Katseyes “Beautiful Chaos” Album Cover Hybe/Geffen
Born from a survival show called “Dream Academy” under the label Hybe, the same one that made BTS, Katseye has been absolutely dominating the music scene. The group is often associated with K-Pop due to its obvious ties, but is marketed as a “global” pop group.
Katseye has six members including Lara Raj, Yoonchae Jeung, Manon Bannerman, Daniela Avanzini, Megan Skiendiel, and Sophia Laforteza. The girls are from a variety of countries including the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States.
The group debuted in 2024 with the song “Debut,” but was mainly popular amongst K-Pop fans given their origins. They later released “Touch” which garnered them massive popularity—it quickly became one of their biggest hits.
There was a bit of a quiet period post-“Touch” when the group wasn’t so active and their momentum seemed to stall for a bit. That is, until the release of “Gnarly,” when things took a huge turn for the group.
“Gnarly” was highly anticipated which led to several leaks of the song being exposed right before its release. These leaks weren’t well received, leading to some anxiety amongst fans regarding the track.
The song was eventually released on April 29, 2025 with highly mixed reviews. Sonically, “Gnarly” was an entirely different sound from any of their previous releases. To put it kindly, it was quite noisy in comparison with questionable lyrics to pair.
Most fans were disappointed by this sound shift and even hated the song for the first few days of release. Admittedly, I was one of these people. It felt like one big English verse in a K-Pop song except the English didn’t make any sense.
By some miracle, fans ended up loving the song once the live performances came out. The group promoted in both the US and South Korea, going on a variety of music shows and American TV programs.
The group’s strong presence on stage made it easy to forget the abhorrent lyrics, especially Daniela’s iconic solo moment. Until seeing their live performances, I’ve always genuinely believed nothing could save a song with horrible lyrics.
There’s just something so mesmerizing about the way these girls perform. They have this hunger I haven’t seen in many groups lately—American or Korean. It’s incredibly difficult to look away from them once they’re on stage.
Since the grand success of “Gnarly,” the group has only been on an rapid uphill climb since. They’ve performed at various festivals and music shows including “Lollapalooza” in Chicago and the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
They also released another hit, “Gabriela,” which came out on June 20. This song was also quite unique compared to their previous releases, taking on more of a Latin sound. It also featured a full Spanish verse sung by member Daniela Avanzini.
Personally, “Gabriela” is my favorite release from the group. It’s such a pretty song and the Spanish verse makes it much better. Something about it is addictive, and I constantly find myself singing the chorus randomly with friends.
“Gabriela” has a very entertaining music video as well, taking inspiration from old school Latin soap operas. The girls fight each other to see who can become the next “Gabriela”. I love how fun and creative it is compared to a lot of other music videos.
A week after the release of “Gabriela,” the group came out with their first EP, “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS.” It features five tracks including “Gnarly” and “Gabriela.” The other songs on the EP include “Gameboy,” “Mean Girls,” and “M.I.A.”
All the songs are wonderful tracks that can hold their own next to one another; I really can’t see any weak songs. I hear both “Gameboy” and “M.I.A” often at my job and haven’t grown tired of them yet (which is shocking) so I see that as a good sign for the group’s musical longevity.
In all seriousness, I think these girls are super talented and it’s no shocker that they’re easily getting so much love and attention. Recently, they even went viral online for their advertisement with Gap.
The advertisement featured the girls dancing to “Milkshake” by Kelis whilst wearing G.A.P’s newest denim collection. Compared to the disappointment that was the infamous Syndey Sweeney ad, this was an absolute treat.
The dance is near hypnotizing, especially when it includes all the members together. It quickly became a dance trend on TikTok, and spread like wildfire across the internet.
Fortunately, there’ll never be a video of me floating around doing the dance, but it has been entertaining seeing the internet’s reaction to the advertisement.
I’m incredibly excited to see Katseye’s growth in the next few years after such a stellar past few months. I think they’ll be a group to watch out for. Dare I say, they might even be the pioneers for the next generation of girl groups.