It’s simply earlier than 9 a.m., and the women of Katseye are already dressed and prepared for rehearsals forward of the 2025 Youngsters’ Selection Awards. They generally set free a little bit yawn whereas answering questions, however Sophia, Manon, Lara, Yoonchae, Megan, and Daniela are hyped for the week forward as they gear as much as drop their sophomore EP, Lovely Chaos, on Friday.
“It’s us getting into our maturity,” says Lara. “I really feel like this period, we’ve got been much more authentically ourselves. I don’t need to placed on a facade of any form when speaking to anybody anymore. I believe that’s an attractive factor, and you’ll see that extra inside the album. You see extra of our fireplace.”
It’s plain: Katseye goes by their greatest second but. Fashioned in November 2023, the Geffen/Hybe artists have shortly risen as the current and way forward for the pop woman group. The six members have been handpicked after competing on the Netflix actuality present Pop Star Academy: Katseye, making it to the highest out of 20 finalists, chosen from practically 120,000 hopefuls desirous to be a part of a brand new Okay-pop-styled band. The Netflix collection adopted the highest 20 finalists as they took on challenges sharpening their dance abilities, vocal skills, and star high quality. Their rise as a six-piece has been quick, they usually’ve already constructed an enormous following of EYEKONS who observe their each transfer. On their first EP, SIS (Comfortable Is Robust), they launched their chemistry and delivered a success, “Contact,” which grew to become a mainstay on TikTok, due to its infectious refrain and fun-to-learn dance routine. With Lovely Chaos, the group proves that their robust friendship and shining individuality is right here to remain.
“We will’t faux this,” admits Sophia. “All of us have that shared objective of Katseye’s success and we actually nurtured our friendship quite a bit. We bought actually fortunate.”
“We actually, actually, actually spent a lot time collectively and put in quite a lot of effort to develop our relationship with one another,” provides Lara. “This isn’t one thing you would manufacture or develop. It’s a real friendship with a deep bond.”
Members of previous woman teams, together with Little Combine and Fifth Concord, have steadily stated that what made being in a bunch so tough was having to carry of their individuality for his or her model as a collective. The other rings true in Katseye, the place every of the ladies’s individuality and cultures are celebrated — it’s a part of the “international woman group” id Hybe and Geffen got down to construct once they began the seek for the group.
Lara, for instance, is commonly photographed in a bindi or sporting apparel celebrating her South Asian heritage, whereas Daniela, who’s of Cuban descent, sings the bridge to their finance single “Gabriela” in Spanish. “We actually are pushed to shine individually with our strengths,” says Sophia, who’s Filipina. “We’re Katseye members first, however we additionally shine on our personal.”
Lovely Chaos reveals off the variety of their types and vocal versatility. There’s pop, R&B, a ballad, and “Gnarly,” the polarizing campy single that kicked off a dance development and shortly earned the group their second large hit after 2024’s “Contact.” Manon says making their second EP felt “so genuine to who we’re proper now” in each their lyricism and the manifestation of their artistry, and it’s additionally a “very transitional” EP for the group, as Sophia explains it.
“We’ve paid much more consideration to element,” says Manon. “It’s been a extremely enjoyable expertise and it feels genuine to us.”
The five-track EP closes with what all of them agree is their favourite track, “M.I.A.” It’s a stadium-ready anthem, extra consistent with woman teams like Blackpink, the type of monitor made to be sung again by a crowd. “We screamed once we heard it,” says Daniela.
“That is precisely our style,” provides Lara. “I believe the manufacturing is fireplace and we actually confirmed our individuality.”
“Recreation Boy,” the women say, is sort of a sequel to “Contact, and made for the followers who loved that period. “It’s a feel-good track and like an elevated ‘Contact,’” says Megan. “I’m excited for ‘Recreation Boy’ as a result of it’s going to be the favourite of the Eyekons who actually like our ‘Contact’ period,” provides Yoonchae.
Manon steps as much as speak about their single “Imply Women,” a slower ballad that provides like to the “dream women, free women,” and “even the imply women.” On it, the women sing: “For this reason I hate the web, you’re not gonna kill my happiness.”
Throughout Dream Academy, Manon confronted an unfair stage of backlash from individuals who questioned her place within the group. Now, she’s placing any narratives to relaxation. “Numerous us bought referred to as imply women after the documentary dropped and all these narratives began working, so it’s type of an homage to that,” Manon says. “It’s giving killing them with kindness. This track is closing a chapter.”
“Imply Women” additionally ends with the women declaring, “God bless the T women, and all of the in-between women.” Since their formation, Katseye has been open about their closeness to queerness — two of the members are bi — and simply how a lot the LGBTQ group has formed each their artistry and their fandom. However the group has additionally performed a better function: For a current efficiency, trans designer Gigi Goode crafted customized appears to be like for the group, they usually even posted a video dancing with Vivian Wilson, Elon Musk’s estranged trans daughter. (It’d’ve been a tongue-in-cheek nod to their Tesla reference on “Gnarly.”)
“We work quite a bit with the trans group on a regular basis, whether or not it’s trend or music,” says Lara. “We’re continuously round trans ladies, and I believe we’ve got a lot love and respect for them. We wished to shout them out.”
For Lovely Chaos, the group’s studio course of began with the women being performed songs and provided pre-selected verses and components to check out. Manon says having a staff guiding the artistic course of is useful, however as soon as they’re within the sales space, they’ll “attempt one another’s components,” and no matter sounds greatest is what makes the minimize. In addition they have a bunch therapist who permits them a “protected area” to work by any points that might provide you with being younger adults navigating stardom collectively in a bunch.
What rings true — and is palpable even over a Zoom name early within the A.M. — is that the ladies have constructed a sisterhood that interprets by their music and on-line interactions. The women end one another’s sentences and nod in settlement with one another’s solutions to questions, they usually’re on the identical web page in terms of what they need Katseye to be.
“I don’t know if the ‘Oh, we’re coworkers, so we are able to function like that,’ would actually work for us,” says Lara. “I really feel just like the friendship, the true bond that we’ve got is what makes this really so enjoyable, even when we’ve got a foul day or one thing loopy occurs.”
From Rolling Stone US.