Around this time last year, NMIXX scored the biggest hit of their career. The mammoth Blue Valentine and its accompanying album seemed to point toward a period of chart dominance for the group. This spring’s Heavy Serenade has stuck around the charts as well, but never felt nearly as buzzy as its predecessor. Now, the group has returned with another mini album and a title track that ties a few current trends to NMIXX’s own unique appeal.
Birthday Wish (긴 소원) is their latest venture into “mixxpop,” melding various genres into one song. At one point, it’s a bit of a rock track. The next, we’re on the dancefloor. Then, we have moombahton influences tying it all together. K-pop has always been adept at blending genres in this way, but usually requires great focus in the songwriting to pull it all together. Despite its big chorus acting as an anchor, Birthday Wish feels like a few disparate elements tied loosely together.
My favorite of these moments is the song’s intro, which returns later in the song. I like the stabbing guitar that frames this segment and the girls’ voices sound great. In contrast, the anthemic chorus often veers too close to shouting for my taste and quickly develops a thinness I don’t often associate with NMIXX. I assume further listens will smooth out some of Birthday Wish‘s more jarring moments, but on day one I’m not bowled over by many of its highlights.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
Grade: C+
Idk why but there’s something about this song that feels so… compressed, like it sounds like they put the song through those compressor tools cause the file was too big. It sounds a little muddled to my ears but maybe it’s me. Maybe with a clearer arrangement this would have been a Blue Valentine-esque standout.
Rating’s the same.
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Yes I noticed it too, it’s kinda grating.
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First time I’ve ever been really disappointed by an Nmixx song 😦
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The opening sense of build-up was quite nice before transitioning into an Afrobeats and Drum & Bass fusion. The chorus tries its best to bring high energy, but it unfortunately falls a bit flat. The production holds back slightly, and the second verse loses a bit of momentum. I could see what they couldv’e done with a blend of tracks between tracks like Red Velvet’s “Happiness” and “You Better Know”—but there is a lack of a steady, satisfying rise. The opening motif returns briefly near the end, though it would have been lovely had it stayed around longer. It’s certainly not a bad effort, but it could have been elevated much further with a bit more direction.
2. Kerosene
This one carries a vibe similar to “Reality Hurts,” though the chorus feels a bit too brief and lacking in punch. That underlying Drum & Bass influence unfortunately threatens to disrupt the flow of these tracks. Additionally, the vocal harmonies toward the end felt a bit polarizing, as they didn’t quite blend seamlessly with the backing production.
3. RudE TaLK
I feel like this had the potential to be a really wonderful title track that feels unique to NMIXX! The song starts soft and sweet before transitioning into an electro feel for the chorus, and I love how that electro element then blends with soft strings during the second verse. Even though the chorus leans into sing-talk, the beat swerves and adapts nicely. It feels a little too short and underdeveloped to fully serve as a main single, but it remains a very enjoyable listen!
4. Sing to the Moon
Clocking in at 4 minutes, this is the longest song on the EP, though it takes the form of a traditional ballad. There isn’t too much to break down here—it is performed very nicely with a sweet vocal delivery, though the production remains fairly simple throughout.
5. Hot n’ Unbothered
More Afrobeats in 2026?! It feels like a trend we just can’t seem to escape lately! That said, the track keeps things relatively low-drama, relying on simple strings that really should have been more grand and dramatic to contrast with the minimalist beat. The final 20 seconds try to give the song a boost, but fall a bit short—it almost sounds like a small, discarded snippet of an outro that was tacked on at the end.
6. Whip
Having the chorus consist almost entirely of repeating “I gotta whip + whip” is unfortunately quite aggravating to the ear. The unexpected interpolation reminiscent of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly also felt a bit odd in this context. Sadly, this ends up being my least favorite track on the project.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this is a decent EP, though it lacked the strong resolve that this current era deserved. We really needed bigger, more expansive, and open tracks so that this project could enjoy strong longevity as we approach the end of the year. While I appreciate the effort and hard work the girls put into every release, they have yet to top the high standard set by “Blue Valentine.”
As always, I am holding onto faith that brighter, even more inspired music lies ahead on their journey!
Overall Album Rating: High 7(7.88)
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I guess NMIXX has know chosen their identity to be anthemic and uplifting.
This is a good song, though slightly generic, and I like it. But I don’t think it has great replay value, and I can easily see myself getting bored of it.
I have to agree it kinda feels thin in the chorus and because it feels compressed, it comes to me as tinny.
My personal favourite is how lyrics change during the two refrain (I’m using GENIUS) from “어쩌면 너는 (Maybe you’re)” into “기억해 너는 (Remember you’re)” and how the final chorus has a subtle lyric change.
