224

The record

224 is the fourth mini album of KISS OF LIFE, released on 9 June 2025 with seven tracks led by ‘Lips Hips Kiss’. It came eight months after the third mini album Lose Yourself, with the group’s first world tour and the special digital single KISS ROAD in between. S2 Entertainment’s album introduction on Bugs reads the three digits of the title as “Today, Tomorrow, Forever”, and says the record sets the story of a self moving from constraint to release along that passage of time. The same text explains ‘Today’ as the state of being held inside other people’s eyes and rules, ‘Tomorrow’ as the moment of asking oneself and understanding, and ‘Forever’ as the release reached at the end of that; it says the seven tracks range wide, from the R&B and hip-hop of the title track through disco to an acoustic ballad.

Reviews

IZM’s Son Min-hyun opened his single review of the title track in June 2025 by noting that the group’s clock has not moved. He wrote that “the timeline KISS OF LIFE set to the early 2000s is holding”, and that “on the stage the four of them make, you always hear the R&B and neo soul that were typical of the period”. Of how the song is built he wrote: “The skeleton of the beat is made out of vocal chops, and the opening and the chorus are laid over that rhythm smoothly; a sticky nasal tone and falsetto are blended, and by the bridge there is a tension whose purpose and intent are clear.”

Quibi, writing for Idology (아이돌로지), chose the record for the site’s 20 albums of 2025 in December. He wrote that the group’s discography is rooted in R&B to a large degree, and that on that basis they “express the romance of a grown woman, out of a message of love and release”. He read this record as the place where that character is gathered most tightly, and wrote that “one can say they have drawn the properties of the genre in far more actively, held to an exquisite sense of balance, and reconciled the two without any sense of friction”.

Billboard picked the title track for ‘The 25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2025’ on 18 December. The entry, signed Billboard Korea, says the song “uses sensuous, 2000s-styled R&B to create a tactile dreamscape”, and that “kick and snare hit hard at a medium tempo, with delicate hi-hats adding hip-hop influence—their core identity”. It adds that “fresh off their first world tour, the group’s commitment to R&B through a K-pop lens reads as an artistic statement rooted in confidence”.

Among the tracks

Quibi went through the record song by song in the same piece. He wrote that “the title song ‘Lips Hips Kiss’ and the follow-up ‘Tell Me’ give you the serenade of a lovely, polished female speaker, while among the album tracks they take on thick retro R&B like ‘Heart of Gold’ and also bring life to the record by blending in genres that sit close to R&B, such as ‘k bye’ and ‘Slide’”.

After it

The digital single Lucky (Korean Ver.) followed in November 2025, and the second single album Who is she in April the next year.