Even with the bumps and bruises, Katseye perseveres. It’s probably because they were made for this: The girl group is the product of a very intentional collaboration between Hybe, the South Korean multinational company behind BTS, and Geffen, an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. Its members were plucked from 120,000 international applicants to be rigorously trained, molded, and manufactured into international superstars through K-pop methodology. In the midst of their training, they learned that they were on an elimination show called The Debut: Dream Academy. Overnight, they went from being a team to being each other’s fiercest competition. Their experience was streamed across YouTube, Weverse (a South Korean platform), and ABEMA (a Japanese platform). The finale, where the members of Katseye were announced, was aired live on November 17, 2023.
The process also resulted in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: Katseye, where, in just eight episodes, viewers got a behind-the-scenes look as 20 girls were whittled down to six through a mixture of fan voting and teacher evaluations. Almost three years later, Katseye’s members don’t reflect so fondly on the process. “There was a lot of darkness,” Lara says. “People, when they watch it, are always like, ‘Oh my God, you guys went through so much,’ and I’m like, ‘You don’t even know a percentage of it.’” The rest of the girls recall injuries, tears, and breakdowns that weren’t shown in the final cut.
Yoonchae, the only member from South Korea, had already started the K-pop training process back home, so most of her time spent working to get into Katseye was solo. “I always went to lessons and practice alone by myself,” she says. “I had to eat by myself every day, so it was very lonely.” In an episode of Dream Academy, a teacher says that Lara needed to work on toning down her personality. In response, the 20-year-old says she became “a completely different person” to have a shot at getting in the group. “I think a lot of the girls went through that same struggle where who they are authentically did not fit into what I think Katseye was originally supposed to be,” Lara says. “I tamed myself because I saw a future and it was worth it, but I think that caused so much soul torment.”
The disconnect between what Katseye was supposed to be and who they’re becoming now might be why this moment in time feels pivotal for them not only as a group, but as individual young women. “If we never cussed in our first livestream or if we weren’t wild, we would not be where we are,” Megan says. “I feel like you need to break rules to make an impact in any aspect. Even in the music industry, people who follow the rules don’t make history, you know what I mean? I feel like to get what we wanted, we had to start speaking up.”
