Almost every Katseye performance begins the same way. The bass notes of the girl group’s first single “Debut” echo through the venue, bright stage lights shine on its members and a screaming crowd nearly drowns out their vocals.
But roughly a week before heading out on their first official tour, their opening number was met with a few sparse claps.
Inside the Hollywood Palladium, the group — fresh-faced, high-spirited and dressed in their color-coordinated stagewear — held their final dress rehearsal last month. It was both the first time they’d run the show on a stage and the last time they would practice before the sold-out Beautiful Chaos tour.
Their final stop on the North American trek will be in Los Angeles, where they will play the YouTube Theater and the Palladium on Dec. 12 and 13.
The global girl group, made of Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza, Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Yoonchae Jeung and Manon Bannerman, are in the midst of a rapid rise to fame. In a matter of months — since the release of their second EP, “Beautiful Chaos,” in June — they have continued to make each of their pop star dreams come true, with anything from the viral Gap campaign, a record-breaking crowd at Lollapalooza and two Grammy nominations.
Recognized for their hypnotic choreography, playful lyricism and fervent energy, the “Gnarly” singers went all out for dress rehearsal — involving an army of backup dancers and repeated blasts of confetti. The group (excluding Bannerman, who was sick) sang nearly their entire discography, highlighting tracks like their TikTok viral “Touch” off their first EP “SIS (Soft is Strong)” and the Grammy-nominated “Gabriela,” which included its elaborate salsa-esque dance break. They even debuted a new song, “Internet Girl,” which toys with their growing amount of online fame over a pop-punk production style.
The group originated from a YouTube reality competition show called “The Debut: Dream Academy” in 2023. Taking influence from the K-pop training system, over 120,000 contestants competed for a spot in what would become Katseye. The show was presented by Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind acts like BTS and Le Sserafim, and Geffen, a label of Universal Music, which shared the goal of crafting a multicultural girl group. (Avanzini is Venezuelan-Cuban; Raj is Indian; Skiendiel is Chinese-Singaporean; Laforteza is Filipina; Bannerman is Swiss-Ghanian and Jeung is Korean.)
Their onscreen journey was simultaneously captured through the Netflix docuseries, “Popstar Academy: Katseye,” which took viewers inside their intense training and evaluations.
The global girl group‘s members are Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza, Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Yoonchae Jeung and Manon Bannerman.
(Rahul Bhatt)
Two years after their debut, Katseye remains in a similar situation — where the stakes haven’t disappeared, but rather changed. They are no longer competing for a spot in the group; they are instead navigating their swift rise to stardom.
“Don’t get me wrong — every dream of ours is coming true. But, don’t you guys feel like you’re always running to catch up with yourself?,” asked Raj, who was sitting on the floor of the Palladium’s green room post-rehearsal. “One thing happens. Then another thing does, and I haven’t fully processed it.”
Fresh off the stage of the nearly empty venue, Katseye traded their Y2K-inspired performance looks for sweats and sat around a coffee table, indulging in late-night snacks. In between fits of laughter and finishing each other’s sentences, the members explain that they’d recently come back from a European press tour and only had a week to nail down their tour performance.
The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
It sounds like you have been operating on crunch time for these upcoming shows. Do you usually have more time to prepare?
Raj: With every performance that we’ve ever done, we’ve always had a really extensive amount of rehearsal — sometimes a little too much rehearsal even. It takes a lot of time to make sure things are so synchronized and super sharp. This was our first time putting something together so fast.
Laforteza: Because of our growth and how fast everything is happening, we are still learning to become more seasoned and prepared in short amounts of time. It’s what all our previous training is for. Now we’re starting to figure out how to do a lot more things at once. We’re almost everywhere now. We’re all over the internet. We’re getting these nominations. We’re showing up to all these events, so we have a lot less time to prepare for certain things.
Katseye is in the middle of its biggest year so far. What’s it like being on the inside of that whirlwind?
