The Backlash For NMIXX’s Debut “O.O” May Be Intentional, Here’s What Fans Are Speculating
Since before their debut, NMIXX has been a hot topic among netizens.
Fans were excited for Lily to debut, a long-time JYP Entertainment trainee who appeared in both K-Pop Star Season 4 and did a voice-over for GOT7‘s “If You Do.” Netizens were excited to see what Lily, known for her vocal talent, would bring to the group.
Member Sullyoon went viral for her stunning visuals, even gaining five fansites before the group officially debuted. Netizens have also been waiting for her debut since she was known as a “Monster Rookie” for her acceptance into the “Big 3” K-Pop companies, proving her immense talent.
Before their debut, the members of NMIXX all appeared in multiple music and dance videos, helping to establish a fanbase and proving that their talent would be immeasurable when they debuted.
According to JYP Entertainment, NMIXX is meant to bring a new side to K-Pop, pioneering a new style of music called “MIXX POP” that blends different types of music together.
But despite all the excitement around NMIXX’s debut, their debut album AD MARE has received extremely negative reactions.
Primarily because JYP Entertainment has been accused of plagiarising everything from…
ENHYPEN‘s debut trailer
Am I the only one who noticed that they're 'Declaration' teaser is pretty much the same concept as ENHYPEN's debut trailer thing with Jake's voice?
I distinctly remember the trailer being unique…..and now NMIXX does it?#ATEEZ #ENHYPEN #NMIXX https://t.co/puumP7mrAf
— ATEEZ DON'T STOP (@formyatinyheart) February 24, 2022
LOONA‘s music video
NMIXX x LOONA
the cinematic parallels no one asked for— pic.twitter.com/VWtl1uRPMD
— j u s w a (@tokwaaaaa_) February 23, 2022
ATEEZ‘s concept
jype be like: pic.twitter.com/HmqbbXQFhg
— Kal ⧖ Ateezhub (@Ateezhub) February 25, 2022
To aespa‘s sound
jyp trying to recreate aespa’s sound pic.twitter.com/hQQeEx1bhr
— momo ♡ yy ( ´ ▽ ` ) (@yangtimes2) February 22, 2022
But not only are fans of groups outraged at the plagiarism accusations but NMIXX’s title track “O.O” is also met with a lot of criticism.
Although the dance performance, vocals, and rapping in “O.O” do showcase the members’ talents, many listeners say that the song is too overwhelming for them.
One popular YouTube reaction channel, Form of Therapy, reacted to “O.O” and voiced a lot of the reasons fans are not enjoying the song.
The song and video were so overwhelming for the reactor (who goes by Producer) that they had to watch the music video a second time before giving their opinion. Ultimately deciding they “do not like this debut.”
Some of Producer’s feedback that fans agreed with was that the difference between SM Entertainment‘s experimental songs and “O.O” was the number of producers credited with the work. Producer states that SM Entertainment usually only has a few producers working closely together, but there were ten producers credited on “O.O” that Producer believes likely were not working closely together.
Producer’s other major issue with the music video is that it does not feel like an idol music video.
By that, Producer means that in a debut, companies would ideally want their members to stand out, have multiple solo shots, have their vocals attributed to them. But instead, the music video felt more like a performance video that highlighted all the members together, not giving fans the ability to see the members’ individual colors.
Netizens also are not sure why JYP Entertainment made NMIXX’s debut song a sponsorship for Coca-Cola. Not only does the product appear in the music video, but the actual lyrics include “check out popcorn and Zero Coke.”
However, multiple fans of the group are speculating that all the backlash for NMIXX’s debut was actually an intentional move on JYP Entertainment’s part.
With any controversy or widely talked about song, even if the comments are primarily negative, views and listens will inevitably increase, which explains their debut music video already having almost 30 million views.
Similarly, NMIXX and JYP Entertainment (on Twitter commonly shortened to JYPE) have been regularly trending topics as netizens focus on both their outrage about the plagiarism and opinions of the song. Which only grants the rookie group more exposure.
