NMIXX 1ST IMPRESSON: Backstory + Tiny Desk DEEP DIVE ANALYSIS
I love this format for being introduced to a new K-POP group.
Comments (17)
I had to come the moment I saw NMIXX! They are by far my favorite girl group, I love their vocals and unusual/weird sound. These girls are so talented and, after this Tiny Desk, JYP really understood that they need a band with them. So many other live performances with this same band aftewards. Kpop is also known for the dancing, and many groups release what they call 'dance practice' that is literally them practicing the choreo. The thing with NMIXX is that they have 'stage practices', where they sing AND dance at the same time, without mics. You hear footsteps and raw vocals. If you'd like to check some out, there is a really iconic one for their song 'High Horse - Stage Practice' and one for their new song 'Spinning On It - Stage Practice'. Their first full album comes out tomorrow, I really hope to see more of them here!! Please, check out their new songs 'Spinning On It' and 'Blue Valentine', the latter coming out tomorrow :)
the studio version of Dash is so much better tbh so you should compare versions haha
About pay: the big 3 pay their artists well because they will have success no matter what for being a big 3 artist. An example from a massive group called Loona they weren't paid at all the years they were active and were in fact getting deeper and deeper into debt for every album they released because of an unfair revenue split in their contract and that is just one case of one group from a small company.
Thank you for checking out nmixx amazing group, hade to sub 😍
and yeah.....if you're going to continue to go down the kpop rabbit hole, you're gonna have to just accept that "visuals" (basically yes, how pretty or handsome you are) is something openly discussed and accepted. Im sure you're somewhat aware of Kbeauty but korea is VERY OPEN about discussing how pretty someone is. There even is something called the "Korean Beauty Standard" (shape of face, eyes, nose, angle of lip corner to eyebrow, proportion of head size to body length, height, weight, skin tone, etc etc etc) that's pretty icky but it's just part of the culture. I'm korean and Im so used to my mom or aunts telling me my face got fat or skinny when I see them (quite literally the first things out of their mouths) or commenting on how small someone's face is. It can be a bit jarring for westerners to observe for the first time
Thank you for that, very helpful. 🙏
when it comes to money earned and kpop, that's a whole huge thing deserving of a Harvard Business Journal study on payment structures and whatnot. But generally speaking, if you actually make it to a Big 4 company group, chances are you'll be alright. It's still korea which is corporation-driven so the balance of what companies take vs artists is still vastly tilted to the companies BUT, they also SPEND a gargantuan amount of money housing, feeding, training, these trainees. If you look at it as a whole (so not just the top companies), in all honesty, there's a reason why so many parents in korea's nightmare is having their child say they want to be a kpop idol. The failure rate is astronomically high and these YOUNG kids are saddled with so much debt. There's a saying in korea that it's easier to win the lottery than become a successful kpop idol.
and yes, these kids are singing and dancing from a very very young age. There is a whole industry of kpop training schools (or hagwons) to train kids to get to the point of being able to audition for a kpop group. It's really no different than sports in the US or, like, classical musicians and not to be too harsh on the kpop industry, there are hagwons for EVERYTHING in korea. Korea is a HARSH HARSH HARSH environment. It's super common for kids (grade schoolers) whose parents want them to become a doctor or lawyer or work for a big company like Samsung to go to school then immediately go to these hagwons til like 10-11 pm at night.
There are a TON of non-korean idols in kpop. Going all the way back to second gen kpop (so, like, early to mid 2000s) the big companies realized they needed to break into the chinese and japanese markets so even back then they had full chinese or full japanese members sprinkled throughout. These days, it's almost rare to have a group that is ALL korean-korean (especially in the Big 4 companies). For smaller companies, its more common to have all korean members Recently, with the big companies establishing actual US branches of their companies there have been a few groups that are basically all foreigners (with maybe a single korean or korean-american member) who focus on english lyric songs with varying degrees of success/failure
So helpful, really appreciate it.
That intro video was made seemingly right after Nmixx debuted, which is about 3.5 years ago. They’ve changed a lot since then. While their initial music was very poorly received, their newer music is critically acclaimed. Their new album Forward is still the highest rated kpop album of 2025 according to RateYourMusic. A song in that album, High Horse, was ranked the #2 kpop B-side of 2025 by Billboard. One of the main reasons they still don’t get as many fans as they could, is many people start by watching their debut song and give up before seeing some of the more interesting work they’ve done in the last 2 years.
Very happy for the amazing analysis on Nmixx! I really think they’re the most talented girl group active today.
yes! i was super hoping you’d find this group! my top 2 favorite group right now!
I enjoyed the intro learning about the group. No one knows exactly why Jini left but she left shortly after their debut. NMIXX is super experimental with their music (mix is literally in the name) and their debut was a little crazy for a lot of people including me, but over time they have refined their sound and arrangements and their pretty popular now. They’re one of the few groups who sing live basically all of the time even in their dance practice videos you can hear how they control their voices despite the demanding choreography!
About your questions if and when these idols get paid it really depends on the company. There are some Kpop labels (especially the smaller ones) that straight up completly scam their artists and trap them in exploitive contracts where they never see any money for years, even if they get profitable. For the big 4 companies (Hybe, SM, YG and JYP) though these days they usually get paid pretty much immediatly after debut. So I wouldn't be worried about the Nmixx girls in that regard.
Great that you were able to upload the reaction despite your surgery! I hope everything went fine with that! internetsnathan's videos are legit. As far as I can say for the videos I have watched.
been looking forward to this, love the analysis you give on other videos its very in dept and the best ive seen