NMIXX’s Strange Muse Comes Into Focus in Pairs

NMIXX released their sixth EP, Strange Muse, on October 19 with the music video for “Birthday Wish.” The title track is the front door, but the record’s clearest invitation to listen deeper arrives in its second half: three first unit songs, each built around a different pair.

A duo changes the scale of a vocal arrangement. With fewer voices in the frame, the exchange between performers—and the space around each phrase—becomes easier to follow. That makes the unit sequence more than a track-list novelty. It gives listeners a practical route through the six-member group’s contrasts.

Musical outlines follow JYP Entertainment’s album notes; listening questions are KPOP MAGAZINE editorial prompts, not rankings of the members.

Listen to the arrangement, too

JYP describes “Birthday Wish” as a pop song combining moombahton, Afro and future house. Its official notes trace the arrangement from warped bass and African rhythms into the chorus, then into a break reduced to piano and voice before a narration-led bridge rises again.

That reduction is the useful point of comparison. A busy production can make a voice feel inseparable from the beat; a sparse passage asks it to carry more of the moment. Move from that break to the three unit tracks and ask what changes when a song gives a particular pair more room.

Start with the title track. Then follow the pairings—not to decide who “wins,” but to hear what each arrangement asks its two performers to do.

The writing credits deserve precision

JYP Publishing’s release entry identifies contributions by all six members, including a composer credit for KYUJIN on “WHIP.” It also lists 2Summery as a composer and arranger on “Birthday Wish.” These are meaningful details, but they should not be collapsed into a blanket claim that the members produced the whole EP.

Source: JYP Publishing, checked October 21, 2026. Selected credits only; this is not a complete songwriting, production, vocal-direction, recording or engineering list.

The unit tracks create a worthwhile connection: the people heard on each recording are also represented in its lyric credits. That suggests better questions for future reporting. How did a written line change once the pair sang it? Which phrases were revised together? The public credits show where to ask; they do not answer on the artists’ behalf.

One release, several ways in

The official rollout included an a cappella choir-version highlight medley on October 11 and an original highlight medley on October 15. Those previews offer another comparison for listeners interested in vocal presentation: follow a phrase between the vocal-focused preview and the fuller production, without assuming the promotional arrangement is an isolated stem from the finished master.

Strange Muse rewards listening with both ears and credits open. Begin with “Birthday Wish,” then follow the three pairings. The result is a more specific conversation about NMIXX: not simply who stands out, but how a song gives each combination of performers something different to do. Continue through the group’s NMIXX Artist Hub and the Release Calendar entry.