But like Heavy Serenade, the post-chorus seems very anti-climactic and kinda messes up the song a bit. Maybe the producers are trying too hard to recreate Blue Valentine’s post-chorus?
Anyway my rating is the same.
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*now
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Well…I like it better than Heavy Serenade! I think they’ve still lost the plot though. They need to dial the artiness back to Blue Valentine or better yet Fe3O4: FORWARD levels. It’s too much of a mishmash and the chorus is kinda weird. Something like Spinning On It, or hell even O.O present better and more entertaining visions. 7
On the mini I like Rude Talk and Hot ‘n Bothered.
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this was beautiful. i highkey cried a little (no bias at all, obviously LOL) i think i enjoyed this as a title track more than heavy serenade and same with the ep as well, but this definitely, both as an album and title track, does not reach the heights that blue valentine made me feel, which, again, is a pretty high bar to meet. 8.5 from me!
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I really love it. I really love NMIXX when they’re at their most mixxpop-iest and while this I feel like this doesn’t hit that spot like how “Blue Valentine”, “Dash”, or “O.O” did (I feel like the song flows too seamlessly), it feels like them applying that mixxpop flair to the anthemic sound that they’re leaning into and idk I like it a lot.
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I liked the acapella medley with the backing choir more
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Birthday Wish: 9,6,8,9 = 8
The song has great energy in places and one heck of an earworm. As I’ve noticed and already read elsewhere, the chorus sounds some sort of compressed, or mixed strangely, and unfortunately takes away some of the punch. The instrumental for the chorus is also a little weak. You don’t need to steal the thunder from the vocals, but something like an orchestral strings section rather than the distorted/compressed filler chords would have added more to the grandness of the chorus and punched it up with greater drama. The last chorus where they let Lily pop-off brings back some “Break the Wall” vibes in the best ways, though. I am digging the choreography, especially for the last chorus, so I’m excited to see the whole thing, and thinking the vocals will only improve for the live performances. By all accounts, with this kind of catchy chorus this song should be a knockout punch, so this is a bummer. The verses are fantastic, but they breeze by so quickly and you need to build a longing for a chorus of this kind. There’s an effort later in the song during the bridge that attempts this, there’s a softer melody that is nice but then after the spoken words feel a little much, or something about the transition back to the song just seems off.
However, I had to eat my words a little bit for crescendo, and Nmixx songs are best savored over time as a lot of care is typically put into the production, so we’ll see how I feel after some time with it.
Kerosene: 7,9,8,10 = 8.5
With the sub-unit songs (sans Whip) and a TT going for more mainstream appeal, I feel Kerosene and Rude Talk were tailored to the “Mixx” vibe to appease the stans. The production feels a lot like “IDESERVEIT” or “SLINGSHOT”.
Rude Talk: 9,9,9,10 = 9.25
I think this is the real treasure of this album. You have some of the strings I was longing for in Birthday Wish and such good flow between the harder and sweeter sections. Plus you have deeper tone Sullyoon, which is a personal favorite of mine.
Sing to the Moon: 7,8,7,8 = 7.5
It’s a pure keys and vocals ballad. It’s beautiful, the vocalists (Lily and Haewon) are superb, especially when Haewon uses her airy voice. I would’ve liked something more adventurous for them, with more harmonies and crowd-stopping moments, but this is sweet and adorable, so not going for what I wanted, but I’m happy to have it.
Hot ‘n Unbothered: 8,8,7,8 = 7.75
We’ve heard this kind of song before, but Sullyoon and Bae do a great job with it. I’m sure people are losing their minds during the breathy “hot, hot, hot” sections if they bias either of these girls. It’s a good match for their skills and works well in it’s b-side sub-unit slot.
Whip: 9,9,9,10 = 9.25
The best sub-unit track by far. I don’t always like the “repeat catchphrase” choruses, but Nmixx tends to do theirs with style, and it is no different here. Standouts are the whippy (see what I did) “Whoa-ee-oa-ee-ah” parts and Jiwoo’s rap to start verse 2. This one needs a performance video immediately. At 2 minutes you’d think I have a problem with length, but this is actually solid, it comes in and commands your attention and leaves you breathless wanting more.
Strange Muse Album: 8,8,7,9 = 8
2025 is NMixx’s greatest year. Fe304 Forward and Blue Valentine are their best albums to date, in my opinion, and they’ve both reached masterpiece status for me, along with Fe304 Break. 2026 is difficult if only by comparison. I like their new music, but 2025 was peak. Altogether I would rank their albums as such:
Blue Valentine
Forward
Break
Expergo
Ad Mare
Heavy Serenade
Stick Out
Entwurf
Midsummer
Strange Muse
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I really like it! Especially considering it’s the end of the trilogy, it got me really emotional lol
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