Do you remember the song “Flex” by Fifth Harmony? Or “Wings” by Little Mix? These songs may have been cult classics during the early 2010s, but what happened to the Western girl groups responsible for these hits? Since Fifth Harmony’s 2018 separation, the Western world has been in a severe girl group drought. That is, until summer 2024, when the world finally met KATSEYE.
This August, Netflix released a docuseries following the formation of the new global girl group, KATSEYE. Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE was entertaining, emotional, and dramatic (to say the least).
This pop star project started as a dream. HYBE and Geffen Records (two major entertainment companies responsible for the artists BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, and Camila Cabello) sought to make a global girl group using the K-pop (Korean pop music) training and development methodology. With only six spots in this group and 140,000 applications, the team representing both labels took almost two years to finalize group members and present them to the world.
training & development
The training camp began in 2022 with 20 girls from around the world. Although they had a wide range of abilities, they all had one thing in common: star quality. The rigorous training camp consisted of 12-hour days where the girls were tested in 5 major categories: Dance, Vocals, Visual Performance, Star Quality, and Attitude.
Western music artists typically excel in one category, whereas the K-pop industry is infamous for its training in every discipline. Trainees will spend years in training and development programs in hopes of being scouted by a major entertainment company, which will place them in a group to debut. Their days are often long and strenuous with no guarantee of a spot in a group. For almost two years, girls were added and dropped from the program without notice. As the girls in the program grew closer, the project directors narrowed down the number of trainees and increased the competition for one of the six spots in the final lineup.
dream academy
When the program began, the team facilitating this project knew something the girls did not: the girls would compete in a public survival show at the end of the training and development program. A survival show is a relatively familiar concept to Western audiences. America has The Voice, America’s Got Talent, and The Masked Singer. On these programs, competitors are judged separately from other acts. On Korean survival shows, trainees compete against each other while working together in team missions for a spot in a group that will debut shortly after the show’s conclusion.
Fans of these shows are encouraged to follow along the trainee’s journey to debut by engaging in fan votes that directly impact which members are chosen in the group. Entertainment companies will produce a survival show in hopes that the members garner fans before the group’s official musical debut.
Pop Star Academy’s version of this survival-style program was The Debut: Dream Academy, where 20 girls who endured the training and development program thus far were introduced. During the 12-week program, the trainees competed in 3 separate missions, with member eliminations after each one. The girls’ elimination depended on fan voting via the Weverse app and the Dream Academy judges. The live finale took place on Nov. 17, 2023, when the six confirmed members were finally announced. KATSEYE made their official debut six months later, on June 28, 2024, with the single “Debut.”
members
KATSEYE’s members are Sophia Laforteza (21, Philippines), Manon Bannerman (22, Switzerland), Daniela Avanzini (20, America), Lara Rajagopalan (18, America), Megan Skiendiel (18, America), and Jeong Yoonchae (16, South Korea). The group’s fanbase has fittingly been dubbed “EYEKONS.”
keeping up with katseye
As of October 2024, KATSEYE has released two singles, “Debut” and “Touch,” included on their new EP SIS (Soft Is Strong). Check out all that KATSEYE brings to the table by viewing their live performances on YouTube. KATSEYE’s growing fan base and I are excited to see what this new global girl group will bring to the table in years to come. Listen to KATSEYE’s full discography on Spotify!