Meaning of Taeyeon’s To. X
Taeyeon is a long-standing member of the well-known K-pop act, Girls’ Generation. Now having been in the game for over 15 years, she has dropped a number of solo projects, beginning with her debut EP, 2015’s /.
Tae’s latest project, as of this writing, is To. X, which was made public on 27 November 2023 and marks the singer’s fifth mini-album. And today we’re going to look at the EP’s title track, which also serves as its lead single and the first song on the playlist.
Facts
The To. X mini-album features six tracks/songs in total. The two South Korean labels which backed its issuance are Kakao Entertainment, alongside the internationally-known SM Entertainment. And it was SM Entertainment who announced the forthcoming release of the EP on November 6th, about three weeks before it came out.
Interpretation of the Lyrics
It’s obvious, looking at the cover art to this track, that To. X is romantically based. But as we at Song Meanings and Facts have noticed and pointed out in the past, these K-pop artists do not drop overt love songs. And the interesting thing about this piece is that even though it’s clear that Taeyeon is singing to a romantic interest, the lyrics never specify that.
So the “X” in the title could be interpreted along the lines of ‘ex’, as in ex-boyfriend. But that said, the lyrics do not read as if the vocalist and addressee have already broken up. Instead, Taeyeon is pointing out how her relationship with this person is “not fun anymore”, as it was when they first became acquainted. It can also be gleaned that part of the problem is her coming to the conclusion that he’s too self-centered.
So now, dude is on the verge of getting ‘blocked’. And by the looks of things, once Taeyeon does cut him off, she’s not keen on entertaining the idea of reuniting in the future. Or viewed from a different angle, it’s as if she has become totally turned off.
