There’s a startling sense of self-assuredness that sits about the girls of Katseye. One that might come as an initial surprise to anyone who’s watched Netflix’s Pop Star Academy, the docuseries that elucidates the painstaking intricacies behind the creation of the fast-rising global girl group responsible for viral hits like ‘Touch’ and ‘Debut’. Since their debut in June, Lara, Sophia, Megan, Daniela, Manon and Yoonchae have released their first EP Soft Is Strong, and they’re on a one way ticket to pop stardom, hard-earned after years of rigorous training under the industry’s new gold standard: the K-pop formula.
Even within the K-pop circuit, they’ve managed to gain the valuable guidance of the top brass. To piece Katseye together, Geffen Records worked together with Hybe, the South Korean entertainment giant that is behind K-pop behemoth BTS. The result was Dream Academy, a survival show that put twenty hopeful artists through gruelling training hours and an incessant series of assessments, all dedicated to choosing the final six girls who could debut as Katseye. Yet anyone who’s privy to the inner workings of a K-pop survival show or training system will know that the pathway is hardly a bed of roses. “If you look at us dancing together, a lot of people always talk about how we’re always in sync. And that’s the main thing; we drill each move until everyone’s got it. It’s a lot of hours, but it’s paid off,” says Manon.
And whilst it may take some time for the world to truly figure them out, there’s already a rainbow of technicolour starting to materialise around their musical future. Be it the fact that they’re each bringing their own part of the world to the six, or just the sheer confidence that could only have been distilled from endless hours of hard work, Katseye stands as a harbinger of a promising way forward for young aspiring girls; reconfiguring the definition for what it means to be seen—and we mean properly seen—in an industry that still continues to champion a certain archetype.
There’s no question that the group’s global identity lies as their collective strength. Manon is Swiss-Italian-Ghanian; Lara’s an American-born Indian; Yoonchae is Korean; Daniela’s American and of Venezuelan-Cuban descent; Megan is Chinese-Singaporean-American; and Sophia’s from the Philippines. In some capacity, the girls recognise this as their enduring impact too. “All of us have a lot of pride about where we come from, and we just want to touch every part of the world through our music,” offers Sophia. And they’ve each sacrificed so much to get where they are. Between auditions, training under Dream Academy’s competitive regime, and moving halfway across the globe for even the smallest chance at debuting on a global stage, the stakes were up against them. But they’ve emerged all the more stronger for it.
“I just want to tell my 15-year-old self how proud I am of her. Of who she’s become and how much she’s grown. Because it wasn’t easy; training to be a pop star whilst going through the struggles of teenage life,” Megan tentatively tells me over Zoom as the rest readily agree with her. There may be a whole decade between us, but I tell this troupe of young, wide-eyed girls that I can only really imagine it. For a group that’s freshly emerged out of a regime with such aplomb, there’s nothing like hearing about the musical icons that inspire them, debuting with their first EP and what Katseye have learned about themselves through Dream Academy.
Congratulations on your debut. It’s been a whirlwind few months, how has everything been?
Amazing, it’s been so good. Everything is so crazy right now, because ‘Touch’ is really taking off, and we’re just super, super excited.
Could you share more about Soft is Strong and your personal favourite songs from the EP?
Lara: Soft is Strong is basically what the title is. It’s talking about how being vulnerable and being soft takes a lot of strength. I feel like I have a different personal favourite every day, but today it’s definitely ‘Touch’, or ‘I’m Pretty’.
Daniela: I think ‘Touch’ is actually all of our favourites, but I also really love ‘My Way’ because I personally resonate with it because it tells all of our stories and is so emotional.
Megan: Yeah, exactly what Dani said. I love ‘Touch’, but I think my overall favourite that I just love is ‘My Way’ just because it has all of our stories combined beautifully together and it’s so fun.
You guys are the epitome of a global girl group. How do you think this sets you apart from the rest of the industry?
Sophia: I think the best part about about us being a global girl group is that we are global, We grew up seeing such different parts of the world, but music and dance are the things we all have a burning passion for. All of us have a lot of pride about where we come from, and getting to touch every part of the world through our music is probably the coolest thing that we get to do.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Lara: For me, it’s probably M.I.A. She’s always been my biggest inspiration. Rihanna and Pharrell too.
