There is something strange about NMIXX.
Give them an f(x) song.
They can do it.
Give them Beyoncé.
They can do it.
Give them TWICE, Stray Kids, BLACKPINK or DAY6.
Somehow, they still sound comfortable.
NMIXX have built such a reputation for cover performances that fans regularly debate which one is their best.
But then someone on Reddit asked a surprisingly good question:
Why don’t we see other K-pop groups covering NMIXX nearly as often?
That question reveals something fascinating about the group.
NMIXX can seemingly cover almost anyone.
But covering NMIXX?
That’s a different problem.
“O.O” Told Us What NMIXX Would Become
To understand this, go back to February 2022.
NMIXX debuted with “O.O.”
The reaction was chaos.
A French K-pop dance crew called NIGHTROSY filmed themselves watching the music video, and their reaction perfectly captured the confusion surrounding the debut.
The song changed.
Then changed again.
One person asked what the connection was between different sections.
Another compared it to a mashup.
Someone praised the choreography.
Someone else complained about the transitions.
And when the video ended, their opinions collided almost simultaneously:
“I don’t like it.”
“I like it.”
“I love it.”
One reactor said they needed to hear the song carefully again because their feelings were mixed.
Another wondered whether the entire thing had deliberately been constructed to make people talk.
But perhaps the most interesting reaction came later in the comments.
One viewer admitted that they had also disliked “O.O” at first.
Then something happened.
They became addicted to it.
More than 500 people liked that comment.
That strange journey — confusion, rejection, curiosity, addiction — would become very familiar to anyone following NMIXX.
Then NMIXX Covered f(x)
Two years later, NMIXX performed f(x)’s “Electric Shock” at the 2024 Music Bank Global Festival in Japan.
This should have been just another year-end cover.
Instead, something interesting happened.
People started saying:
This sounds like NMIXX.
That is a strange compliment when you’re performing somebody else’s song.
On Reddit, the performance generated more than 500 upvotes.
One commenter called “Electric Shock” the perfect f(x) song for NMIXX and said they wanted to see the group move further in that musical direction.
Another hoped NMIXX might someday release singles resembling f(x)’s more aggressive electronic songs such as “Nu ABO,” “Electric Shock” or “Red Light.”
And another reaction summarized the connection beautifully:
NMIXX and f(x) seem to share some musical DNA.
Suddenly, the question wasn’t whether NMIXX could handle f(x).
It was:
Why does f(x) sound so natural when NMIXX performs it?
Maybe Experimental Music Was Never the Problem
This becomes especially interesting when compared with the response to “O.O.”
One of the biggest criticisms of NMIXX’s debut was its structure.
Too many changes.
Too many ideas.
Too abrupt.
Too difficult to follow.
But “Electric Shock” isn’t exactly conservative pop music either.
f(x) built much of its reputation on unusual electronic production and unconventional K-pop.
Yet when NMIXX performed it, many listeners didn’t ask them to simplify.
They asked for more.
That suggests another possibility.
Maybe listeners never wanted NMIXX to stop being strange.
Maybe they wanted the experimentation to feel inevitable rather than disruptive.
There is a big difference between:
“Why did the song suddenly do that?”
and:
“Of course NMIXX would do that.”
Finding the line between those two reactions may be one of the most important parts of NMIXX’s musical evolution.
Their Cover List Is Almost Ridiculous
“Electric Shock” isn’t an isolated case.
Ask NMIXX fans for their favorite cover and the answers go everywhere.
“Love On Top.”
“Hey Mama.”
“Happy.”
“Thunderous.”
“Kill This Love.”
“The Feels.”
“Red Flavor.”
“Why So Lonely.”
“Don’t Look Back in Anger.”
In an April 2026 Reddit discussion devoted entirely to NMIXX covers, fans struggled to choose only one.
“Electric Shock” appeared repeatedly.
So did “Love On Top.”
Some preferred their heavier performances.
Others loved the stages where choreography disappeared and Lily, Haewon and the other members could simply attack the vocals.
One fan chose NMIXX’s “Thunderous” cover specifically because of the additional harmonies.
Another loved “Kill This Love” so much that they praised how dramatically NMIXX changed the mood of the original.
This isn’t just a collection of good karaoke performances.
The songs come from completely different artists and styles.
That’s what makes the pattern interesting.
Sometimes the Cover Creates New Fans
There are even NMIXX fans who say covers helped turn them into fans of the group.