Skiendiel: I’m still trying to grasp onto the feeling of being in Katseye. We got nominated for two Grammys a couple days ago, and that was so exciting, but I was so focused on these tour rehearsals that I didn’t even really get to process it fully.
Raj: It was so cool, but 30 minutes after we found out, I was driving to rehearsal. Don’t get me wrong — every dream of ours is coming true. But, don’t you guys feel like you’re always running to catch up with yourself? One thing happens. Then another thing does, and I haven’t fully processed it.
Skiendiel: You know, what’s actually crazy — yesterday we had an off day, and I was watching one of our older interviews. We said we wanted a VMA, a Grammy, to play Coachella and do a tour. Since then, we’ve won a VMA, received Grammy nominations, will play Coachella next year and are about to leave on tour.
(Andy Jackson / For The Times)
It seems like you all have some kind of manifesting power. How does it feel to have chosen this pop star life and have it progress so quickly?
Avanzini: When we were all trainees, all of our goals were the same. Over these past three years, we see how much we’ve pushed ourselves and how resilient we can be. Now that we are currently accomplishing the goals we set out to do, it makes us want to think of new goals to accomplish.
Sometimes, though, we get so lost. All we see in our daily lives is traveling, rehearsals and shows. We get so caught up in our schedules.
Raj: We’ll often forget to reflect on and enjoy what’s happening. The only time I’m aware of what’s really happening is when we’re performing. There’s this moment of being on stage, and being aware of every single person.
What happens when this mindfulness takes over?
Avanzini: For me, I’m always so stressed out before [a show]. When I first started performing, I would just black out and do the performance. Then I’d get off stage and have no idea of what happened.
But, now that we’re more comfortable on stage. It feels like home, especially because we’re with each other. It’s not as scary as being a soloist. It’s nice to be able to look around on stage and give each other a smile. It grounds me a lot.
When you were on stage performing to an empty venue, just a few minutes ago, it still seemed like you were having the time of your lives. What keeps you going, even after practicing all day?
Laforteza: Passion!
Each member audibly agrees, between bites of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Doritos.
Avanzini: We just turn on. We want to give a show because we truly enjoy it.
Raj: I f— love giving a show. There’s nothing more that I love than being in a hot outfit with a fan blowing my hair and dancing. It’s like living in a fantasy. There is nothing more thrilling than that. That’s why we’ll stay here till 3 a.m. We’ve been waiting for this [moment] since we were babies. This show is the entire reason we do it.
Jeung: When I was a K-pop trainee and was having a hard time, I would think of being on the stage with other girls and seeing all the fans. I would draw that picture in my head and want to stay there. That passion is what that will get you through.
As a part of their tour set list, Katseye premiered a new unreleased track, named “Internet Girl.”
(Rahul Bhatt)
People have been fans of you before you were officially Katseye, back when you were reality TV contestants. You have grown so much since then, welcoming in new aesthetics, hairstyles and music production. What is your relationship to change like?
Avanzini: You got to get uncomfortable to grow. We’re very versatile, and we’re still figuring it out. Our next EP will probably sound completely different [from “Beautiful Chaos”]. We’re going to keep evolving and I don’t think it’s scary — it’s fun.
Raj: That’s what being an artist is. We can’t just always be the same thing. We’re growing up. I’m always itching for change, no matter what I’m doing.
Skiendiel: The more we grow, the more stories we have to tell. Not all of our music is going to be like “Touch” or “Gnarly.” We’re now having so many new experiences that we’ve gathered from this era that we’re gonna put into our next EP.
Raj: Our personal lives were completely on the back burner for three years before this year. It was completely nonexistent. We didn’t go to parties and we didn’t see anyone. This year, I think we were able to prioritize having life experiences and being 19- and 20-year-olds. Our art is going to be so mundane and robotic if we’re not real people who are going out and trying new things.
Whatever we do next is going to have a lot more soul and offer authentic emotions and experiences. The art we make next will feel more like art rather than just a performance. It’s where we are now as a group. We’ve grown up a bit, and there will be more depth to what we have to say.
