NMIXX Thrives on Change With Their First Full-Length Album, ‘Blue Valentine’

K-pop girl group NMIXX thrives on change.

Consisting of members Haewon, Lily, Sullyoon, Bae, Jiwoo and Kyujin, NMIXX debuted in 2022 as Korean entertainment giant JYP Entertainment’s latest girl group. In the nearly four years since their arrival on the scene, NMIXX has stood out in a highly saturated music ecosystem. Instead of following trends, the group has dabbled in a variety of genres, often merging multiple into one song to form their unique sound, dubbed MIXX Pop.

On their first full-length album, Blue Valentinethe group is taking a cue from some of their more popular B-sides. The melancholic pop-rock of the title track showcases the group’s strong vocals and has already earned some long-overdue domestic success. It’s steadily climbing the Korean charts, currently sitting at No. 51 on the Melon top 100 chart at the time of publication.

The album is all about love, the group explains. “On this album, we put in a lot of love stories that maybe people are going through, have already gone through or maybe will be going through,” Haewon tells The Hollywood Reporter. The 22-year-old, the group’s leader and main vocalist, is gathered among her fellow group members for a late-night Zoom conversation from their headquarters in Seoul.

NMIXX spoke with THR about why they’re suited to try different genres and the pressures that come with bringing their music to the world.

This is your first full-length album. Can you tell me about it?

HAEWON Blue Valentine is about so many different emotions that you feel when you go through love. All the tracks on the album talk about love, but we decided to use different genres, so that when somebody hears it they say, Oh, it’s all about love. But there can be so many different ways to express that through different music genres and performances.

What does it mean to you to finally put the album out, and what are you most looking forward to?

LILY I think it’s a very big deal in K-pop. When I look at our sunbaenims [Korean word for a senior in the same field]all of their first full albums were very iconic. I really hope that our first full album, Blue Valentinecan end up as a very iconic album in NMIXX’s discography. Our fans have been looking forward to it for so long, so we really want to show them the best possible album that we can come up with.

You’ve done a great job at trying new sounds while still keeping true to your identity as a group. Can you tell me about the lead single?

LILY I think this title song was very new for us in a way. We’ve done a lot of different genres, but every single time we have a comeback, I think it’s so new to us. This time was no different. First of all, for me, when I first heard the song, I was so shocked. I couldn’t even imagine a dance. I thought it was very, very new for us, and I was kind of worried if we could pull it off. But I do think we really did work hard on the performance and the recording process. I think it came out really good in the end.

What makes it the right single for NMIXX?

LILY NMIXX’s signature sound is that we can do any sound. With our genre MIXX Pop, we have tried all different types of music every time we come back. We obviously still keep the soul of NMIXX within all of our songs. But we — not to toot our own horn — but I think we have the skills to back up any genre that we do. I think we can do it because we’ve worked hard in order to try different things.

As a group, you are very focused on vocals. You seem to put your vocal performance first, but you are also doing very intense choreography. You are trying different kinds of choreography — your dance for the song “High Horse” comes to mind — than people might associate with a K-pop group. Can you tell me more about your process?

KYUJIN Since my trainee years, we’ve trained in many different genres, choreography wise and dance wise. Now we’ve trained both vocal and dance, but we practice a lot as a group, so we learn a lot from each other.

LILY You mentioned the song “High Horse.” That was one of the hardest dances that we’ve done, and at the time we were all really worried [about] if we were going to be able to sing [it] live. At the end of the day, we pulled through with difficulty [work and] perseverance. I was very proud of us in that moment, and I think it’s definitely a proud moment for our fans.

Can you tell me about the “Blue Valentine” choreography and music video?

SULLYON There are two very special things [about this music video]. We filmed the video in a very special location [Los Angeles]. The second is that we also used a very unique filming technique. But all of these [fans can] see when they watch the music video.

BAE If you actually watch the behind the scenes video, you’ll even be more surprised, so check out both of them.

JIWOO There’s also an easter egg, in terms of the choreography, because it directly translated the concept of the album.

On this album, you revisit your debut song, “OO,” breaking it up into two songs based on the sonic changes. That feels very full circle for your first full-length album. What was it like to go back to that?

LILY It’s definitely a very special moment on the album. We’ve performed it during our concerts. Our fans know of the existence of these two different parts, but after we performed it, our fans were always asking us to release it as an actual album track. I’m really happy that we could give that to them. You’re right, it’s really full circle because this is our first full album. The fact that we got to release other versions of our debut song is very special, and they come at the end of the album.

Do you think having those tracks included on the album made you reflect on the time since your debut in 2022?

ALL Absolutely.

BAE We recently had a shoot that made us reflect on our debut, so that definitely brought up a lot of memories. To put our debut song on our first full-length album definitely means a lot.

JIWOO It was our debut song. We’re presenting the song with a more grownup [approach]. We’ve definitely evolved, and the attitude or the way we present the song is also different.

LILY We were babies when “OO” came out. Now look at us, we’re all grown up.

You’re at a new point as a group. You’re releasing a full-length album. You’re coming up on four years as a group. Do you find any new challenges or pressure that might come along with that?

BAE NMIXX’s direction, where we’re headed, is creating this universe or world where diversity is respected. At first I felt pressure. Can music really make that possible? I also felt pressure about doing so many different challenges and trying so many different genres. But now — because of all the members and seeing how they so beautifully and wonderfully execute difficult genres — I now have trust. That trust creates more excitement instead of pressure. Of course, our fans, NSWER, are at the forefront of transforming that pressure into excitement as well because they give us the support and courage.

Haewon and Lily, you contributed to writing lyrics on the album. What was that like?

HAEWON I’ve always wanted to do it, and now, finally, the opportunity came, so I jumped on it.

LILY There was also a little bit of fear, for me at least. It’s a very, very important thing. I didn’t want to just do it lightly. I wanted to make sure that it was something that I was proud of. It was also very difficult. But at the same time, it was worth it because I’m really proud that I get to hear the members seeing the lyrics that I wrote.

HAEWON One of the challenges, for me personally, was that it’s hard for [me] to change something when my mind is set. But lyrics are something for the fans, [for the] the public, so I definitely went through a lot of revisions to actually get them to that point where it would be for the people who are listening to it.