TXT kicks off the week with their latest comeback, Stick With You from their 8th mini-album 7th Year: A Moment of Stillness in the Thorns. It is their first comeback since their The Star Chapter: Together studio album (yet to be reviewed) and Beautiful Stangers, their 4th world tour, Act: Tomorrow, and the announcement that all 5 members had renewed their contracts with Big Hit Music (meaning there will be more of TXT coming our way!).

Stick With You is an electropop song that sits on the more ‘pleasant’ side of the spectrum of songs. It might be too soon for me to say whether “pleasant” is meant positively or critically (I have been busy and tired from work the last couple of days, so I haven’t had time to listen to new songs), so my reaction has been fairly neutral thus far. There are some good aspects to Stick With You that jump out at me, like the solid beat, the slight autotune behind their vocals to give some texture, and that deep “Is this a dream?” that serves as the main hook. I must say, their vocals do a really neat job of conveying a ‘yearning’ feeling (this isn’t their first time showcasing this feeling in their songs), and the autotune enhances it well. However, outside what has been mentioned, Stick With You also feels rather ’empty’. It doesn’t elicit much motivation to revisit the song, if I am being honest. I wish there were more prominent melodies in Stick With You and I felt like the producers could have leaned more on the electropop backing.

I applaud Big Hit Music for managing to extend the 2:33-minute song into a 4:30-minute music video. It does give a false impression that the song is of a decent length. Anyhow, the music video shows the TXT members stuck in a dream loop, constantly chasing and yearning for the female character after she leaves the apartment. In these dreams, fate ends up blocking the members from reaching her, or someone else distracts her or takes her away from the members. When they do reach her, the happiness is short-lived, with the members falling back asleep. However, towards the end of the video, it is revealed that these dreams are the members’ insecurity. SOOBIN manages to confront the ‘fate’ that is putting the female character just outside their grasp – it’s themselves (HUENINGKAI also glimpses himself walking away with her whilst he was on the ground). The whole time, she has been committed to just them, but their insecurities made them feel like they were losing her. I am glad there was a ‘happy ending’ to the story, even though they wake up again after the TXT logo, suggesting their insecurity is constantly at play. Their acting is also quite impressive throughout the video.

I quite liked the choreography for this comeback. There is a sharpness to the routine, particularly during the first half of the chorus, that makes the arm movements look so cool. The second half of the chorus (i.e., the “Is this a dream?” sequences) infuses some really dynamic intensity that elevates the routine and showcases TXT’s performance abilities.

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.3/10