UK garage is synonymous with summer — a Mis‑Teeq reunion brings the heat

Summer, the writer says, is measured by the UKG Index: the more UK garage you hear from car windows, festivals or barbecues, the more likely the mercury is climbing. This year the sound of summer has arrived early, and with it comes a surprise: a Mis‑Teeq reunion.

Mis‑Teeq — Sabrina Washington, Su‑Elise Nash and Alesha Dixon — broke into the mainstream in 2001 with Lickin’ on Both Sides, taking garage from underground raves and pirate radio into the charts and Saturday morning TV with hits such as All I Want, Why? and One Night Stand.

A second album produced the global hit Scandalous, but the band’s rise halted after their label Telstar collapsed into bankruptcy in 2004 and the group split the following year; Dixon later became notable through Strictly and Britain’s Got Talent. Two revivals of UK garage have followed: in the 2010s, producers such as Disclosure and Jamie xx folded two‑step into indie and electronica, and more recently TikTok‑fuelled Y2K nostalgia has kept the sound alive.

United Kingdom

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