Girl group Nmixx gives spin on musical genre with own creation on 1st EP

K-pop girl group Nmixx has tenaciously pursued a musical genre of its own creation despite mixed reviews on its previous releases.

It returned Monday with an album composed of songs of its trademark “mixx pop” genre, which blends two or more genres into one song to give a variety of charms, but with more public appeal.

“We prepared the album in a way to make it easier for the public to listen to while showing the identity of Nmixx,” member Lily said during a media showcase in Seoul for its first EP, “Expergo.”

While the album’s prereleased track “Young, Dumb, Stupid” has a clear feature of the “mixx pop” genre, the main single, “Love Me Like This,” was created to be simpler and have less elements of the genre, she added.

Including the two, the EP released at 6 p.m. has a total of six tracks. The four others are “Password, “Just Did It,” “My Gosh” and “Home.”

The EP is the band’s first release in four months since its latest single, “Funky Glitter Christmas.”

According to the band, “Expergo,” a Latin word for “awaken,” is the first page of the band’s new universe, named “Docking Station.”

Sullyoon said the album depicts “docking” between Nmixx and its fandom, “Nswer,” and among band members with such keywords as “diversity,” “solidarity” and “unity” in the center.

Leader Haewon added, “If we told a story of us who set out on a voyage in our previous songs ‘O.O’ and ‘Dice,’ this time we depicted how we were connected to the people whom we met in the middle of the journey and the process of how we changed through them.”

The lead track, “Love Me Like This,” was arranged by the renowned British producing team LDN Noise, who participated in the production of albums by TWICE, EXO’s Baekhyun and TVXQ.

Nmixx debuted in February last year as a seven-member girl group with Lily, Haewon, Sullyoon, Bae, Jinni, Jiwoo and Kyujin, releasing its first single, “Ad Mare.” It rose to the status as one of the leading fourth-generation K-pop girl groups, as the accumulated sales of its albums topped 1 million copies that year.

But it was reduced to a sextet with the departure of one member, Jinni, in December due to “personal reasons.”

“Expergo” marks Nmixx’s first release as a six-piece group.

When questioned how the band feels about the change, Haewon answered, “We have made efforts to show our own color since our debut, and believe Nswer loves the team’s charms and will continue to support it.”