The Backlash For NMIXX’s Debut “O.O” May Be Intentional, Here’s What Fans Are Speculating

Some fans are suspecting that it’s all intentional.

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.

NMIXX’s Lily | @nmixx_official/Instagram

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.

NMIXX’s Sullyoon | | @nmixx_official/Instagram

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.

| @NMIXX_official/Twitter

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

LOONA‘s music video

ATEEZ‘s concept

To aespa‘s sound

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.

“O.O” | JYP Entertainment 

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.”

| Form of Therapy/YouTube 

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.

AD MARE tracklist | @jypnation/Twitter
“O.O” producer credits | @jypnation/Twitter

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.

“O.O” | JYP Entertainment/YouTube 

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.”

NMIXX’s Haewon | @nmixx_official/Instagram 

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.

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.

| @NMIXX_official/Twitter

Another popular YouTube reaction channel, itsANDYandJAS, released their reaction to “O.O,” showcasing how much the two enjoyed the debut.

| itsANDYandJas/YouTube 

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.”

| itsANDYandJas/YouTube 

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.

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.

| itsANDYandJas/YouTube  

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

♬ O.O – NMIXX

“in 0.0 the lyrics says “It’s Just A Teaser hOOt, Watch me coming sOON”, is this just an introduction to nmixx’s music? are we getting something bigger and better from them? And the fact the title O.O which made the people who watch and listen to the song goes “O.O’ “WHAT?” And leave them in confusion… I’m somewhat convinced that this was just a publicity stunt! | hanjisungsoveralls/TikTok

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.

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.

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.

K-Pop Mysteries