In one Reddit discussion, a listener explained that NMIXX’s cover work was what initially pulled them in.
Their reasoning wasn’t simply that the members could hit difficult notes.
It was that the songs often sounded transformed.
That may be NMIXX’s real strength as a cover group.
They don’t only demonstrate vocal ability.
Their individual voices are different enough that rearranging another artist’s song can change its character.
Lily doesn’t sound like Haewon.
Haewon doesn’t sound like Sullyoon.
Sullyoon doesn’t sound like Bae.
Bae doesn’t sound like Jiwoo.
Jiwoo doesn’t sound like Kyujin.
When those voices are placed inside a familiar song, listeners can immediately hear the contrast.
Beyoncé Made the Point Even Clearer
Then came “Love On Top.”
Covering Beyoncé is not the safe option for a group trying to prove its vocals.
The song is famous for its escalating key changes and demanding upper register.
NMIXX performed it anyway.
The Reddit post for the performance received more than 600 upvotes.
Fans called it one of the group’s best covers.
And the performance added another piece to the puzzle.
“Electric Shock” showed that NMIXX could inhabit experimental electronic K-pop.
“Love On Top” showed that they could strip away much of the conceptual complexity and let the voices carry the performance.
Two completely different songs.
Same group.
That versatility helps explain why their covers attract so much attention.
But it also makes the next question even stranger.
So Who Covers NMIXX?
In October 2025, a fan went to Reddit looking for something specific.
They wanted performances of other idols covering NMIXX songs.
They weren’t finding many.
Their joking explanation was simple:
Maybe NMIXX songs are just too hard.
The responses were revealing.
Fans did identify examples.
So it would be wrong to say nobody covers NMIXX.
But one of the most supported explanations was that performing an NMIXX song presents an unusual problem.
It isn’t only the vocals.
It isn’t only the choreography.
It’s doing both.
At the same time.
And then there are the harmonies.
And the structural changes.
And the need for multiple distinct vocal colors.
Suddenly the paradox makes sense.
NMIXX Songs Are Built Around NMIXX
This may be the answer.
Many pop songs can survive being transferred from one performer to another.
Change the singer.
Change the arrangement.
The basic song remains.
But some NMIXX songs depend heavily on the specific abilities of the six members performing them.
The difficult vocal passages matter.
The harmonies matter.
The transitions matter.
The choreography matters.
And increasingly, the personalities of the individual voices matter.
That makes NMIXX unusually good at borrowing other people’s songs.
They have enough tools to adapt.
But it can make the reverse process harder.
Another group trying to cover NMIXX may need to reproduce a song originally constructed around an unusually broad collection of vocal and performance abilities.
That’s Why “Electric Shock” Matters
This is why the f(x) cover deserves another look.
It wasn’t merely a nostalgic performance of a second-generation K-pop classic.
It demonstrated what happens when NMIXX finds experimental music that fits all of their strengths simultaneously.
Electronic.
Quirky.
Aggressive.
Melodic.
Performance-heavy.
Vocally demanding.
Suddenly the things that once made NMIXX seem difficult made perfect sense.
The weirdness wasn’t fighting the performers.
The performers were controlling the weirdness.
And fans noticed.
From “O.O” to “Heavy Serenade”
Four years after “O.O,” NMIXX is still not choosing the easy route.
Their 2026 EP Heavy Serenade continued playing with contrast and dynamic song structures.
JYP’s own description of “Crescendo,” for example, emphasizes the contrast between a smooth melody, striking synths and drums, and dramatic structural changes.
That language sounds surprisingly familiar.
NMIXX didn’t abandon contrast.
They learned how to control it.
And perhaps that is the biggest difference between the NMIXX people heard in 2022 and the NMIXX people hear now.
Maybe NMIXX Never Needed Easier Music
For years, one question followed NMIXX:
Why give such talented singers such complicated songs?
But perhaps we have been asking the wrong question.
Maybe complicated songs are precisely what make sense for a group like this.
Because when you have six performers capable of moving between vocals, harmonies, choreography and dramatically different genres, giving them ordinary material can actually hide what makes them unusual.
The challenge is not making NMIXX less experimental.
It’s finding experimentation that feels natural in their hands.
“Electric Shock” accidentally demonstrated what that can sound like.
Their countless covers demonstrated how wide their range really is.
And the relative difficulty of covering NMIXX’s own material reveals the other side of that strength.
NMIXX can step into almost anyone else’s song.
The harder question is:
Who can step into theirs?