“Young, Dumb, Stupid” by NMIXX

Nmixx is a South Korea girl group that JYP Entertainment just introduced to the world in 2022.  K-pop acts usually start off pretty young, and accordingly the members of this outfit, as of the release of “Young, Dumb, Stupid” on 13 March 2023, range in age from 16 to 20.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for NMIXX's Young, Dumb, Stupid at Lyrics.org.

The girls have put out a couple of single albums (i.e. singles with B-sides and accompanying instrumentals) in 2022, respectively “Ad Mare” and “Entwurf”, both of which proved to be chart-topping, platinum-certified hits in their homeland. 

Their first EP is a six-song effort titled “Expérgo”. “Young, Dumb, Stupid” is the lead single from that project, as well as acting as the first track on its playlist.

K-POP ACTS BECOMING MORE RISQUÉ

It has been pointed out that during one scene of this song’s music video Haewon, who is actually the oldest member of Nmixx at 20 years old, is wearing a T-shirt with the word “cunt” highlighted as an acronym. 

Said acronym reads in full “Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, Talent” and is said to have been popularized by RuPaul’s Drag Race, a popular and long-running American television series which focuses on drag queens (i.e. men who dress as women). 

But of course in western culture the word “c*nt” is a colloquialism synonymous with a woman’s private parts or sometimes, as apparently alluded to with that acronym, used to describe a female who is difficult to deal with (in this case due to being highly-confident). 

The reason this is notable is that K-poppers aren’t traditionally known to utilize or market curse words.  Indeed, that phrase in full was promptly edited out of the video. But that said, for a while now we at Song Meanings + Facts have been pointing out that K-pop acts are appearing to become more Westernized – i.e. increasingly adult-oriented, if you will in this case – with their content.

YOUNG, DUMB & STUPID?

But that’s not to say that you’re going to come across a Chris Brown or Nicki Minaj popping up out of South Korea anytime soon. 

The K-pop industry, it would appear, is treading likely in terms of adopting the likes of Western ideologies into their music. For instance, songs such as “Young, Dumb, Stupid” can be interpreted, given the title for instance, as espousing youth recklessness. But the lyrics never go there specifically. And if they are connected to any ideology we would call Western, that would be living your life fearlessly the way you see fit.

Indeed, the implicit message contained in this track is one we’ve come across pretty regularly via other K-pop acts such as BTS. And most universally explained, it would be along the lines of pursuing your goals even if others think that you are “young, dumb (and) stupid” for doing so.

Or rather, let’s say that in this scenario, Jiwoo and the rest of the gang (Haewon, Lily, Sullyoon, Bae and Kyujin) are touting their youth, dumbness and stupidity as attributes. That’s because it’s only through fully embracing those characteristics that they feel most “confident” and “cool”. 

As such, they are encouraging those of a similar disposition, i.e. listeners, to keep forging ahead with them, ‘making new waves;’ in the world instead of accepting things as they are.

“Young, dumb, stupid
Young, dumb, stupid
But who cares? (Young, dumb, stupid)
But who cares? (Young, dumb, stupid)
우린 겁이 없어 (But who cares?)
Do whatever we want (But who cares?)
Ding-dang-dong (우린 겁이 없어)
Ding-dang-dong (Do whatever we want)
몰라도 난 자신 있어, feel so cool
더 멀리 가보는 거야
Ding-dang-dong, ding-dang-dong”

So to reiterate it’s as if a lot is being said, but none of it is really specific, and therefore the lyrics are in large part open to interpretation. An extremist, such as Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un up North, may decipher these lyrics as being borderline revolutionary. But all things considered, we know that what Nmixx is espousing is an idea such as capitalizing on the carefreeness of youth to fully pursue the goals that you personally dream of.

THE COMPOSERS OF “YOUNG, DUMB, STUPID”

None of the members of Nmixx were involved in writing this song. Instead, its composers are:

  • Frankie Day
  • Honey Noise
  • Brian U
  • Park Sang Yu
  • Lee Seu Ran
  • Moon Yeo Leum
  • Oh Hyun Sun
  • Awry
  • Brown Panda

And to note, the latter two names on that list are down with what appears to be a songwriting/production collective affiliated with JYP known as The Hub.

Young, Dumb, Stupid

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like...