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UKISS is a group who debuted back in 2008 with Not Young. But since their debut, they have become widely known in the KPOP industry for hits like Man Man Ha Ni, Shut Up!, 0330, Neverland (my personal favourite from the group) and a few others. Over the years, there has been a number of lineup changes which reduced the group down to two members at one point. This year, UKISS celebrated their 15-year anniversary as a six-member group (Soohyun, Hoon and Kiseop are joined by Alexander, Eli and AJ as part of this comeback, with the support of other former members) with their first comeback (since 2017) – the mini-album Play List and the title track The Wonderful Escape.

The Wonderful Escape brings to us a nostalgic sound, which is fitting for the purposes of this comeback. The Wonderful Escape has this throwback club vibe to it that feels aligned with the era where the group was at their peak (i.e., late ‘00s and early ‘10s). In addition to that, the song also feels brightly refreshing and upbeat, which gives it an ideal appeal during the summery season that was released in. I really like the prowess and oomph that the members’ vocals bring to in The Wonderful Escape, which gives the song some nice depth and an extra element that is quite meaty to sink into. The rapping was admittedly brief and I am unsure why that was the case. What we got from in The Wonderful Escape fits in really well with the club vibe and EDM nature of the song, and so I wished there was more to it. This was a great return for UKISS. And with news that Alexander and Eli have signed on to keep the group alive with future comebacks with Soohyun, Hoon and Kiseop (plus AJ flagged he would be open to also participating in future promotions), The Wonderful Escape just invigorates my inner KissMe (name of UKISS fanclub).

While I really enjoyed the song , the music video was the disappointing aspect of the comeback for me. Don’t get me wrong, the video (for its majority) was watchable. But, and I am completely aware I am about to sound like an elderly citizen, I just can’t get out of my mind that UKISS is now a group of 30+ years olds who were doing similar scenes in this music video as some of their much younger peers (such as pushing each other in a shopping trolley – that feels very teenage/very young adult behaviour). I also wish the styling was better. Other than that, I did really like the various solo and some pair closeup shots of the group, and all of the indoor choreography scenes (see the feature image). They way the people who created the music video used up the space made it all come out well.

The choreography for the comeback looks good. It isn’t as memorable as their more wildly know routines, but it works well enough for this comeback. It is light and feels rightly upbeat like the music. I like how everyone involved had smiles on throughout the performances, which shows that they all really wanted to be there to celebrate the 15-year anniversary after so long.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10