KATSEYE Announces Second Single Ahead Of Album Release
KATSEYE has skyrocketed to attention in recent months with the release of their Tiktok-viral single “Gnarly”. Consisting of six members from around the world— Lara Raj, Megan Meiyok Skiendel, Manon Bannerman, Daniela Avanzini, Jeong Yoon-Chae, and Sophia LaForteza— KATSEYE is the first-ever global girl group, though it was developed through utilizing training methods and marketing strategies often seen in the K-Pop industry. After debuting in 2024 with the aptly titled “Debut”, the group has finally given fans what they’ve been waiting for— an EP announcement.
On June 12, the official KATSEYE Instagram account, @katseyeworld, announced that the group will be releasing the EP “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS” on June 27. Ahead of the release of the album, the group is set to release the single “Gabriela” on June 20. Though the song itself is not out yet, fans of the group, who are known in the fandom space as “Eyekons”, have already begun speculating on the contents of the music video and the roles that each member will play in the seemingly telenovela-inspired track.
Like all major events in the pop-culture zeitgeist, the announcement has also received its own share of controversy. On Twitter (now X), fans and non-fans express their opinions: “Katseye using latino culture for an ‘aesthetic’ is actually so weird ngl” said one user. The snippets of the song’s instrumentals do sound very much inspired by afrobeats, and the sneak peaks of the music videos further emphasize the telenovela-esque direction that this track will be taking. It’s worth noting, however, that the lead dancer of KATSEYE, Daniela Avanzini, is of Venezuelan and Cuban heritage.
It’s worth noting that the song hasn’t even come out yet, and fans and non-fans alike are speculating on its meaning, impact, and motivations. This is a far cry from the conversations KATSEYE found itself in around the time of their debut, wherein discussions were mainly relegated to the K-Pop space. Now, it seems, the group is ready to debut on a more global level— and without even releasing a new song, they’re already amassing the levels of fanaticism and critique that’s reserved for international stars.