We’ve had our “eyes wide open like O.O” watching NMIXX since their debut in February 2022, and over a year later, we’re even more amazed by them than ever! Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too long until we get new music and performances from Lily, Haewon, Sullyoon, Bae, Jiwoo, and Kyujin – they’re gearing up to release their first mini-album, Expérgo (Latin for “awaken”), later this month and NSWERs worldwide are buzzing.
Over the past few weeks, the girls have been giving us so much content and so many album details that it’s hard to keep up! Lucky for you, we rounded up everything you need to know about their upcoming comeback. If NMIXX feel like your ‘HOME,’ then this is for you!
The Release
We’re counting down the days until Expérgo is finally ours on March 20th! This is NMIXX’s first mini-album after two single albums, and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this time around. If you’re an American NSWER, you’ll also have the chance to pick up the Target-exclusive version of Expérgo, which comes with an extra photocard!
The Tracklist
Expérgo will have six new songs, including the title track ‘Love Me Like This!’ Yes, that’s three times as long as any NMIXX release we’ve gotten so far! The project has several writing credits from The Hub, a music collective that also helped out with ‘O.O’ and ‘DICE,’ so you already know it’s gonna be amazing.
- ‘Young, Dumb, Stupid’
- ‘Love Me Like This’
- ‘PAXXWORD’
- ‘Just Did It’
- ‘My Gosh’
- ‘HOME’
The girls gave us a preview of each song with a unique acapella highlight medley, showing off their gorgeous vocals and making us even more excited for this comeback.
But the highlight medley wasn’t the only preview we’ve gotten of the songs on Expérgo – NMIXX surprised us by dropping ‘Young, Dumb, Stupid’ as a pre-release single on March 12th! Simply put, it’s an absolute bop. This track is all about being confident and choosing to “draw a story” for the life you want to live, which is such an important message delivered in such a catchy package. And did you catch the ‘O.O’ reference in Jiwoo’s popcorn lyric?
The Concept Photos
Aesthetic-wise, we have truly been fed by the Expérgo era – we got four different sets of concept photos! The first collection was the grunge-inspired Senténtĭa (Latin for “sentence”) set, which sees NMIXX in all sorts of incredible plaid, bleached, and ripped denim outfits that have lived in our minds rent-free since we first saw them. We were also excited to see Kyujin wearing the sweatshirt version of the R13 t-shirt that she wore for the JYP Nation stage at last year’s KBS Songs Festival!
Based on some Bubble messages from Lily, they shot the gorgeously colorful Audentia (Latin for “daring”) photos during the ENTWURF era, and it amazes us that they’re able to juggle so much at once. They were probably gearing up for ‘Funky Glitter Christmas’ and the beginnings of Expérgo at the same time, all while promoting ‘DICE’ and ‘COOL (Your rainbow)!’
The Amor (Latin for “love”) set has such an interesting concept, combining chic white outfits with colorful temporary tattoos! Some of the girls have dolphin tattoos, which ties into the sea animal theme we’ve seen in things like the Ad Mare photoshoot, the ‘DICE’ music video, and the Wisdom, Love, Courage concept film (more on that soon!). And, of course, we have to give a special shoutout to this adorable OT6 photo:
And finally, we have the Et īris super (Latin for “and the wind over”) set, which was shot in a meadow that reminds us of the ‘COOL (Your rainbow)’ music video! The jellyfish lanterns are such a fun nod to the Ad Mare album cover and photoshoot, while the colors and orange sky remind us of the ENTWURF digital cover.
The Story Concept Films
NMIXX always deliver when it comes to their visuals, and the story concept films they’ve given us this era did not disappoint. Before we get into the “real” story concept films, we have to talk about the Secret Of Sweet Oasis teaser video, which dives into the group’s lore and how this mini-album will get involved with it. Remember that donut shop from the ‘O.O’ music video? It’s mysteriously turned into a candy shop called Sweet Oasis that mostly sells one type of candy, and NMIXX are investigating those candies and a bunch of weird papers they found in the back of the store.
Look closely during Haewon’s news segment, because some of the user comments have 7s as a tribute to Jinni, who was the group’s seventh member until she left in December 2022. The private message from “THECAT” is a nod to the cats in the ‘DICE’ music video, and the “Sweet Oasis #1202” bit references NMIXX’s debut on 2/02/22. While the girls are looking around the store, Jiwoo is the only one who actually goes to bite a candy, which ties into how she was the only one left on the street at the end of the ‘O.O’ music video.
The first “true” story concept film we got was Dizziness Of Freedom, which talks about anxiety and features a black cat… coincidence after the cat references in ‘DICE’ and Secret Of Sweet Oasis? We think not! It fluctuates between grunge-y visuals that remind us of the Senténtĭa teaser aesthetic, and colorful arcade shots that seem to represent how anxiety and our fears aren’t our main focus when we’re having fun and enjoying ourselves.
The second concept film NMIXX delivered came in the form of Wisdom, Love, Courage, which takes us to the MIXX wonderland that the girls have teased in previous videos! It talks about how we need a combination of wisdom, love, and courage to achieve our wildest dreams (which the land of MIXX seems to be a metaphor for), and how that power “all exists inside us.” Now, thanks to NMIXX, we’re dreaming of going to that pretty garden surrounded by floating dolphins!
And Now, We Wait…
So much amazing content to enjoy while we count down to Expérgo release day! On a scale from 1 to 10, how excited are you to hear ‘Love Me Like This’ and NMIXX’s first mini-album? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
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