If you’ve kept up with popular music in the past year or so, chances are you’ve heard of Katseye.
The girl group is a collaboration between powerhouse K-Pop company HYBE (home to groups such as Le Sserafim, Enhypen, and of course, BTS) and US-based record label Geffen. As HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk puts it, the idea behind the project was to combine Western pop music with the training system and marketing of the K-Pop industry. Through the scouting process and subsequent competition show, six rising stars from around the world were chosen for the group in November of 2023.
2025 was a huge year for the girls of Katseye. They released their second EP, Beautiful Chaos, with the *very* experimental lead single Gnarly generating a ton of buzz and earning them their first entry on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The second single from the album, Gabriela, scored them a Grammy nomination in the “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” category, as well as the group as a whole garnering a “Best New Artist” nomination. Additionally, the group was a hot topic during last summer’s Lollapalooza music festival, and they even kicked off and concluded a 16-show North American concert tour to commemorate the aforementioned EP.
Alongside their musical achievements, the group has also made waves through their numerous brand partnerships. Katseye has released collaborations with and endorsed brands such as…
- Glossier
- Pandora
- Jollibee
- Monster High
- Lush
- 5 Gum
- Laneige
- Fendi
- Coach
and, most notably, Gap. The girls were the stars of viral denim advertisement released for the brand’s August Back-To-School campaign. In the ad, Katseye and a wide array of backup dancers sported pieces from the collection and performed a catchy, choreographed routine to Kelis’ 2003 hit, Milkshake. The ad received praise for its showcase of diversity and how it displayed the functionality of the clothes, and the dance even had a moment on the popular app, TikTok.
Though the girls are not technically a K-Pop group, the eyes of a lot of K-Pop fans have been on them since the days of the competition survival show that formed the group, Dream Academy. Like the original concept, their marketing strategy is very adjacent to aspects of the K-Pop industry. They have photocards in their albums, they have a group lightstick, and they’ve even performed on Korean television programs such as Inkigayo, Show! Music Core, and After School Club.
As they skyrocketed in popularity and gained notoriety, the oversaturation problem began to rear its ugly head. As something becomes increasingly popular and more inescapable, like clockwork, reasons to hate on it also suddenly seem to spring up. Now, the point I’m trying to make here is not that there is no valid criticism to be had with the direction the group has been taking. It would be hypocritical of me. I personally did not enjoy their latest single Internet Girl and I also think this strategy of clickbait and hatewatch marketing is doing a disservice to the immense talent each of these girls have. My main gripe is that valid criticisms related to their management and media training have been drowned out by hate campaigns that seem to care more about finally having an excuse to rip these girls to shreds rather than offer any legitimate criticism.
I started noticing this as Katesye’s popularity grew over the summer, but everything really began to boil over with a recent controversy primarily involving member Daniela. In an interview, she stated that her favorite musical artist is rapper Playboi Carti and that he “saved her life.” The issue arose when fans pointed out that the rapper was arrested in 2022 on charges of assaulting his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time. He also has allegations regarding a similar domestic violence situation that occurred in October of 2025.
This raised a conversation on the girls’ media-training and how, in turn, the actions of her favorite artist made Daniela appear. Obviously Daniela didn’t force Playboi Carti to go out and collect those charges, but it does raise concerns about the girls being too open about topics that, through lack of knowledge or research, have the potential to reflect very poorly on them. But, as things usually go, fans who have been waiting for a reason to drag Daniela through the mud pounced on it. Valid criticism and advice very quickly turned into attacks on her appearance and heritage, with a common sentiment being speculations that she was lying about her Venezuelan and Cuban roots because she doesn’t “look Latina enough.” Some users even went as far as to edit an old photo of Daniela onto one of a girl holding a “Trump 2020” flag, which only fueled the fire. It almost felt like these people wanted to overcompensate for Daniela’s words and make her out to be more problematic than what she actually did. The harassment became so widespread that eventually Daniela put out a statement on Weverse in an attempt to clarify things.
Now, whether or not you think the art can be separated from the artist is an entire other can of worms. The issue I’m mainly discussing is the sudden influx of users not only attacking Daniela’s heritage (which has nothing to do with her enjoyment of Playboi Carti), but taking old videos of her acting “goofy” or “cringe” and leaping to conclusions that she’s annoying or that the other girls probably hate her. Mind you these videos raised no concerns at the time, but as soon as Daniela slips up, suddenly it’s abhorrent that she ever acted that way. There seems to be a consensus these days that acting in a cringe-worthy way is some sort of moral failing, even if it has nothing to do with the actual critiques at hand.