Sophia: It’s Ariana Grande for me. She taught me how to sing, and she does it all, whether it’s musical theatre or pop.
Yoonchae: It’s Britney Spears. She was how I was introduced to global pop music.
Manon: There’s this German artist called Cro, who’s really experimental with his music and he’s probably the reason why I got into songwriting.
Megan: My overall inspiration for life is Britney Spears, similar to Yoonchae. Her performances really captivated me ever since I was young and I just love that she can be so raw with her performance on stage. She’s a natural born performer. Another person that I look up to is Lady Gaga, because she’s so unapologetically herself, and she’s such an icon.
Daniela: I agree with her. I think they’re amazing. I also really love Christina Aguilera and Ariana Grande too. I’ve been listening ever since I was a little girl, and I’ve also been getting into Rosalía recently. She sings in Spanish, and I eventually want to be able to do that as well.
You just started living together. How has it been like adjusting to your new life under the same roof?
Daniela: It’s so fun. Sometimes it’s chaotic, but it’s so loud. We’re always screaming and singing. Sophia is always downstairs doing karaoke. We’ve been going to each other’s rooms and borrowing each other’s stuff and talking to each other for hours and hours. We cook for each other, and obviously there’s things that we had to initially work through like who does the laundry and what happens if you don’t do your dishes, but we love living with each other. There’s definitely some cultural differences too, but we’re all learning and I absolutely love it. They are the sisters I never had.
Megan, you’re of Singaporean descent. Have you been to Singapore and what do you remember from your time here?
I’ve been to Singapore so much, especially when I was a kid. My mom is Singaporean, so I have family there. I used to go all the time every other summer, and I remember going to all these food markets with my mom where I would eat laksa or Hainanese chicken rice. I haven’t been back since I’ve been in this programme but I miss it and I’m super, super excited to go back one day.
Now that you girls have emerged on the other side and have debuted, what have you learned about yourselves and what would you want to work on?
Daniela: For me personally, and I know that other girls relate to this too, is that I want to be less of a perfectionist and not be so hard on myself. It’s super tough because I’m always nitpicking on every little thing I do wrong, and it got really intense during Dream Academy. I’ve gotten a lot better though. We are human. We’re not perfect. We are going to mess up. And yeah, I think I’ve learned that it’s okay to not be so hard on myself and be proud of what I’m doing.
Yoonchae: I think during Dream Academy, I wasn’t the most confident about myself. I could feel my self-esteem being dampened, and so I worked on that and emerged more confident and less shy.
Lara: I always drown my emotions in my work and cover it all up by just working. But I feel like I’m learning that sometimes it’s just okay to slow down and accept that I feel a certain way rather than push it away.
Sophia: I’m actually an overthinker, so one of the biggest lessons I learned in training is accepting that there are many different ways any given situation can go. The programme helped me draw my focus back and kind of stay grounded, even though there’s this anxious little voice in my head telling me otherwise. It’s no longer as loud as it used to be and I think learning to control that really switched me up as a performer and as an artist.
Megan: Something that I learned about myself is that I was always such a people pleaser, but it’s impossible. You can’t bend over backwards to please everyone in the room. I used to exhaust myself out, both physically and mentally, in trying to be the best version of what I thought people wanted from me. But I soon realised that it was not going to work, and it made me insane. I soon realised that dancing, singing and performing or being in a global girl group in general is something I should be doing for myself, and not others. So even with criticism, I can take it with a grain of salt, process it, but I should try not to let that affect me mentally, and just keep moving on and getting better.
Manon: Yeah, like Megan, I think I used to let what people said about me affect me a lot. But in this industry, you need to learn to not take everything to heart and, take everything with a grain of salt, as Megan said, because otherwise it’s just going to be dark. So just focus on the positive things.
Finally, what is something you want to say to your fans?
We love you, and we’re super excited to meet our Eyecons (Katseye’s fandom) in Asia, from Korea to Tokyo and Manila. Thank you for waiting for us.
