Biased about Katseye: An Awarded Climb to the Top
- Malishka Shaikh-Kannamwar
- 49 minutes ago
- 7 min read
“Everyone’s watching Katseye” as Vogue put it, and I’m no exception. Assuming they were a K-Pop group, I expected a typically saccharine, sanitised image, not realising instead that they are a global girl group with a goal of “world domination,” as their i-D feature proclaimed. These are just two of the multitude of big-time publishers that have covered Katseye’s meteoric rise to the top. Seven award nominations and one win, including two new Grammy nominations, solidify this claim to critical acclaim. They’re not only formally successful, but their faces are everywhere. They’ve got brand deals with the likes of Glossier, Monster High and, most famously, Gap, plastering billboards and storefronts. Apart from this, they performed at Lollapalooza this year, are fresh off their first tour right now, and are even on the lineup for Coachella next year despite only having two EP’s out. All this fame and cultural influence, and just one year into their career. This begs the question: how?
Well, to start, they were created to be signed to HYBE x Geffen, which are two of the biggest labels in the world (Geffen being under Interscope). The group’s "deservingness" of this position was tested in the documentary The Debut: Dream Academy, where they competed and won against 20 contests (who were selected from the initial 120,000 entries). During their time on the reality show, they underwent rigorous physical and vocal training in order to become the most bonafide performers on the other side of the process. The show has been criticised for being exploitative, since the participants were mostly underage girls, who were put through extremely demanding circumstances to prove their star quality. The pop industry is no longer just looking for good musicians; labels are looking for all-captivating stars, and Katseye, consisting of Sophia (22), Manon (23), Lara (20), Megan (19), Daniela (21) and Yoonchae (18), is definitely star-studded. I have endlessly doomscrolled through videos of them performing which has made me believe in this concept of magical star quality. As someone who has long awaited such proud racial diversity in popular culture, I was also impressed by the group’s boldness and openness about the very same – although it can be argued that they fall prey to accessorising their brand with diversity and feeding into commercialised tokenism. Regardless, I am charmed by their stage presence: dazzling facial expressions, explosive routines, funky outfits and exceptional visuals — I can’t take my eyes off them.
They want to grab your attention and keep you hooked, and they do this successfully with their social media presence, with the official Katseye accounts on both Instagram and TikTok posting daily. Whether it’s videos of the members doing the official dances, or just them referencing memes and trending TikTok sounds, they are pinning down their niche: chronically online teens. Weverse – a specialised platform traditionally for K-Pop fandoms – is also used to interact with fans, and do lives which offer a more casual view into the girls’ lives. Their command over this promotional material is quite direct, almost like it has been chemically devised to display their individual personalities, and expand beyond the personas they build briefly during live shows and interviews. Material like this perfectly propagates their audience’s parasocialism towards them, as they feel like they are best friends with their favourite pop stars who also happen to be the same age as them. I would argue that this parasocialism – the initial spark for which was lit during the documentary – is the reason for their success, in combination with the monetary support from the labels behind them. The overwhelming amount of Katseye content across Youtube, TikTok and Instagram means they are inescapable – I have inadvertently learned all the members, their names, ethnicities, “roles” in the group, their sense of humour and personal style; after which I am goaded to stalk their personal Instagram accounts, trying to farm a connection deeper and hopefully more detached from their commercialised image.
Katseye’s charm has led their career to become almost bulletproof. Any time a new release has been initially criticised by their audiences, they quickly bounce back by carving a niche for those who enjoy that sound. This stems from an irritating fact about their discography, which is also my main issue with Katseye: they do not have a signature sound. They have six perfectly capable and creative individuals (as evidenced through their individual covers and unreleased music), yet their music as Katseye feels contrived, plastic and manufactured. You don't have to exist within a certain niche to enjoy Katseye, but you have to be convinced by Katseye — and they are very convincing — to enjoy their music. People didn’t like ‘Gnarly’ until it was understood as a hyperpop-inspired, meta commentary on meme culture. Their newest, unreleased song ‘Internet Girl,’ has initially been met with lukewarm response until audiences try their best to see it as a campy, Nickelodean-esque, candied pop song about internet fame. And sure, these songs can arguably be clever and creative, but I can’t help but doubt their sincerity when they are simultaneously producing music like ‘Debut’ (a heavily 808-based, lyrically generic “Girl Power” song), ‘M.I.A’ (a sonically alternative take on a ‘bad girl’ anthem) and ‘Touch’ (a classically sweet K-Pop tune). Some music from their first EP suffers from the same issue. It is technically good, but is that enough? Is that believable, inspired, or even actually entertaining? Or are they just songs to warrant the existence of this group?