Additionally, like a lot of controversies within and related to the K-Pop scene, there raises a question about double standards. As recently as about two weeks ago Woojin, a member of rookie boy group LNGSHOT, stated that his role model was musician Tory Lanez. Shortly after, a couple of photos surfaced of him wearing a “Free Tory” shirt. In 2022, Tory Lanez was convicted and found guilty on three felony charges, including shooting rapper Megan Thee Stallion in the foot. He is currently serving a ten year prison sentence. While Woojin is receiving criticism, the vitriol directed at him is nowhere near as intense or widespread as what Daniela, and many other female idols, have experienced. Essentially, when it comes to critiquing him, fans are more likely to address the actual issues at hand rather than attacking irrelevant factors such as his appearance (also note that this is not me endorsing any kind of threats or harassment towards Woojin).
Daniela isn’t the only member that’s been put on the chopping block. Megan has also been the target of online ridicule, with attacks directed at her dyslexia and acne.
Yes, arrest the nineteen-year-old girl for not having clear skin.
Members Lara and Manon have both been subjected to race-based attacks on their appearance since the days of the survival show, which is obviously ridiculous. These include but are not limited to…
- An anti-fan contacting ICE in an attempt to get Lara and her family deported (Lara and her family are Indian-American citizens, but even if they weren’t, this is still an extreme reaction to take because you don’t like a pop star).
- Manon’s identity and heritage as a Black woman being questioned, as well as some fan’s odd desire to convince others that she’s an “aggressive” mean girl.
- Fans digging up old photos of Manon pre-Popstar Academy with her friends and using them to make all sorts of (majority vulgar) assumptions about her, because a lot of people, ESPECIALLY K-Pop fans, really hate it when a girl has a life.
- Lara being called “Jafar” during a livestream as an attempt to mock her ethnicity.
This is also in addition to widespread fan speculation regarding the both girl’s personal lives, which Lara and Manon have both spoken out about.
Circling back to the mean girl allegations, another aspect of the Katseye hate wave I’ve noticed is how desperately some people want to believe that the girls all secretly hate each other and are plotting on each of their downfalls. I believe these sentiments picked up steam after the release of their Netflix docuseries, Pop Star Academy, in August of 2024. In some behind the scenes training clips, tensions rise between Manon and Sophia during a group discussion regarding Manon’s effort and commitment to the project. In the end, Manon and Sophia worked everything out, Manon improved, and here we are today. I mean, it’s only natural that things aren’t going to be sunshine and rainbows 24/7 when you stick a bunch of young women into a house and pit them against each other with promises of making their dreams come true. But things snowballed out of control. Sophia and the other girls were being accused of bullying Manon. Anti-fans who already didn’t like Manon used the clip to justify their accusations that she was “lazy” and undeserving of being in the group. The entire situation (and, if we’re being honest, the documentary release in general) was a bit of a disaster. I’ve also seen a lot of the rhetoric surrounding Yoonchae, the youngest member, assume that she’s constantly annoyed by the other girls and is counting down the days until they disband so she can join to a “real K-Pop group.” From their interviews she seems to be a bit more introverted, and because of that some people feel the need to project their opinions onto her. Now, it’s not anyone’s business how the Katseye members really feel about each other, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I’m sure that Yoonchae is content where she is and if she had a problem, she’d probably address it the way the other girls have.
Lately, particularly on social media, it feels like the girls can’t do anything without getting a disproportionate amount of backlash. Obviously there are some trolls that don’t actually care that much about Katseye, rather, they just want to bait for engagement. But it’s kind of concerning how many users are becoming susceptible to some talking points that either toe the line of or are outright misogynistic. I worry that Katseye is in jeopardy of slipping into a trap that a lot of female celebrities fall into, in which they get such an insane, vitriolic amount of hate for very trivial things, yet when something happens that is actually worthy of criticism it makes any constructive advice look hateful by association. As I mentioned before, I would be a hypocrite to act like there’s no critiques to be had at all. I’m not saying you have to love Katseye and everything they do, especially when it comes down to how their careers are being handled in the music aspect. But as someone who is the same age and younger as the members of Katseye, I’m saying that being a young woman is already mentally hard enough without having millions of eyes on you. Yes, there is always room for improvement and commentary, but this level of scrutiny is coming off excessive and in an “I was looking for a reason to hate them all along” way. The girls are very active online as well, so it’s likely they can see the negativity. With the hate becoming so widespread and nasty I hope that each of the members have a strong support system behind them, and I hope that Katseye will come back better than ever. Especially in the times we live in now, I think it’s important that there’s a diverse group of women is as influential as they are. They have so much potential and I believe that is the aspect that should be stressed and encouraged, rather than picking them apart for every move they make.