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Katseye
Katseye (pronounced "cats eye", stylized in all caps) is a girl group based in Los Angeles. The group is composed of six members: Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia, and Yoonchae. With members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States, Katseye is often described as a "global girl group".
The group was formed through the 2023 reality competition series Dream Academy, a collaboration between Hybe and Geffen Records. The group's formation process was later chronicled in the Netflix docuseries Popstar Academy: Katseye, which recounted the audition process, intensive training, and formation of the group. Katseye debuted in June 2024 with the single "Debut", followed by their breakthrough single, "Touch". They released their first extended play (EP), SIS (Soft Is Strong), later that year. In April 2025, they released "Gnarly" which served as the lead single for their second EP, Beautiful Chaos (2025). Despite receiving mixed reactions on release, the single garnered significant attention and earned the group their first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. Beautiful Chaos was released on June 27, 2025, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, their highest-charting release to date. The EP's second single "Gabriela" peaked within the top 40 of the Hot 100 and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, with the group also being nominated for Best New Artist.
Katseye is recognized for their distinctive fashion identity, prominently drawing influence from Y2K fashion. Their growing brand image has led to multiple endorsements and campaigns tying into the style, including a campaign with Fendi's Baguette bag and Gap's low-rise denim. Katseye has also worked with British soap company Lush, American fashion house Coach, and Philippine fast food chain Jollibee. Humberto Leon acts as the group's creative director, taking inspiration from broad influences and utilizing the group's diverse backgrounds.
In an interview with InStyle, group member Sophia explained that the name Katseye is derived from the gemstone chrysoberyl, specifically the cymophane variety, which is commonly known as "cat's eye". She explained that the gemstone's distinctive optical effect, where light appears to shift and reflect differently when viewed from various angles, corresponds to the composition of the group's members' diverse personalities, talents, and backgrounds. The group was initially planned to be named "Catseye," but during an interview with LA radio station KIIS-FM, it was revealed that Lara suggested altering the spelling to "Katseye," which the members felt gave the name a more distinctive and stylized appearance. Katseye's logo and branding were designed by Seoul-based graphic design studio Husky Fox, incorporating elements of the gem stone alongside the unity of the six members' unique backgrounds.
Several members of Katseye had experience in professional dance, television, and the entertainment industry before debuting with the group. Sophia, born to Filipino musical theater actress Carla Guevara Laforteza, began singing at age three, and later made a television appearance on the game show Family Feud Philippines as a contestant in 2022. Atlanta-born Daniela began competitive dancesport at age three, and notably appeared on America's Got Talent season 8 in 2013, and became a Top 10 finalist on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation in 2016. Born and raised in Honolulu, Megan was also trained in professional dance from a young age. Lara, under the stage name Lara Raj, began acting and singing at an early age, featuring in a campaign video for Michelle Obama's Global Girls Alliance, an initiative for the Obama Foundation in 2018. Swiss-born Manon gained popularity through short-form video content on TikTok and Instagram, where she posted fashion and lifestyle clips beginning in 2021. She also pursued modeling work in Switzerland. Yoonchae, the group's youngest member and a native of South Korea, became a K-pop trainee in 2020 before joining the lineup of Dream Academy.
Formal preparations for the group began in November 2021, when Hybe and Geffen Records launched a worldwide audition process for a girl group with "contestants from around the world", as part of the joint venture Hybe x Geffen Records. With auditions held across South Korea, the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom in 2022, the partnership aimed to create a group that would "transcend national, cultural, and artistic boundaries". In an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily, Hybe founder Bang Si-hyuk expressed his intentions to promote the resultant group to the American market. From more than 120,000 applicants, twenty contestants were selected to participate in the reality competition series The Debut: Dream Academy, which determined the final lineup through a series of performance-based missions. Prior to the series premiere, the contestants were trained for a year in Los Angeles, California, through methods prevalent in the Korean idol trainee system. Premiering on August 19, 2023, the competition concluded on November 18, with Sophia Laforteza, Lara Rajagopalan, Yoonchae Jeung, Megan Skiendiel, Daniela Avanzini, and Manon Bannerman selected as the six members of Katseye.
Katseye's formation and preparation for their debut EP were serialized in the documentary Pop Star Academy: Katseye, which premiered on August 21, 2024. Distributed by Netflix, the documentary was directed by Nadia Hallgren.
In June 2024, Hybe confirmed that the release of the group's first EP was set for August that year. For the EP, Katseye collaborated with several songwriters and producers, including Ryan Tedder and Omer Fedi. Two singles preceded its release. The first single, "Debut", was released on June 28, with a music video filmed in Medellín, Colombia, directed by Gregory Ohrel. The single is an upbeat pop track that explores themes of confidence and sisterhood in reference to the members' bond as a group. It was met with a lukewarm response commercially, with the music video for the single receiving 2.33 million views in three days, underperforming the viewership of music releases of Korean acts in a similar timeframe. The second single, "Touch", was released on July 26. The melodic drum and bass R&B track discusses the "complexity of love" and deviates from the sound of "Debut", emphasizing the members' vocals. The single ranked at number 22 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and entered the Billboard Philippines Hot 100 chart. "Touch" attained further success after its choreography went viral as a dance challenge on the video-sharing platform TikTok in September 2024.
