Yet another global girl group derived from a competition reality show has broken industry records. Recently, “The Debut: Dream Academy” winners Katseye have been going viral across multiple social media platforms, collaborating with fashion brands like Gap, Coach and Glossier—and even performing at iconic music festival Lollapalooza.
Originally released piecemeal on YouTube, “The Debut: Dream Academy” was compiled into a series for Netflix, which then led to its sequel series “Popstar Academy”, which followed Katseye after their creation and into their development for stardom. These reality shows were created by K-pop record label and talent agency Hybe and their transatlantic collaborative subsidiary HYBE X Geffen. Here, 20 young female contestants auditioned and competed to become stars. They performed popular Western songs like “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls and “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. The girls also danced to commonly known K-pop songs such as “OMG” by Newjeans and “Antifragil” by Le Sserafim.
The six chosen members who would make up Katseye today were announced on the finale of “The Debut: Dream Academy” in November of 2023. They revealed the winning contestants: Manon Bannerman, Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza and Yoonchae Jeong. The girl group released their song “DEBUT” in June 2024, which was followed by their song “Touch”. Later that year, they released their first extended play EP “Soft is Strong (SIS)” and premiered their fandom name: EYEKONS.
“I first watched ‘Dream Academy’ and was excited about the new group when it was officially revealed,” Hanan Mohamoud (11) said. “I supported them through their first single ‘Debut’, but really started to stan them more when ‘Touch’ was released.”
At Lollapalooza in Chicago this past summer, the girl group performed their newest album, “Beautiful Chaos”, and a few of their most popular songs from their debut. Katseye’s popularity has skyrocketed in the intervening months, and they even broke the long-running fest’s record for the largest daytime audience, reaching about 85,0000 attendees. People were ecstatic to see that such a newly released group of young women could break a record like that.
And it didn’t stop there. Their most recent record they broke was their ad for clothing brand Gap, reaching over 576 million views and becoming the most liked and shared video on TikTok. Dancing to the 2003 hit “Milkshake” by Kelis and featuring the members in the brand’s clothing, it became so popular on social media that many people created their own versions, even going to the store itself to dance along to the video.
“I’m a big K-pop stan and [have] been an EYEKON since Katseye’s debut. [They are] such an inspiring group and made so much progress in the little time since their debut,” Ian Zeimet (10) said. “When they came to [the] Mall of America, I had so many interactions with the members [that] it’s a memory that I will have for a long time”.
Katseye has collaborated with many other brands since, becoming ambassadors for Fendi and Coach, just to name a couple in addition to popular food brands like Jollibee and 5Gum.
Now, it seems like all that’s left besides a proper global tour is perhaps a collaboration with an American pop star like Billie Eilish or Ariana Grande, both of which have been teased online (though neither confirmed). As Katseye continues to grow, fans hope that their fame does too. Inspiring others, making amazing music and becoming the pop stars they trained for.
