Album Review: Fe304: BREAK by NMIXX
With two years of experience under their belt, NMIXX confidently return to their original concept.
Listen along while you read :)
Even though 2023 was the year of the Kpop girl group, NMIXX found it hard to stand out. Not that they’ve gone totally unnoticed - JYP’s first girl group since Itzy was bound to get attention. Their 2022 debut single O.O was almost universally disliked, but in a “no such thing as bad press” kind of way - it was obvious these girls had talent and the other single on their debut album, Tank, was much better.
NMIXX calls their style “mixx-pop” which is basically mashing up genres, sounds, tempos, and styles into the same song. NMIXX aren’t the first group to attempt this mashup style. In 2021, fellow fourth gen girl group aespa had a huge hit with the jarringly disjointed but addictive Next Level. NMIXX’s take on this style is grounded in a dark pop-rock sound combined with a very JYP approach to hip hop. This base sound is then mixed with other sounds and styles, depending on the song. For example, second single Dice sampled big band jazz sounds. It was only marginally more successful than O.O, and I think this might have scared NMIXX a bit, because the Mixx-pop style was dialled back in 2023.
NMIXX’s big break last year came with Love Me Like This, a fairly straightforward dance pop single that resulted in their first music show win and best Korean chart result.
But in 2024, with almost two years of experience under their belt, NMIXX are ready to return to their original concept in second album Fe304: BREAK, and this time, they pull it off with confidence. Vocals are strong, transitions are smoother, genres are better blended, and the result is still jarring but oddly satisfying. You know those videos where Finneas talks about the sounds he samples to produce Billie Eilish songs, like dental tools and stuff? I was reminded a bit of that as I listened to this album.
If I’m reading the the Google translation of the album info correctly, JYP described this album as a concept album telling the story of a group of girls who have discovered a utopic new world. To bring more people into this “mixtopia,” they need to teach us to work together, break down the walls between us, and celebrate diversity. Lyrically, this translates throughout the album to songs with a general theme of “push past any obstacle, hold hands, run towards our dream.” These are very common Kpop themes and lyrically, NMIXX is not delivering anything groundbreaking here.
Lead single and album opener Dash is the first sign that NMIXX is at it again with the mixx-pop sound. We have a very Next Level-esque slowed down interlude in the middle, but unlike with O.O, this time it really works. Sonically, according to the album description (and once I say it, you will notice it), we have a “groovy bass line” and obviously lots of chopped up beats from other genres.
Every Kpop group seems to have at least one Latin influenced song and pre-release single Soñar (Breaker) manages to draw on Latin hip-hop influences without becoming a caricature. There’s a lot of UK Garage influence here as well, which I think is a style that lends itself really well to the mixxpop concept.
The producers behind Love Me Like This, LDN Noise, are back with Run for Roses, and this is one of the most original songs I’ve heard from a Kpop group lately! One genre almost no one is experimenting with in Kpop is country, and this song is a dark country pop with lots of fiddle. And if you haven’t caught on to the fact that JYP has been releasing “stage practice” videos of their artists rehearsing with live vocals this is your perfect chance to have your mind blown.
One of my favorites on the album is BOOM, which starts off as a really cool song over a pretty classic hip hop beat, and then leans into the 808 and drives up the tempo to crescendo to a really fresh ending. It’s also just fun to sing along to “tick tick tick tick boom!”
A disappointment is Passionfruit, which seems like NMIXX trying to fit the NewJeans mold with their own take on a Jersey Club sound. It’s a fun song, it’s just not as uniquely NMIXX as the rest of the songs on this album. On the other hand, XOXO is also a “softer” song but feels more true to the NMIXX spirit, mixing an R&B melody with fantastic vocal layering and a trap beat.
Most KPop albums end with what’s called a “fan service” song. These are unabashedly cheesy - think Disney Channel Original Movie soundtrack. They are intended to be the songs the group sings at the end of a concert while interacting really closely with their fans. So what I’m saying is, the outside listener might find lines like “Don’t ever give up. Shout it louder, feel the overwhelming thrill” super corny, but if you went to an NMIXX concert, by the end of the night you would be screaming the lines with tears running down your face and you’d love the song forever. And that’s Kpop!
3.5/5 stars - Recommended!