If you’re a fan of K-pop then it’s likely you’ve heard about JYP’s new girl group ‘NMIXX’.  Not only was the group produced out of one of the biggest companies in K-pop ,but they also share the company with successful groups like Twice, Itzy, and Straykidz. Expectations for the girls were high; however, their highly anticipated debut received mixed messages from fans. Netizens are calling their title song “O.O” the worst debut in JYP history and plagiarism accusations have begun popping up left and right.

Expectations and Reception:

 NMIXX is a seven-member girl group that made their debut on Feb 22 with their title song “O.O”. The girls are signed under the company JYP which is managed by Park Jinyoung(JYP). The members include Lily, Sullyoon, Kyujin, Jiwoo, Haewon, Jinni, and Bae.he girls are still relatively young,with the youngest being born in 2006 and the eldest in just 2002. 

For the past few months,JYP has been releasing teasers and images to promote the group. Pre-debut videos of the girls showing off their vocal and dancing talent began to spread online, and leading up to their debut, the girls were praised for their solid vocals and visuals. Their debut song however, did not live up to many people’s expectations. The song starts off with a rap that goes back and forth between three of the members and after the chorus, there is a beat change that lasts for a little under a minute. These seem to be the two things that fans have been complaining about the most. These are just a few of the comments made under the girls “O.O” music video .

“ For a debut song, this is confusing. It’s like a combination of different songs with bad transitions.” –Cathaleiah Montezar 

“I feel like this song would have been better as two separate songs.”-Sheereen Teo 

“ It has so many changes of musical styles that (I) couldn’t find the rhythm, it’s uncomfortably confusing.” –Fabrico Cuadra 

Plagiarism accusations:

With the release of their new song accusations of plagiarism have also begun to surface. Fans have begun to see many similarities between NMIXX and countless other groups, from the names of NMIXX members being similar to that of BLACKPINK’s members, to concepts and music style being reminiscent of groups like Everglow and Loona. NMIXX has even been accused of stealing Ateezs concept/storyline and Aespa’s music style. 

When the names of the girls were being released fans of the popular girl group BLACKPINK noticed similarities between the girls’ stage names. Comparisons were made between Lily, Jiwoo, and Jinnie of NMIXX and Lisa, Jisoo, and Jennie of BLACKPINK. While this alone wouldn’t be a problem, when combined with the other accusations it appears suspicious to some people.

Concepts in K-Pop have become very common, with nearly every group in the industry having their own storyline that they follow throughout their videos. These concepts often include fantasy elements such as tales of vampires or elemental powers and the complexity of concepts vary from group to group. Ateez is an eight member boy group that debuted in 2018 under the company KQ. Their concept revolves around “pirates in search of utopia”  and fans of the group have begun to point out how multiple scenes in NMIXX’s music video appear to be very similar to scenes found in the boy groups’ music videos. Fans of ateez have also claimed that NMIXX’s video the “New Frontier: Declaration” tells the exact same storyline of ATEEZ.

Netizens have also commented on how the song apparently feels like a song that would come out of the company SM – one of JYPs rivals. Beat changes and experimental concepts are something that SM is notorious for so netizens were surprised to see a song like “O.O” being released by a JYP group. In addition to this the girls have also been accused of copying the girl group Aespa who is signed under SM. Many have pointed out that the structure of the song is similar to that of Aespa’s song ‘Next Level’ however not much else has been said in the topic. 

What does it mean for the group:

So how will all of these things affect the group? Despite NMIXX’s debut being named the worst in JYP history, many believe that the group will continue to prosper and make money. JYP is at such a high status that no matter what he does he will continue to prosper. This is not the first case where JYP has been criticized for his writing and managing of his groups, he has been called out for overworking his artist, writing questionable music, stealing logos from smaller groups and now plagiarism. However none of the complaints ever impact him or the company, and while the majority of comments have been complaints the song seems to be growing on a few people and many fans still have high hopes for the group “ For a debut song, the production quality on the MV is insane. JYP Entertainment definitely has big plans for NMIXX. Hopefully they go through with it and Nmixx deliver” – Kunno.