notice?
We’d surely like our informative threads and “misunderstood” songs (Cat & Dog and Ice Cream could be a great example) to get more noticed.
Funnily enough, our most popular thread is the one containing threads divided by album order. It’s kind of a thread-ception lol.
As for our favorite ones, that’s actually a difficult question. Our threads hold deep emotional value to us, since we pour our hearts out every time we analyze TXT lyrics, but among the most special ones are surely the breakdowns of Everlasting Shine, Can’t We Just Leave The Monster Alive? and Dear Sputnik (which is actually the first thread ever made).
What are your recommendations for MOAs to learn more about TXT lyrics?
Well, checking out our account ;)
Jokes aside, the first step should always be reading the lyric translations, TXT “behind the scenes” videos and interviews, which are often centered around the meaning of their music and music-making process.
Of course, we would also like to include our account on the list of things to check out when diving deeper into TXT’s discography since the main purpose of @txtlyricism has always been to open the door to the world that lies behind TXT’s music.
What are your goals with @txtlyricism in the next year? Any projects you can share with us?
Our goal is obviously to grow more and be able to collaborate with others in their projects, such as articles and events, but most importantly to have more people engage with our current projects. The best part of running this account is learning about different points of views and ideas about the same themes! We are also preparing for a bigger top-secret project that is just getting started and will probably take some time to complete. We can’t disclose any information about it, but you just need to know that it’s going to be our biggest project so far!
What are some great accounts to know, if MOAs want more resources to understand TXT’s music?
Our translation accounts @translatingTXT and @304verse would be the biggest point of reference since they provide translations to TXT’s lyrics, the base to building a better understanding of their music. And also all the MOAs that constantly participate in our #MOAMusicMonday projects, which are too many to list but they all give amazing insights! They’re truly the best.
How can Moament be of help? I’d love to have more people understand the beauty behind their music.
We honestly think you’re doing an amazing job already, and reading your blog is truly a delight. Having more people understand the beauty behind their music truly is definitely a collective effort but you’re doing amazing already. Perhaps we should work together again? ;)
Michael: You bet :)
So that’s our lovely @txtlyricism! Please give them lots of love, as many of you already do. We will be back with more of these interviews, as comeback season continues. Our regular newsletter will be back next week.
If you like what you read today, you will like our newsletter every other week. Read our latest update here and Michael’s favorite essay for Beomgyu’s birthday. Follow @moament304 on Twitter and subscribe to this newsletter below.
In the meanwhile, please get ready for Thursday’s Child release and stream as much as you can (without burning out)!
Ending with one of my favorite MOA threads.