This exposure is reflected in their sales as NMIXX has exceeded one-hundred-thousand sales within three days of their debut.
NMIXX surpassing 100k copies sold with O.O in only 2 days, with only 10 days for pre-ordering, and with no promotion AT ALL. I did not like when i said NMIXX karma will come to hit
— cleo | HAEWON DAY (@nmxdolls) February 25, 2022
Girl Groups who have exceeded 100K copies in the 1st week#TWICE#BLACKPINK#IZONE#GIDLE#RedVelvet_IRENE_SEULGI#ITZY#MAMAMOO#RedVelvet#STAYC#aespa#IVE#Kep1er#fromis_9#NMIXX 🆕
— KOREAN SALES (@koreansales_twt) February 25, 2022
But while this exposure from backlash could be seen as happenstance, some fans believe that “O.O” itself actually proves how intentional of a move this was.
Another popular YouTube reaction channel, itsANDYandJAS, released their reaction to “O.O,” showcasing how much the two enjoyed the debut.
The two focus more on the lyrics of “O.O,” which makes them both excited about the clever wording in the song.
For instance, the two speculate about all the possible interpretations of the title, “O.O.” Notably focusing on the interpretation that the title is supposed to represent eyes, as seen in both the choreography and lyrics, saying that NMIXX is “going to make eyes look at them.”
Another fan posted to Twitter, pointing out that at the end of the music video, one of the “Os” is about to turn off, possibly indicating the narrow view people are using to look at the debut.
just realised something really ironic nmixx said the O.O resemble a shocked face and this is how ppl will be after seeing nmixx debut and as you can notice the dounuts shop sign have a similar 2 dounuts look like a shocked face but at the end one of them was about to turn off…+ pic.twitter.com/pioNn4wcvL
— Bix🦋 (@jisooqwen) February 25, 2022
this describes how ppl reacted to nmixx debut looking at it through one eye that will gives you a narrow view of what’s nmixx and how the sign was reflecting red light on jiwoo’s face means how this narrow view will be reflected as hate O.O mv if full of easter eggs…!!!
— Bix🦋 (@jisooqwen) February 25, 2022
And one of the key moments in the lyrics that the two reactors point out is that NMIXX sings that “this is just a teaser.”
The two reactors then speculate that this means NMIXX’s song purposely tried to showcase not only their vocals, dance, and rap but deliberately had the extreme music shift to show that they are capable of tackling any style or genre of music, even within one song.
A TikTok user came to a similar conclusion, suggesting that NMIXX’s actual concept will start with their first comeback since the lyrics say they are “coming soon,” not that they are coming now.
@hanjisungsoveralls I like it either way#kpopfypシ#nmixx#fypシ#hanjisungsoveralls#straykids#kpopfypシ#stayc
So the user believes their debut was more of a “publicity stunt,” and the group is telling fans to “calm down” since they will bring their true colors to their comeback.
But regardless of whether or not all of this backlash was intentionally sparked by JYP Entertainment trying to create trending discourse around NMIXX, NMIXX themselves do not deserve the hate they’ve been receiving.
i think the nmixx hate is getting quite ridiculous at this point because some of you don’t even dislike the girls but the sheep mentality took over your overall opinion on them pic.twitter.com/PnYLdB2nnc
— ;p (@IVEpolice) February 24, 2022
The members have been waiting a long time to debut and worked hard to show off their immense vocal, dance, and rap talents with the song and concept they were given.
i don’t think you guys understand what we mean when he say the girls in nmixx are YOUNG IMPRESSIONABLE TEENAGERS. there are literally masses of you sending hate towards these girls like they devised this whole comeback on their own is that not sick to you?
— ?! (@goIfIefleur) February 24, 2022
What are your thoughts on NMIXX’s debut?
You can watch “O.O” here.
You can watch Form of Therapy’s reaction video here.
You can watch itsANDYandJas’s reaction video here.
