NMIXX's Heavy Serenade

JYP Entertainment

It all started with NMIXX’s "Heavy Serenade A Cappella Highlight Medley," posted eight days before the EP’s release, showcasing the group’s vocals and harmonies as they blended the melodies. It was impressive to hear the K-pop group, who typically do a cappella medleys of their albums – truly playing with their ranges, which change beautifully and quickly with tempo and beat. But, what makes Heavy Serenade feels different is the sonic treat that gracefully weaves the tracks, each celebrating love, into a full, defined story.

While their last mini-album, Blue Valentine, reflects the highs and lows of love and loss, Heavy Serenade is one of love as a sound from their pre-release track, “Crescendo,” raising the sound and feeling of love to the title song, “Heavy Serenade,” emphasizing the power of that love. The love continues with “Idserveit,” “Different Girl,” and “Superior,” and ends with the declaration-of-love song, “Loud.”

After the success of Blue Valentine, NMIXX – members Lily, Haewon, Sullyoon, Bae, Jiwoo, and Kyujin – knew they wanted to continue the theme of love, creating a dreamy feeling about that emotion that deepens over time.

"The whole message of the album is basically like a crescendo – basically, love keeps increasing and increasing,” Lily says over Zoom from the JYP Entertainment offices in Seoul. “We really wanted to show that with our whole track list, including the title song. So the last chorus [in ‘Heavy Serenade,’] it really explodes – just like our love. The whole track list itself is kind of like a story in itself, where we start with ‘Crescendo.’ We're talking about how when we're around this person, our world that was so quiet suddenly just becomes so loud and so big that you can’t even contain it anymore.”

The girls gathered together on the call, taking a break from their dance practice to promote the new album. Jiwoo didn’t feel well that day and couldn’t be on the call. The girls have been hard at work preparing for this comeback (Lily shouts, referring to themselves, “Busy busy bees!”), especially after completing the North American leg of their EPISODE 1: ZERO FRONTIER World Tour back in April.

“We’ve been really busy since starting early this year,” Kyujin says, excitedly. “We’re preparing for the comeback, so we’ve been really gearing up for it.”

Heavy Serenade feels a bit more vocal-driven, relying on the MIXX Pop as its voice rather than on shifts in musical genres and styles. Lily admits that it was a bit difficult to adjust their vocal range in a song like “Heavy Serenade,” which requires hitting high falsetto as the tempo abruptly changes. Now add the dancing, Lily says, “it was quite difficult for all of us.”

With Blue Valentine, the group played with different genres to match the love and hate emotions it sought to convey. With this album, it was all about overflowing emotions of love. So, she struggled with finding the right genre mix for the tracks.

“So NMIXX had to do what we had to do, using different genres to package all that emotion,” Haewon shares. “I would go from calm to rock to hip-hop, so trying to do that all [vocally] in different genres was a challenge for this particular one.”

Below, NMIXX discusses their writing process and performing the album, what each song means to them, and how their concepts reflect the story they wanted to tell.

LAURA SIRIKUL: This album is a declaration of love, but one really resonated with me – “Loud,” because it is a revelation of love. Lily, you had a part in writing this song (as well as “Crescendo”). I feel many in the queer community will resonate with this song. The lyrics, “Don’t tell me to shh, 'cause you know I gotta let it out // I wanna love you loud, I wanna love you loud // Gorgeous girls // Gorgeous boys,” reminded me of Little Mix’s “Secret Love Song Pt. 2,” which became a queer anthem. “Loud” could be the next queer anthem. I know you don’t need to be queer to feel this emotion. Everyone can resonate. What can you tell me about this song?

LILY: I'm really glad that it resonated with you. I really do hope it becomes a song that resonates with anyone who listens, because you're so right. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to the lyrics. I was really reminded of that Little Mix song while I was writing it. I was aiming for an overall message that I hope many people can relate to. Forbidden love. [It is] sad that you have this love that’s so big and that you want to tell the whole world, but you can’t because of circumstances. It’s not just NMIXX that would relate to that feeling; there are lots of people in the world. I really hate that it’s a reality for so many people. I do hope the song can offer some respite to people going through anything like that. It’s just a celebration of all kinds of love. It doesn’t have to be sad because it’s a beautiful thing in itself to love someone that loudly.

SIRIKUL: I was wondering about the others: How did you feel performing songs, and what was the meaning behind them for you?

HAEWON: It’s amazing. It’s almost like sending off the last track with the message we always want to deliver: respect for diversity and coming together. So the lyrics are comforting and confident. It's all coming together.

BAE: It’s my favorite song. It’s the team's favorite song. Perhaps it is because of Lily's wonderful lyric writing, but it seems like it's gonna be the fans' favorite song as well.

SIRIKUL: When we last spoke, you guys talked about writing songs from your perspective, and it was challenging to make it fit everyone. How has it been for this album? Has it gotten easier for you?

BAE: I actually wrote my first lyric for the song, “Different Girl.” It was very difficult for me. I was very nervous to reveal it. When I think about writing a letter, I think a lot about my flaws and weaknesses, so the process of writing it and the NSWER (name of NMIXX fans) loving it helps me overcome that and embrace it as well.

