A new player is on the playing field! JYP Entertainment’s latets female group, NMIXX, make their debut today with O.O, which is featured on the group’s debut single album, Ad Mare. NIMIXX is a seven members female group consisting of Haewon, Lily, Sullyoon, Jinni, BAE, Jiwoo and Kyujin. While the release dropped today, NMIXX unfortunately hasn’t been able to start off their careers as planned with a debut showcase as some of the members have tested positive for COVID-19. Unsure what that means for their promotions for this week, but hopefully the affected members recover quickly to be able to perform O.O on stage for us soon.

Hang tight, as there is a lot of unpack from O.O. When I listened to the song, it sounds like three songs were mashed into one. We have heard this before and sometimes it works (unexpectedly). O.O is one that doesn’t not work for me, and is not a good first step for a debut. I have listened to it a few times and I just can’t get over how distinct each section of the song. The first third of O.O was this edgy and powerful sound that I was not a fan of. It was quite overwhelming on many fronts, such as the vocals and rapping. They were poorly processed and sounded quite strained for the most part. It was a bit ‘try-hard’, if you wanted me to be direct about the sequence. The second third of the song was much more likeable and enjoyable, in comparison to the preceding sequence. It was a lot brighter, taking on a pop profile with hints of rock. The vocals and rapping were better here, but they still felt they were pushed too far. If there was a takeaway from this middle sequence, it is that they are youthful. The final (and third) sequence went down more of the hip-hop route. This also wasn’t that bad, but it lies in between the first and second sections of the song in terms of likeability for me. It was noisy, it was intense, it was overwhelming as well. It sounded like they were competing with the music, and I wished the producers had went with a slightly milder sound so we could hear more of NMIXX. Attitude and sassy also come to mind. When you consider the three parts as a whole, as intended, it felt like the whoever put the three pieces together were trying to fit three puzzle pieces together that were never going to fit. I am hoping that with time, O.O becomes a bit more bearable and that I find myself enjoying it more. Time after time, my reviews have turned up side down as a result to second chances and repeat listens. I personally think that O.O has a lot of warming up to do in order to recover, but who knows.

Like the song, it made sense that the music video would be in three segments as well. To match that edgy and powerful tone in the first sequence, we got a mysterious visual piece. Members are running into walls, colours are all very neutral and dominos are falling throughout the city. Personally, I found this sequence to be the coolest of the three when it came to the visual aid. In comparison to the first sequence, the second sequence of the video (for the second segment of O.O) felt like a unicorn did its business. It was super colourful and really encapsulated an innocent and youthful vibe (just like the song). For the third part of the song, the video adopted a darker vibe to compliment the noisy hip-hop sound. I do wonder what the final scene to the video is about. It is a bit ambiguous, but also very mysterious at the same time.

The choreography aspect also felt promising. One of the perks of having what felt like three different songs in one is that you can do a fair bit on stage. The start of the performances looks very cool, while the swing in the second sequence looks quite unique. I also liked how powerful the routine looked.

Song – 4/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 6/10