u/malioboro_hegel

Sorry for the serious post, but I want to talk about the hate train against JYPE that’s been going on online over the past few days. Is JYPE a perfect company? Of course not. In fact, the more you like an artist under the company, the more things you’ll probably wish they did better. But I find it ridiculous that people who call themselves Nmixx fans are going beyond criticism to outright curse the company and wish for it to fail.

People are free to say whatever they want, but Nmixx is the one that has to deal with the fallout from this hate train and the “flop company” label that comes with it. If you’re an Nmixx fan, you should know how long the group has been unfairly labeled a failure despite putting up objectively strong results in album sales, sold-out concerts, chart performance, and more. You can criticize specific decisions, but the more people reinforce the negative image of the company, the more the group has to deal with that perception too. Nmixx will always be JYPE’s Nmixx, whether people like it or not.

There are so many baseless claims about how JYPE doesn’t promote them, doesn’t spend money on them, or is somehow ruining this supposedly perfect group. Take this comeback, for example. They’ve had some pretty good collaborations with Eastar Jet and Randy’s Donuts, yet people have spent far more time complaining about the bus-wrapping ad than discussing those collaborations.

There’s something seriously wrong with the way people who call themselves fans keep spreading the very negative perceptions that Nmixx will ultimately have to deal with. At the very least, I wish they’d stop pretending they’re doing it for the group’s sake.

Nmixx seems to be doing pretty well in Asia (Korea, Greater China, Japan, etc.), and their trajectory looks pretty promising, so I’ve been enjoying watching how things develop. But what kind of musical direction could help them make a bigger impact in the Western market? They’ve been experimenting with different sounds by releasing multiple collabs with Pabllo Vittar and Anderson .Paak, so I’m curious what kind of styles and vibes they might explore next as they continue expanding overseas. This isn’t really meant to be a serious discourse or anything. I just thought it would be fun to talk about their future career and the kind of music they might release.

I saw someone on Twitter suggest a collab between Nmixx and The Warning, a Mexican female rock band, and honestly, I think that’s a pretty good idea. Trying out a rock or metal sound while working with a Mexican band would also tie in nicely with Nmixx’s existing efforts to tap into the Latin American market, so I actually think it could be a pretty interesting move. What do you guys think?

JYPE or Innit’s new girl group OBD debuted, and I’m curious what everyone thinks. I’d prefer it if we could avoid comparing them to other groups as much as possible, though. I don’t think those comparisons are particularly meaningful at this point. Here are my thoughts

1)A return to the classic JYP sound

While JYPE has become a company that experiments with a lot of different genres and styles, OBD seems to be bringing back a more classic JYP sound, with a noticeable influence from JYP's love for Black music. I heard that Innit was founded by someone who worked on the choreography for groups like 2PM and TWICE at JYPE, so I wonder if that background had any influence on the group’s retro-leaning identity. Separately from Innit, I’ve also heard rumors that JYPE is planning to launch another new girl group. If that actually happens, I’m curious to see how different their style will be from OBD.

2)The title track

Squeezy is the title track, and I think it does a good job of laying out the blueprint for the kind of style OBD is going for, but personally, I didn’t really like it. I felt that the chorus lacked a strong enough hook. Hungry, on the other hand, felt much more catchy to me, and I think it would have made a better title track.

3)Promotion

I do wonder if they revealed the members’ individual animated characters a little too early. Those elements could have been a really good concept and something that brought a fresh dynamic to the group’s activities later on, but I might have preferred them to focus more on the members themselves during debut promotions and save those cards for later. It feels a little like they used up a good card too early, even though I’m sure they’ll continue to make use of it going forward.

That’s basically how I feel about them so far. I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks.