For years, one of NMIXX’s biggest strengths has been obvious.
Six very different voices.
Put Lily, Haewon, Sullyoon, Bae, Jiwoo and Kyujin together, and NMIXX can move between powerful vocals, harmonies, rap, strange genre changes and demanding choreography.
Their differences are part of the sound.
So their next move is surprisingly simple:
separate them.
NMIXX’s upcoming sixth EP, Strange Muse, is scheduled for release on October 19, 2026.
And buried inside the tracklist is something NMIXX have never done on an official album before.
Three unit songs.
Six members.
Two members per song.
Which immediately creates a question:
Why split up a group whose greatest strength has always been what happens when all six voices collide?
NMIXX Is Trying Something New
Strange Muse contains six tracks.
The title track is “Spinnin’ On It.”
But when JYP Entertainment revealed the tracklist, fans quickly noticed the three songs at the end.
They weren’t full-group tracks.
They were units.
For the first time on an NMIXX album, listeners would get songs built around smaller combinations of members.
That changes something fundamental.
In a normal NMIXX song, six voices may have to share three minutes.
A unit song removes that limitation.
Suddenly, individual colors have room to breathe.
And for NMIXX, that could be especially interesting.
Fans Immediately Started Studying the Pairings
The tracklist reveal generated hundreds of upvotes on Reddit, and the unit songs quickly became one of the main talking points.
That reaction makes sense.
NMIXX isn’t a group where all six members occupy exactly the same musical space.
Lily brings one type of power.
Haewon brings another.
Sullyoon’s tone is different again.
Bae can completely change the texture of a section.
Jiwoo brings a different rhythmic energy.
Kyujin can move between performance intensity and vocals.
Put two of those colors together instead of six and you don’t simply get a smaller NMIXX.
You potentially get a different group.
Three times.
That’s What Makes Unit Songs So Useful
There is a hidden problem with having a group full of strong performers.
Not everybody can dominate every song.
If six members all have something interesting to offer, someone inevitably gets less space.
A three-minute title track has limits.
Unit songs solve that.
Instead of asking:
“How do we fit six people into this song?”
the producer can ask:
“What kind of song becomes possible with only these two voices?”
That’s a completely different creative question.
And it may be exactly what NMIXX needs at this stage of their career.
NMIXX Have Already Proven They Can Sing Almost Anything
This experiment also makes more sense if you’ve followed NMIXX’s cover performances.
They have covered f(x).
Beyoncé.
TWICE.
Stray Kids.
BLACKPINK.
And many more.
One of the most interesting things about those performances is how differently individual members can sound depending on the material.
In our previous look at NMIXX, that created a strange paradox:
NMIXX can enter almost anybody else’s song, while NMIXX’s own songs can be unusually difficult for other groups to enter.
The unit tracks on Strange Muse may allow JYP to exploit that versatility from the opposite direction.
Instead of asking six members to adapt to one musical world, create several worlds around smaller combinations of members.
This Could Reveal Voices Hidden Inside NMIXX
Think about what happens in a full NMIXX song.
There is a Lily moment.
Then Haewon.
Then Sullyoon.
Then Bae.
Then Jiwoo.
Then Kyujin.
Perhaps a harmony.
Perhaps a rap section.
Perhaps the song changes direction completely.
That density is exciting.
But density can also hide details.
A two-member track creates silence around the voices.
You hear the contrast more clearly.
You hear how one member responds to another.
You hear who takes the lower line.
Who pushes the chorus.
Who handles the softer section.
Who creates tension.
For a group as vocally distinctive as NMIXX, those details could be more interesting than simply giving each member additional seconds.
Reddit Fans Were Already Waiting for This
The excitement around the Strange Muse tracklist wasn’t only about getting more songs.
Fans immediately focused on the fact that NMIXX were finally getting official unit tracks.
Some began discussing which pairing they were most excited to hear.
Others were simply surprised that it had taken this long.
That tells us something about the way NMIXX fans see the group.
They don’t only care about NMIXX as one six-member sound.
They are curious about the combinations inside it.
And once you start thinking about NMIXX that way, the possibilities multiply quickly.
Six members don’t create only six individual voices.
They create relationships between voices.
“Strange Muse” Is an Interesting Name for This Experiment
Even the album title feels appropriate.
A muse is normally a source of inspiration.
But NMIXX aren’t offering a normal muse.
They are offering a Strange Muse.
That fits a group that has spent its career making unusual musical decisions.
Their debut, “O.O,” confused listeners with abrupt changes.
MIXXPOP became both their identity and one of the biggest arguments surrounding them.
Later releases explored different ways of balancing accessibility with experimentation.
Now the experiment may not only be happening inside the songs.
It may be happening inside the group itself.
What happens when NMIXX is temporarily broken into smaller musical pieces?
“O.O” Tried to Put Multiple Songs Into One Song
There is a funny historical symmetry here.
In 2022, listeners heard “O.O” and asked:
Why does this sound like several songs pushed together?
Four years later, Strange Muse is doing almost the opposite.
Instead of pushing everything together…
NMIXX is pulling things apart.
Different members.
Different combinations.
Different songs.
More room.
That doesn’t mean NMIXX is abandoning experimentation.
It may mean their experimentation is becoming more precise.
The Title Track Still Matters
Of course, Strange Muse will ultimately be judged heavily by “Spinnin’ On It.”
That’s the title track.
That’s the song most casual listeners will hear.
But the unit tracks could tell us more about where NMIXX goes next.
Because title tracks have commercial responsibilities.
Unit songs have more freedom.
They can be stranger.
More vocal.
More intimate.
More aggressive.
More genre-specific.
They don’t necessarily need to represent the entire NMIXX brand.
And that makes them useful laboratories.
If one particular combination produces something fans love, JYP learns something.
If another pairing reveals an unexpected sound, that can influence future albums.
Unit tracks aren’t only bonus material.
They can be experiments.
NMIXX May Finally Be Using Its Biggest Resource Differently
When people talk about NMIXX’s strengths, they usually mention technical ability.
Great singers.
Strong dancers.
Good live performers.
But there is another resource hiding underneath those compliments:
contrast.
Their voices aren’t interchangeable.
Their personalities aren’t interchangeable.
Their performance styles aren’t interchangeable.
Early NMIXX often expressed contrast through the production itself.
One song could suddenly transform into something else.
But there is another way to create contrast.
Change the people singing.
That may be what makes Strange Muse particularly interesting.
The Biggest Question Isn’t Which Unit Is Best
Before the album is released, trying to rank the units would be pointless.
We haven’t heard what these combinations can actually do yet.
The better question is what NMIXX learns from them.
Does one pairing reveal a completely unexpected genre?
Does another prove that two voices fans rarely associate together actually fit beautifully?
Does someone normally known for performance surprise listeners vocally?
Does a member who gets limited space in title tracks suddenly become the center of an entire song?
Those discoveries could matter beyond one EP.
Four Years After “O.O,” NMIXX Is Still Experimenting
That may be the most important part.
NMIXX could have responded to the controversy surrounding their early music by becoming safer.
Instead, their career has gradually become an experiment in finding where their unusual strengths work best.
Their covers showed how adaptable they are.
Their performances showed how technically capable they are.
Their later releases explored different balances between accessibility and MIXXPOP.
And now Strange Muse asks another question:
What happens when you stop treating NMIXX as one musical combination?
For the first time, we’re about to hear three official answers.
Maybe the strangest thing NMIXX can do in 2026 isn’t mixing more genres together.
Maybe it’s finally giving their six different voices enough space to separate.
Because after years of asking what NMIXX sounds like…
Strange Muse may reveal that there was never only one answer.