Song Review: NMIXX & Pabllo Vittar – MEXE

K-pop collaborations with global artists have become much more common over the years and exist across a wide spectrum. For every Rosalía and Megan Thee Stallion there’s a Maroon 5 and Alex Warren. NMIXX have already experimented with their music in many ways, so you’d expect them to choose an interesting collaborator as well. For new single MEXE, they’ve paired with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar. It’s not the first time a K-pop artist has worked with the drag community, but it’s certainly the highest profile collaboration yet.

Brazil is also a powerhouse market for K-pop, making MEXE‘s commercial prospects as enticing as its creative ones. And though a blog like mine will naturally tend to focus on NMIXX, the song is technically credited as a Pabllo Vittar track. After many attempts by the K-pop industry to replicate the charm of Brazilian funk, it’s nice to hear a homegrown version of the genre. MEXE is a collage of sounds and rhythms loosely tied together in a structure that’s more freeform than K-pop listeners might expect.

NMIXX are hardly lacking on the charisma scale, but even so it’s a tall order to match Vittar’s on-record personality. Most of the time, the girls feel more like back-up and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Their smooth vocal harmonies add welcome contrast to the brash percussion, casting a sheen over MEXE that helps temper its more confrontational moments. Overall, the song relies a bit too much on its titular one-syllable vocal hook to work for me, but there’s no denying its fierce attitude that practically leaps out the speaker and grabs you by the collar. I imagine a live performance would go off.

Grade: B-