Katseye made a huge wave with their multicultural girl group. Born out of the hit survival show Dream Academy, the group gave young fans across the globe a chance to finally see themselves represented in mainstream media. But behind all the glitz and glamor lies a ton of controversies and a shrinking lineup.Â
In February 2026, Hybe and Geffen (the agencies overseeing Katseye) broke news that a member, Manon, would be on hiatus due to mental health issues. While fans were devastated, few were truly surprised given the group’s relentlessly grueling schedule. What did shock the fandom was how quickly Manon got axed from the group. They began removing her from promotions, music videos, and brand collabs. As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, another Katseye member, Sophia, went on hiatus on August 7th for the same reasons. This news broke fans as it now brought the girl group’s member count from 6 to 4 in the matter of months.
With all this attention being brought onto the girl group, multiple old criticisms began to surface their way back into the media. One of the most prevalent critiques relates back to the group’s costuming and concept direction. Katseye’s audiences are full of children and teenagers, so having overly revealing outfits and increasingly adult choreography seems extremely out of place. Furthermore, with Katseye’s recent music videos all being collabs and promotions for brands, there is no longer that same girl group we fell in love with, and that’s not even talking about the toxic fanbase. Katseye’s fanbase, with how diverse it is, created a hostile environment for the girls, with beauty standards taking effect. This resulted in microaggressions toward the members, especially Lara and Manon, without any means of protection from their label. With all of these issues, it is no wonder that 2 out of the 6 members went on hiatus for mental health issues.
Personally, I enjoy the members of Katseye and their personalities, but I’m not on board with their weird dynamic and awkward choreography. While I agree that Katseye does get some undeserved hate, some are valid critiques. But all the critiques are ending up with more members going on hiatus, leaving us, the fans, with one question: “How long can Katseye keep surviving?” Whether you like it or not, Katseye’s concept is already set in stone, and unless Hybe and Geffen make drastic changes, Katseye may not linger for another 5 years.