Review

Song Review: NMIXX & Pabllo Vittar – Tic Tic

Posted on by 15 Comments

In between conquering Korean charts with their title track and album Blue Valentine, NMIXX have maintained an unlikely collaboration with Brazilian drag artist Pabllo Vittar. This pairing sounds more fun than the actual music it has spawned, but it’s always nice when K-pop agencies remember that “global outreach” doesn’t automatically mean going to America. And despite its relative conservatism as an industry, K-pop feels uniquely suited to cross paths with drag.

Last year, I gave NMIXX’s first pairing with Vittar a decent rating but I can’t recall anything about that song. It didn’t last long on my playlist and felt more like an interesting diversion than a full attempt to create something with lasting impact. The same can be said about Tic Tic. This is two minutes of booty shaking groove with the most threadbare of songs thrown over the top. NMIXX are largely relegated to speaking and making sound effects while Vittar does most of the singing. It’s an enjoyable burst of energy, but it feels very throwaway.

In fact, Tic Tic is so throwaway that I debated whether I should write about it at all. Ultimately, I wanted the opportunity to express how interesting the “performance video” is. It’s a clip from Brazil’s Carnival celebration, but removing any crowd noise and ambiance gives the video an eerie, stilted energy. Also, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a K-pop group caged in such a tiny (elevated!) stage, their movements constrained and their audience appearing inert thanks to the studio mix being used as the audio. I find the idea of cultures colliding in this way very fascinating but I’m not sure NMIXX’s appeal comes across here. At the very least, it’s an interesting visual. I wish the song had more to offer.

Hooks 7
 Production 8
 Longevity 7
 Bias 7
 RATING 7.25

Grade: C

15 thoughts on “Song Review: NMIXX & Pabllo Vittar – Tic Tic”

  1. i so badly want to get into brazillian pop as part of my latin pop exploration quest, i know the country has such a diverse scene and i have a few songs on my playlist but i just dont know where to start fully exploring

    some songs i liked:

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  2. I didn’t really like Mexe, but Tic Tic is quite fun! I really liked the pre chorus in Portuguese and Lily’s part in the first part of song.

    For me it’s not like a super good song, but something fun to listen to sometimes. Although I’ll probably listen a lot because it’s stuck in my head 😔

    Like

    Reply

  3. at the very least ik the girls r gonna be raking in cash from this cuz ik damn well brazilian gays do NAWTTTT!!! fucking play abt pop girls like why do u think gagas show there was the most attended concert by a female artist of all time. and on that note nmixx + pabllos performance in brazil broke a record the most attended kpop concert of all time

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. As the blog’s resident NSWER, I’ll chime in with some things people may find interesting.

    If you can catch a video of Nmixx’s performance of Tic Tic at Vina del Mar 2026 (even sans live Pablo), it gives a better look at the choreography, and the song’s spirit makes a little more sense. Ultimately I think it will follow the Mexe path, where it is interesting enough to play a few times before becoming a forgotten part of their discography. There is something really catchy and groovy about it though. Rating is 8,8,7,7 = 7.5

    If I may be so bold, Nmixx appears to be John the Baptist for JYP’s new latin group they’ve been threatening. They’ve been consistently catering bigtime to this market in between comebacks for a while now. More importantly, their ridiculous 12ish song set at Vina 2026 where they started at 2am was maybe the best extended performance of theirs I’ve ever seen… and I’ve streamed a lot of their shows, including their Nice to Mixx you tour and the Beyond Live world tour concert in November. At this festival, the audio mixing was great, their new ad libs were numerous, and their energy was dialed to 11. Shoutout to the cool new harmonies they showcased on LMLT especially. The only link I know of with the full show is from someone’s google drive on reddit, so not sure how to share it with everyone here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  7. I prefer MEXE, but this is still cute, and I’m really happy to see this collab was not a one-time thing. Kpop collabs with gay artists are something I’ll always be here for, and this one is a great match in terms of energy.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.