Katsye is ready to cause some chaos.
The global girl group consisted of the members Sophia, Daniela, Megan, Lara, Manon and Yoonchae were strangers just four years ago and climbed the ranks as KP Pop trainees in the Reality Competition series ”Debut: Dream Academy.“In the wake of the show’s finale, and the release of Netflix’s accompanying” Pop Star Academy “assessments, Katseye became Breakout practitioners with pastel painted pictures and sugar sweet pop in their debut EP” SIS (Soft is Strong), and Era-defined singles “.
But while Katseye may have started softly, the group’s high and unpologet personalities quickly took the carefully manicated aesthetics that had been foreseen to them at the “Dream Academy.” Often viral in k pop-spheres for their unpleasant, high-energy Bread currentsKatsey’s honest intensity has helped to shape the sound of their other EP, “beautiful chaos.”
“” Beautiful chaos “is the season we are all in,” says Sophia Amount. “It is very much us, but it is also we constantly evolving and is located. It is a great transition part of Katseye, when we discover who we are and the different pages of us.”
Described by the group as a “Celebration of Confusion”, Five-Track EP has no shortage of earworms, including the lead single “Gnarly”, a hyperpop track imprisoned by Alice Longyu Gao and Madison Love (Lady Gaga, Katy Perry) and produced by Pink Slip. Other tracks include the Latin pop -inspired “Gabriela” and the Bastung “Mia”, an electronic track that Manon is keen to perform live.
Katseye leader Sophia agrees that “Mia” will be an audience knowledge, especially on gigs like their upcoming Lollapalooza set on August 3. “(Mia) is supposed to be performed at a stadium … to be performed at Lolla,” says Sophia. “I blast ‘mia’ in my car all the time, literally All the time, “emphasizes Lara.” I roll down the windows and imagine what our Lolla performance will look like. “
Although Katseye is not stranger to intense choreography in his performances, Megan says to master the steps for “Gabriela”, was a special challenge. With acoustic guitar and a Spanish-speaking bridge from Daniela, “Gabriela”, the members who sing-are like to appeal with-the titular tempress not to take their lovers: (“You can have someone else you wanted/I ask you/back from my Fella, Gabriela”).
The music video for “Gabriela” is equally equally drama-infused, and observes a televela-inspired deal that includes a wedding, a finger amutation and a “succession” style that members want to succeed Jessica Alba as CEO of Gabriela Enterprises. Megan and the other Katseye members turned to Daniela for pointers to master the ballroom-inspired choreography in the video.
“My mother taught me to dance, she is a ballroom dancer,” says Daniela. “The choreography of this song (‘Gabriella’) is definitely more bal room, a little flamenco inspired. There are many hip movements there, so I could help the girls out a bit with the movements.”
“‘Gabriela’ was the hardest thing for me,” adds Megan. “It’s a little different from what we have done before, a little sexier, which I love. But we practiced a lot in the heels for ‘Gabriela.’
For Katseye, it means discovering different sides of themselves also to support each other. In May, Lara was honored with the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Blooming Impact Award, which recognizes her advocate for society as a queer public person. Few K-Pop idols are out and proud members of LGBTQ+ community but Lara says that the support from her colleagues Katseee members-who presented Lara with the award-has been invaluable. Megan also recently came out as bisexual.
“It was so unexpected and such a honor to have my girls there for me,” says Lara. “They gave a speech earlier, and to have them hand to be, and be on stage with me, it was so beautiful. I couldn’t have traded that experience for the world. I touched it in my speech, but growing up were many troublesome experiences trying to understand who I am and my sexuality.”
“To think that now I’m 19,” she continues, ”And getting an award for it, with my parents in the audience? And I’m talking about it in front of them? My whole family was there, my family in India saw it. So much stuff that little Lara was so deeply afraid of… I overcame That Fear. SO SO MANY PEOPLE CAME UP TO ME THAT NIGHT – OR HAVE DM’D ME SINCE – Saying They Came Out in did. or that they came out as trans trans, and saying in inspired them to do that, which is …
Although queer visibility in K-pop remains at a minimum, Lara says that she is determined to continue using her newfound platform as an idol. “It was such a moment of” wow. There is a real influence and impact that we can do, “she says.” Our voice can actually inspire and help people do things and feel more comfortable within themselves, which is a great responsibility, but I am honored. ”
While Katseyse fans – lovingly known as Eyekons – flocked to show Lara their support, were broader reactions to Lara’s coming out, with Korea Herald who described her announcement as “shocking”. As an international group whose place in K-pop has been challenged since their debut, Katseye is no strangers to be deviations in the industry, and Sophia says the group continues to lean on each other for support.
“I am someone who grew up in a house with many people in it – the whole family, even my grandparents. I got used to having people at home, so I came here all the way from the Philippines, and I did not go home all the time I trained and for the first half of Katseye … if I did not have this (the group), I do not know how far I would.”
“To be in this group and everyone live together, it is forced to learn to really work with each other in different parts of our lives,” she admits. “This career is not just something we can watch in and watch out of. This is a lifestyle, this is something we must learn to implement in every single part of our lives. It is really built our dynamics and it bleeds into our work – when we do music, when we are in repetitions and when we perform.”
“We never have to cry in a room alone, ever. We will always have someone there to support us, and that is what really keeps us going.”