SIRIKUL: I’m a big fan of albums that are structured to tell a story as you’re listening to them in order. I can tell you guys did that with this. How did you decide which song to put first? What were the decisions behind this structure?

LILY: Each song on the tracklist discusses or expresses love in some sort of way or another. We start with “Crescendo,” where the love begins quite small, but then it grows and grows. Then with “Heavy Serenade,” it's the heaviness of my love for you. “Ideserveit” is self-love. Self-love is also very important in the spectrum of love. Then “Different Girl,” which is also a love song, is about the love for the fans. With “Superior,” which is a love for each other in NMIXX. We’re continuing to spread our message to everyone. We’re bringing everyone with us into the song. Then the ending is “Loud,” which we are being so loud about our love. We’re not going to be shy about it.

SIRIKUL: I saw the concept trailer and need to understand what it means. Who are you each supposed to be? What is it that you wanted to show?

HAEWON: Each member has a symbol that kind of represents their growing love. I represented a growing plant. I was the symbol of the growing love. So when I water it, it nurtures and grows.

SULLYOON: I represented giving everything and contributing everything to grow love.

BAE: I was a white chocolate girl, but was actually a statue. The beautiful thing is that when it's touched, it turns transparent because you become so pure, like when you’re in love. You see everything inside.

KYUJIN: I was actually a “hide-my-love” kind of girl. I tried to hide it, but there was a little fire inside of me that I couldn’t put out. I am shy and timid, but when I peek and look at the person I love, I express that love through dance in an empty space because I can’t hide it anymore.

LILY: I’m basically like a communicator of love. So I have this cylinder full of love letters, which I actually put real letters I received from NSWER on my back. I was running because I needed to express my love. Then there are pigeons because pigeons are communicators.

[Jiwoo has a love for animals, as she is surrounded by her dog companions.]

SIRIKUL: With this album connected to love, what is your favorite song or lyric from the album that you feel closely connected to?

HAEWON: My favorite and the one I connect with the most is “Loud,” because I feel comfort and almost consolation when I hear the music and the way the music develops with the lyrics. I feel that kind of emotion.

BAE: I really like “Idserveit” because the way the music is just so grand. It’s so big and has always been a favorite of mine in the NMIXX sort of albums and genres. My other favorite is “Loud” because it’s the first time I've heard that kind of music. It’s also the melody line lyrics. It’s all around, just a great song.

KYUJIN: I can’t pick just one because they’re all so good. The two I would pick are “Crescendo” and “Loud.” When I first heard the demo for “Crescendo,” it was so my type that I absolutely fell in love with it. This is a beautiful song. It’s when art is expressed as music. This is what the song feels like. I was excited to express that with the NMIXX voice. It came out wonderfully. The sound is so diverse. It’s very loud, but you can also clearly hear each sound and melody, and the lyric combination is just amazing for the song. For “Loud,” when I first heard it, I fell in love with it, so I would listen to the demo when I went somewhere or on a plane. It’s my favorite. I want to put it on my playlist.

SULLYOON: It was the title song for me, “Heavy Serenade,” because when I first heard the demo, I fell in love with it. The lyrics are very beautiful.

LILY: The lyrics that resonated with me would be “Crescendo.” I love it when we incorporate musical terms in the song to express love. It’s very romantic to envision someone being your conductor and moving to your music kind of vibe. That was really pretty lyric-wise. I’m really proud of that one.

SIRIKUL: The music feels very vocally-driven rather than dance and performance. What can we expect from the performances for this album?

KYUJIN: For “Heavy Serenade,” we tried to combine the lyrics and the melody together because it’s a very explosive motion. You can actually see it in the performance, especially the last verses, and how it’s portrayed through performance.

SIRIKUL: What do you want fans to take from this album?

LILY: The whole theme is about love. Given the positive reception of our last album, Blue Valentine, I hope fans will interpret the lyrics as a love letter to NSWERS. It’s a love letter to them, thanking them for all their support. Every single album, without fail, they have given us so much love. I really do hope the fans take that message away, or, alternatively, that they listen to the lyrics and that it helps them with whatever troubles they’re having in their own lives, especially if it's about love. I hope we can always be a beacon of light to them.

SIRIKUL: We had fun the last time we did this for Blue Valentine. Bae described the last album as “left no crumbs.” I need to know from each of you, how would you describe this album with a few words?

HAEWON: Let’s LOVE!

KYUJIN: Take my love.

LILY: The happiness of my love is never a burden.

[BAE consults with her members on how to express her words.]

BAE: [proudly and loudly] Ate crumbles!

[Everyone giggles as she tries to explain her reasoning behind her words.]

BAE: It means I’m clearing all the left crumbs! No crumbles are left. Yeah, no crumbles!

LILY: No crumbles left! The crumbs of the crumbs are also being eaten!

BAE: So I was taking an English lesson, and this was actually a mistake, but it actually fit – so it became a meme. So yeah – left no crumbs, ate all the crumbles!

SULLYOON: To all my loved ones!

NMIXX’s Heavy Serenade is available now on all streaming platforms. Physical copies of their albums are available at select retailers.