JYP Ent announced on July 9th, 2021 that their new girl group, Nmixx would be debuting.
The name Nmixx consists of two parts, "N" + "mix". "N" signifies the words "now", "new" and "next", as well as the unknown "n", while the word "mix" represents diversity and combination, together forming the best combination for a new era.
Nmixx consists of seven members: vocalist Lily, leader and vocalist Haewon, vocalist and dancer Sullyoon, vocalist, dancer and rapper Jinni, vocalist and dancer Bae, vocalist, rapper and dancer Jiwoo, and vocalist, rapper, dancer and maknae Kyujin.
In the months leading up to their debut, the members were introduced through various singing and dance covers, allowing the fandom to get to know each member and their respective talents.
The group had their debut song released on February 22nd, 2022 and held their debut showcase on March 1st, 2022, a week later than anticipated due to a member contracting the virus.
Their debut single album, Ad Mare consists of four tracks, lead single O.O, B-side Tank, and instrumental versions of each song.
Ad Mare was released to mixed to negative critical reception.
New Musical Express' Tanu I. Raj called the album, a "surprisingly inconsistent, choppy debut offering from JYP Entertainment’s new girl group," rating it two stars and although he was less than impressed by the title track, he praised the B-side Tank saying that it is a, "track that knows exactly where it came from and what purpose it serves – unlike ‘O.O’, which tries to do too much at once, ‘Tank’ is self-assured and simpler in comparison, making it the superior track on this album." (Source: NME)
Ad Mare debuted at the third spot on the weekly Gaon Album Chart, as well as third place on the monthly album chart for February and sold 161,312 copies domestically, with that number rising to 490,273 copies in the following months. At the time, it set a new record for the highest first-week sales by a K-Pop girl group's debut album.
Ad Mare was certified platinum by KMCA.
On May 2nd, Nmixx released their first OST for the Korean version of DreamWorks Animation's preschool series Gabby's Dollhouse. Along with the intro song, "Hey Gabby!", they also released a B-side called "Sparkling Party".
On May 8th, Nmixx had their KCON debut at KCON Seoul, later performing at KCON Chicago as well.
Also in May, JYP Entertainment released its plans for their artists' activities for the second half of 2022, which shows that Nmixx are scheduled to have a comeback sometime in the second half of the year.
Two months later, Nmixx recorded a cover song for Warner Music Korea's YouTube series "Re:born Project". The cover is part of an ongoing series that features different Korean artists’ versions of existing hit songs, with this round's theme being Summer Vacation. Other group's that joined the summer project this year were Fromis_9 and Oh My Girl Banhana.
The song chosen for Nmixx' remake was Rainbow's 2009 hit "Kiss", from the group's debut album "Gossip Girl." The cover was released on July 31st.
Fans were speculating that their first comeback would be released around mid-July or at the beginning of August. As more and more time passed, it became clear that this was unlikely to happen and as we're already in mid-August and TWICE, IVE and BLACKPINK are making their comebacks soon, with SNSD just having theirs and NewJeans having a hot debut around the same time, JYPE were wise to wait for at least one more month, but at what cost? The goal post seems to be moving further and further away.
JYP Ent debuted a group that is being called "their most talented group ever" by the international K-pop fandom by dropping a controversial single that did not showcase the members' strengths enough. Instead of focusing on strong vocals, O.O served strange raps and interesting choices for transitions. At times, the song felt like 15 songs put into one.
Is JYP Ent delaying the group's comeback to regroup, rethink and scratch the vision that they had for the group before Ad Mare received negative reviews, or are they just waiting for the right time to drop it so it does not compete with stronger girl groups?
Nmixx will be competing for the Rookie Award at award shows later in the year, but with IVE, NewJeans, Le Sserafim and Kep1er as the group's competition, it seems more and more likely by the day that they will become JYP's first girl group not to receive it.
Later in the month of August, Nmixx will have their KCON LA debut. It will be their first KCON center stage performance.
Nmixx needs a comeback, like yesterday but I'm dreading it as much as I'm expecting it.