In every interview, Katseye members reiterate their desire to create more authentic music, but this falls flat when you see them release music without any uniform integrity. Some of the members’ favourite artists include Playboi Carti, Erykah Badu and Beyonce, but no Katseye song, no matter how “versatile”, is able to emulate these influences. Still, no one has cited SOPHIE or Charli XCX as musical inspirations, even though ‘Gnarly’ clearly pays sonic homage. In fact, almost all the music on their new EP is palatable because of its proximity to pre-established genres like Latin Pop with ‘Gabriela’ and the ode to retro pop aesthetic with ‘Gameboy’, instead of any creative appeal exclusive to Katseye. The group has mentioned how eager they are to write their own music, since the music they currently put out is either bought or written for them. In most performances, it feels like just that: a performance. Their ability to be exceptional performers is almost exploited as their labels make sure they deliver the best possible shows with the most subpar songs. But what happens when the charisma wears off or their bodies give out? What happens if Katseye loses public favour? There will be cracks in their PR-crafted personas that will surely compromise audiences’ favourism for them, which brings me to my point: Katseye isn’t a group about individual artistry, so it shouldn’t be questioned for the same either. The group seems like a marketable project crafted by HYBE x Geffen instead of a girl band. HYBE x Geffen have funded fan events, music videos, and even brand deals for this group. It is a bank for their money, and Katseye is to guarantee profit with interest, which they, so far, have been successful in doing.
I don’t want to say that the labels don’t care about music at all, but the more I think about this group, I am increasingly reminded of the movie Josie and the Pussycats (2001). This movie follows a girl band as they get signed to a big label, and eventually, how their creative integrity, and even friendship, is compromised in pursuit of a ‘successful’ career. It has explicit references to subliminal messaging and how teenage girls are often targeted by girl groups as the most vulnerable demographic for consumerism. The band in the movie is used as a medium of virtue signalling for a money-hungry corporation as they not-so-passively indoctrinate the youth into liking, disliking and pedestalising certain values and products over others. It’s a bit on the nose, but genius if you watch the movie, and uncannily represents what I’m discussing. Katseye is bigger than their discography – they are a girl group more than a band, who are sustained on their visual image as well as cultural branding. There is a conversation to be had about pretty privilege also playing a part in sustaining their success, and what that signals to younger audiences, but that has more to do with society at large than their label or them.
They have survived several media controversies, like using a soundbite from porn in “Gnarly" (while having a minor perform to it), being accused of overly sexualising their young members, and having promoted AI. I wonder if this armour is built by parasocialism, or if the labels have enough money to bulletproof these girls from every angle. This also raises the question of what a label’s responsibilities actually are. HYBE has been praised for things like “allowing” members to take an off day when they are unwell, or “protecting” their youngest member by not giving her outfits as revealing as her older counterparts; but is this not the bare minimum? Getting deeper into K-Pop industry culture, I realised that this is not in fact the bare minimum, since the industry is infamous for exploiting its idols. Out of all their current artists, Katseye seems to be the group awarded the most “freedom” by HYBE. This is probably because of their global girl group image which demands more of a candid construction, rather than one of a typical K-Pop idol, which is likely why we see them openly swear and talk about being Queer.
As they balance Western and Korean stardom models well, it is no wonder that they have been able to catch everyone’s attention the way they have. I cannot help wondering who gets the shortest end of the stick, though. Are we exploiting these young girls? Or is the label exploiting our attention? What is exploitation when we have seen these girls fight (and train) tooth and nail to make it into this career? What does this mean for the future of the music industry? But most importantly: is their music even good enough to warrant all this damage?
Edited by Gia Dei, Co-Music Editor.
