K-pop collaborations with global artists have become much more common over the years and exist across a wide spectrum. For every Rosalía and Megan Thee Stallion there’s a Maroon 5 and Alex Warren. NMIXX have already experimented with their music in many ways, so you’d expect them to choose an interesting collaborator as well. For new single MEXE, they’ve paired with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar. It’s not the first time a K-pop artist has worked with the drag community, but it’s certainly the highest profile collaboration yet.
Brazil is also a powerhouse market for K-pop, making MEXE‘s commercial prospects as enticing as its creative ones. And though a blog like mine will naturally tend to focus on NMIXX, the song is technically credited as a Pabllo Vittar track. After many attempts by the K-pop industry to replicate the charm of Brazilian funk, it’s nice to hear a homegrown version of the genre. MEXE is a collage of sounds and rhythms loosely tied together in a structure that’s more freeform than K-pop listeners might expect.
NMIXX are hardly lacking on the charisma scale, but even so it’s a tall order to match Vittar’s on-record personality. Most of the time, the girls feel more like back-up and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Their smooth vocal harmonies add welcome contrast to the brash percussion, casting a sheen over MEXE that helps temper its more confrontational moments. Overall, the song relies a bit too much on its titular one-syllable vocal hook to work for me, but there’s no denying its fierce attitude that practically leaps out the speaker and grabs you by the collar. I imagine a live performance would go off.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Im a major fan of brazilian funk but this…isnt it.
Not exactly sure how this gets a 9 for production either, its actually quite boring ESPECIALLY for a brazilian funk song. I see it no more than a 7-
It lacks a lot of energy, its almost there with the prechorus but the drop is just mid.
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on the other hand, doja cat’s new single was pretty good!
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For a PV track, there was really a lot of space given to Nmixx, as they had ample main vocals as well as lots of backing harmonies and background flair. Definitely a concert or house party piece rather than a sit & listen. I have a feeling they auto-tuned Lily’s part as her vocal is such a standout tone it would detract from PV who should be highlighting on their own track, which makes sense. PV does have loads of charisma, but in particular I think Bae and Sullyoon have great moments in here too.
I’ll give it a 7,9,7,9 = 8
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All light and no heat.
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Call me easily impressed, PV is just so charismatic. It would be amazing to see them all perform this together.
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I lowkey feel bad for the girls, it’s hard to match Pablo’s energy and vocals. TBH their feature on this song felt like it could’ve been done by anyone else or just Pablo entirely.
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I think your thoughts make sense, and I can respect that take, but I think I would disagree. Besides the choice to autotune Lily, I think the girls have their own charisma they stay true to, but it’s very different and more subtle than PV’s approach. I think this serves the song rather than detracts from it though. PV’s highlights wouldn’t carry the same punch without the less over the top delivery of Nmixx. They are playing the “straight man” (like from comedic skits) here so to speak.
It’s an interesting difference to point out though. The kpop system generally doesn’t promote the kind of stylistic vocalization choices other global artists make their name with. For every Jessi or G-Dragon there are 100s of BG and GG korean artists that sound nearly identical. Sean Paul is a perfect example of purposely stylizing his approach. When you hear a Sean Paul song you know that could only be him, BUT he made the choice to sound like that to set himself apart. His normal talking and singing voice are nothing like his performance. This is very different from the “just sing naturally” approach you get from agencies like JYP that don’t want their artists to stylize their voices “unauthentically”.
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