TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Yeonjun has achieved a lot in the two years since he and his members debuted. The latest feather in his cap is from the YouTube channel Studio Choom, which named him their Artist of the Month for July.
Every month, Studio Choom highlights one artist’s skills through a series of videos. As this month’s honoree, Yeonjun filmed a performance video where he danced to a mashup of “BLOW (with Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars)” by Ed Sheeran and “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.
In a vlog Yeonjun filmed for Studio Choom, he described his song choice as one “that’ll aptly portray my uniqueness and leave an impact—and boy, did it ever!
In the beginning of the performance video, Yeonjun can be seen in casual clothes, sitting on a couch with a guitar propped up next to him. He picks up the guitar and dances with it briefly before flopping backwards onto the couch, where he covers his face with a magazine.
Suddenly, a flash of white light signals the start of the next song, which makes Yeonjun spring to his feet. This time, he’s dressed to the nines in a crimson studded jacket, leather shoes, and ripped jeans—looking every inch like a proper rock star. The rest of the video is marked by powerful choreography, which he executes flawlessly.
In the vlog, Yeonjun talked about his love for dancing. “I always thought I’d become an artist because I had a lot of energy. Dancing was the first thing I began because I actually enjoyed it. When I dance, there are no limits. I can really be myself. It’s the best way for me to express myself, so I think that motivates me to do well.”
When the performance video finally dropped, it blew MOAs everywhere away. Even non-fans were impressed by Yeonjun’s talent. They were also touched by the story told through the performance: Yeonjun starts off as a normal kid who dreams of becoming a star, and his dream comes true by the end of the video. Because they couldn’t stop gushing about it, the hashtag #ArtistOfTheMonth_Yeonjun (and others related to it) ended up making Twitter’s worldwide trending topics list.
As Yeonjun tells it, a lot of hard work went into the performance. In one of his recent live broadcasts, he opened up about what he did to ensure that he’d be able to make MOA proud. He was given two whole weeks to practice, and he tried to make the most of that time while also preparing for their upcoming comeback.
“I made an effort to find time to practice. I practiced in the morning. I practiced alone for a while, then I practiced with the dancers. Although I wasn’t able to practice for the full two weeks, I did practice for three to four days a week,” he said.
In choosing the music, Yeonjun and his teachers worked together to pick songs that would be appropriate for all ages. Once he settled on “BLOW” and “Watermelon Sugar” because they weren’t explicit in any way, he fell to work. In true main dancer style, Yeonjun was determined to get even the smallest details of his performance down pat—no matter the cost.
“I have a band-aid on one of my fingers because I cut myself when I was practicing guitar for Studio Choom,” he said. Quickly, as if realizing that his fans would be very concerned about him because of his injury, he told them not to worry because it didn’t really bother him.
What did bother him, at least at first, was the choreography. According to him, he almost cried while learning the moves.
“When I danced to the entire routine for the very first time, I realized how hard it was compared to any dance I learned before. I needed to be able to fill the stage alone from start to finish. I filmed myself dancing and when I watched the video, I got emotional because I could see that I couldn’t dance the way I intended to. I mean, I kept telling myself that I should go harder. I wanted to, but my body couldn’t. The choreography was very physically demanding.”
Yeonjun revealed that his confidence plummeted when he couldn’t make his body move the way he needed it to.
“I was devastated. I thought, ‘Can I actually do this?’ I asked my teacher what I should do. It was very embarrassing. It’s been a while since I said something like that. In the past, if I didn’t feel confident, I’d pretend I was and I’d always manage to work things out. But this time, I really felt like I could be in trouble. My pride was hurt.”
A lesser artist would’ve quit on the spot. But Yeonjun is made of sterner stuff. Instead of giving up, he redoubled his efforts. He drew inspiration and strength from his backup dancers, some of whom are the best in the industry. Knowing that, and knowing the fact that being able to work with them is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he decided to push himself past his limits so as not to let them down or waste their time.
In his live broadcast, he said, “Working with the dancers motivated me. They’re amazing. They’re experts with great careers, so I felt even more pressure because I didn’t want to fall behind. But as I watched them all dance, I got energy from them. Each of them did well in different parts, so I tried my hardest to match their energy level and their expressions. I ended up learning a lot from them. If there were parts I couldn’t work on by myself or parts I found difficult, all I had to do was look to them for examples. It was a great opportunity.”
After filming, Yeonjun gave the dancers signed copies of TOMRORROW X TOGETHER’s sophomore album The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, complete with personalized notes for each of them. In dancer Kim Ki Hyun’s copy, Yeonjun wrote, “I’m a fan of yours. Thank you for dancing so amazingly!”
Meanwhile, in the note enclosed in dancer Kim Young Hoo’s copy, Yeonjun expressed his gratitude and said how honored he was to have performed alongside him.
MOA discovered what Yeonjun did for them when Ki Hyun and Young Hoo posted about their gifts on Instagram. Ki Hyun wrote, “Yeonjun-ssi who has a warm heart” while Young Hoo raved about what an all-around great guy Yeonjun is. He captioned his post, “Visuals, talent, personality are all 1,000,000 points. It was fun doing it with Yeonjun-ssi. Thank you.”
Yeonjun said he was happy to do something nice for the dancers because they went all out during filming. “The dancers worked really hard for me. It must’ve been tough for them, especially the ones who had to do all the acrobatic moves like the back handsprings and cartwheels. Some of them even suffered ankle sprains, but they kept dancing. They increased their energy level and insisted, ‘I’m fine. It’s OK, it’s OK.’”
Yeonjun went on to reveal more secrets from the Studio Choom set when a MOA asked whose idea it was to use the performance to tell the story of a kid with big dreams. When he read that question, he started singing the praises of his agency’s performance team.
“They actually came up with the idea,” he said. “They put in lots of effort for the performance. The choreography was created by our company, so shoutout to them for that. As you can see in the behind story of Studio Choom, the choreography was so cool and nice. When we were practicing, our trainers worked with us until we could pull it off. I’m really thankful they created such amazing choreography.”
He also made sure to thank the Studio Choom staff. “They worked hard as well and I felt that. The director, his assistant, and the cameramen—it was thanks to them that we were able to create great content.”
Soon after the performance video premiered, Yeonjun sent his members the link and asked for their feedback. According to him, the maknae line was first to reply.
“Taehyun said it looked cool and I did a great job. He also told me to eat a lot and do it stronger, which made me laugh. Hueningkai said I worked really hard. He also said, ‘I can see my dancing style in your performance,’ which was silly,” Yeonjun said as he shook his head in amusement at their comments.
Soobin, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s leader, was next to reply. “He said, ‘It looks cool. You filled the entire three minutes.’ I replied, ‘Good, good. What a relief.’ But then he said, ‘It’s a bit disturbing, but it’s still sexy.’ Beomgyu was busy with something else that day, so he didn’t reply to the group chat. But when I saw him in person, he said it looked cool. So they all said something nice and made jokes at the end.”
His bandmates’ reaction notwithstanding, Yeonjun was somewhat nervous about the performance video. He didn’t know how MOA would react when they watched it. He hoped they’d be proud of him and the effort he put into it, because it was all for them.
“Normally, when I prepare something, I get excited and I really enjoy it. When I got this offer, I was really happy because I wanted to do it for MOA. They really wanted me to be Artist of the Month. But as I went through the process, I was like, ‘What should I do?’ This time, I felt lots of pressure. But I managed to pull it off because I worked very hard. I practiced whenever I had time. I didn’t want to feel ashamed in front of the fans who were looking forward to my performance. I needed to boost MOA’s pride,” he said.
Fortunately, the fans loved it. “A lot of you said you were proud of me,” he told MOA during his live broadcast. “I was satisfied. Of course, while some of you loved it, some may think it wasn’t enough. But I did my best. It was a great opportunity, so I practiced a lot and I worked hard. I feel proud. I haven’t felt this level of happiness in a long time. In conclusion, it turned out great. I feel so grateful.”
Overall, Yeonjun said he was pleased with how everything turned out. “I have to say I’m satisfied. I practiced to the fullest. I think at least the effort I put in can be seen there. I worked hard for it, so I’m satisfied and I have no regrets.”