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Katseye
Katseye (pronounced "cats eye", stylized in all caps) is a girl group based in Los Angeles. The group is composed of six members: Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia, and Yoonchae. With members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States, Katseye is often described as a "global girl group".
The group was formed through the 2023 reality competition series Dream Academy, a collaboration between Hybe and Geffen Records. The group's formation process was later chronicled in the Netflix docuseries Popstar Academy: Katseye, which recounted the audition process, intensive training, and formation of the group. Katseye debuted in June 2024 with the single "Debut", followed by their breakthrough single, "Touch". They released their first extended play (EP), SIS (Soft Is Strong), later that year. In April 2025, they released "Gnarly" which served as the lead single for their second EP, Beautiful Chaos (2025). Despite receiving mixed reactions on release, the single garnered significant attention and earned the group their first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. Beautiful Chaos was released on June 27, 2025, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, their highest-charting release to date. The EP's second single "Gabriela" peaked within the top 40 of the Hot 100 and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, with the group also being nominated for Best New Artist.
Katseye is recognized for their distinctive fashion identity, prominently drawing influence from Y2K fashion. Their growing brand image has led to multiple endorsements and campaigns tying into the style, including a campaign with Fendi's Baguette bag and Gap's low-rise denim. Katseye has also worked with British soap company Lush, American fashion house Coach, and Philippine fast food chain Jollibee. Humberto Leon acts as the group's creative director, taking inspiration from broad influences and utilizing the group's diverse backgrounds.
In an interview with InStyle, group member Sophia explained that the name Katseye is derived from the gemstone chrysoberyl, specifically the cymophane variety, which is commonly known as "cat's eye". She explained that the gemstone's distinctive optical effect, where light appears to shift and reflect differently when viewed from various angles, corresponds to the composition of the group's members' diverse personalities, talents, and backgrounds. The group was initially planned to be named "Catseye," but during an interview with LA radio station KIIS-FM, it was revealed that Lara suggested altering the spelling to "Katseye," which the members felt gave the name a more distinctive and stylized appearance. Katseye's logo and branding were designed by Seoul-based graphic design studio Husky Fox, incorporating elements of the gem stone alongside the unity of the six members' unique backgrounds.
Several members of Katseye had experience in professional dance, television, and the entertainment industry before debuting with the group. Sophia, born to Filipino musical theater actress Carla Guevara Laforteza, began singing at age three, and later made a television appearance on the game show Family Feud Philippines as a contestant in 2022. Atlanta-born Daniela began competitive dancesport at age three, and notably appeared on America's Got Talent season 8 in 2013, and became a Top 10 finalist on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation in 2016. Born and raised in Honolulu, Megan was also trained in professional dance from a young age. Lara, under the stage name Lara Raj, began acting and singing at an early age, featuring in a campaign video for Michelle Obama's Global Girls Alliance, an initiative for the Obama Foundation in 2018. Swiss-born Manon gained popularity through short-form video content on TikTok and Instagram, where she posted fashion and lifestyle clips beginning in 2021. She also pursued modeling work in Switzerland. Yoonchae, the group's youngest member and a native of South Korea, became a K-pop trainee in 2020 before joining the lineup of Dream Academy.
Formal preparations for the group began in November 2021, when Hybe and Geffen Records launched a worldwide audition process for a girl group with "contestants from around the world", as part of the joint venture Hybe x Geffen Records. With auditions held across South Korea, the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom in 2022, the partnership aimed to create a group that would "transcend national, cultural, and artistic boundaries". In an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily, Hybe founder Bang Si-hyuk expressed his intentions to promote the resultant group to the American market. From more than 120,000 applicants, twenty contestants were selected to participate in the reality competition series The Debut: Dream Academy, which determined the final lineup through a series of performance-based missions. Prior to the series premiere, the contestants were trained for a year in Los Angeles, California, through methods prevalent in the Korean idol trainee system. Premiering on August 19, 2023, the competition concluded on November 18, with Sophia Laforteza, Lara Rajagopalan, Yoonchae Jeung, Megan Skiendiel, Daniela Avanzini, and Manon Bannerman selected as the six members of Katseye.
Katseye's formation and preparation for their debut EP were serialized in the documentary Pop Star Academy: Katseye, which premiered on August 21, 2024. Distributed by Netflix, the documentary was directed by Nadia Hallgren.
In June 2024, Hybe confirmed that the release of the group's first EP was set for August that year. For the EP, Katseye collaborated with several songwriters and producers, including Ryan Tedder and Omer Fedi. Two singles preceded its release. The first single, "Debut", was released on June 28, with a music video filmed in Medellín, Colombia, directed by Gregory Ohrel. The single is an upbeat pop track that explores themes of confidence and sisterhood in reference to the members' bond as a group. It was met with a lukewarm response commercially, with the music video for the single receiving 2.33 million views in three days, underperforming the viewership of music releases of Korean acts in a similar timeframe. The second single, "Touch", was released on July 26. The melodic drum and bass R&B track discusses the "complexity of love" and deviates from the sound of "Debut", emphasizing the members' vocals. The single ranked at number 22 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and entered the Billboard Philippines Hot 100 chart. "Touch" attained further success after its choreography went viral as a dance challenge on the video-sharing platform TikTok in September 2024.