You’re not ready for Katseye’s new era

KATSEYE’s new song “Gnarly” opens with a megaphone pressed right up against your ear. “They could describe everything with one single word,” member Yoonchae says before listing a bunch of things that they consider to be “gnarly”: Boba tea, Teslas, fried chicken, a party in the Hollywood Hills. Megan cuts in to deliver a “Oh my God is this reaaaaal” in an arching drawl drenched in the graveliest vocal fry. You don’t need to see them to visualize them rolling their eyes. Then the beat drops.

There has not been a KATSEYE song like this before. Since forming in 2023 through the HYBE and Geffen Records-created competition show Dream Academy, the members of KATSEYE — Sophia, Daniela, Manon, Lara, Megan, and Yoonchae — have finetuned the formula of what the world wants from a girl group in 2025. Their 2024 debut EP SIS (Soft Is Strong), bolstered by the slinky “Debut” and their bubblegum-hued viral hit “Touch,” delivered craveable girl group pop that was both relatable and aspirational. But now, they’re ready to get weird.

“I don’t think anyone is expecting this,” Manon tells The FADER over a six-way video call from their Los Angeles studio; it’s an April afternoon and they’re in the middle of another “long day” of rehearsals.

It’s true “Gnarly” will ruffle more than a few of their fans’ feathers. Its slangy lyrics are blindingly braggy — “Oh, my God, this song is so lit, congratulations,” goes one line, “Hottie hottie, like a bag of Takis,” goes another — while the beat teeters between metallic clashes and a revving pre-chorus. The word “gnarly” is repeated upwards of 40 times. It’s abrasive, camp, totally chaotic — and it’s not a surprise to see pop disrupter Alice Longyu Gao among the track’s list of credited songwriters.

As the first taste of KATSEYE’s next EP, “Gnarly” pushes the group out of its comfort zone as they embrace an edgier sound and discover new elements in their evolving relationship. Ahead, we caught up with the global girl group to chat about recording “Gnarly,” developing a flow, and why their fans shouldn’t be worried about what’s coming up next.

The FADER: You all have now been working together, living together for three years. What have you learned from having this tight-knit relationship with each other?

DANIELA: For me specifically, growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I didn’t have siblings. I feel like we created this special bond that the six of us have, and we’re pretty much family. I say this all the time, they’re my sisters. But at the same time, they’re my besties, like these girls are going to be there for my wedding-type best friend. We literally spend every day, all day with each other.

MANON: Dani said it beautifully and I can’t wait to attend her wedding. We obviously work together, but we’re genuinely friends, and family, and each other’s support system. I know these girls go through the same exact thing as I am, and they have a deeper understanding of everything than anyone else in my life.

What was the biggest difference between making the SIS EP and this new one?

LARA: I think this EP, from the music to the visuals, the dancing, the styling, it came from us. SIS was still a collaborative process, but for this one, we really were involved in a lot of the aspects of the EP. This whole year, we were exploring and figuring out our identity as a group. We realized we’re very chaotic, we make this big, beautiful, mess when we come together. So the EP is inspired off of that. It’s also darker, it’s edgier, it feels like we’re growing up and maturing.

SOPHIA: We were able to bond so much over the SIS era and find little things that worked for us and things that didn’t. This era is us really trying to sharpen that direction. We’re able to answer questions easier, like, “What do we want to do about this? What do you want to do about that?” We have a flow that’s starting to develop.

What did that flow look like when you all recorded “Gnarly?” It’s a very bold song.

LARA: “Gnarly,” it’s a very unstructured song, it’s kind of random. It’s more about the vibe. When we got into the studio, we had to try a lot of different characters, a lot of different voices to see what worked. For me, I was wearing my shades and fur coat in the studio. I was trying to feel really confident. We had to record a bunch of times [to] really get it perfect because the essence of the song was just about letting go and not thinking too much. [It] was probably one of the most fun songs that we’ve ever gotten to record.

MANON: We all got so into character. Lara let me wear her faux fur coat and we were all wearing glasses. At one point we all sang the song in a British accent and we’re just messing around with it, literally doing the most.

In the intro, you all list these things that are gnarly. Can you guys describe “gnarly”? What else was on that list?

MANON: We have so many, so many words. But you know, gnarly can be a good thing or a bad thing in our minds. It’s kind of up for interpretation.

LARA: I think it’s good to know in the song, especially in the first verse, there are good gnarlies and there are bad gnarlies. They’re just like, yeah, whatever you interpret it as.

In a press release, I read that parts of the new project talk about the friction that arises when six girls are all living in the same house. Is that true and what was it like to write about that?

SOPHIA: Yoonchae and I can kind of talk about this. A lot of us are away from home and having to make that sacrifice and this whole project, even living together with all these different cultures and different upbringings, we were all coming from different worlds fully. And are now one. The whole idea of that is already chaotic.

YOONCHAE: And beautiful.

SOPHIA: I think that’s the cultural collision of all six of us becoming one. And I think that is a huge ongoing theme, not only for this EP, but for us in general, which is why I wanted to pour it in. That whole thing is what’s gnarly about it.

Do you all have similar music tastes?

DANIELA: For the most part we all listen to the same stuff, but I know Megan, Lara and I are super heavy on rap.

LARA: Oh my God, we have been playing the new Playboy Carti album, MUSIC, every single day. Since it came out, every single day when we warm up, we just play the album back to back to back. We made our choreographers start playing it too. When we go on drives, we’ll listen to it. But something that we usually all love to listen to together is Britney Spears and Lady Gaga, like 2000s pop, girlhood, like confident, hot.

SOPHIA: All of us collectively love throwbacks. Last night, me, Lara, Dani, and Yoonchae went out and we were playing music in Dani’s car and there was a Maroon 5 song that played and Yoonchae knew every single word. Lara and I were so gagged. We were like, “Oh my gosh, you know this song so well!” It’s stuff like that [that] connects us.

You have a very close relationship with your fans, EYEKONS, and “Gnarly” is obviously very out there. Are you guys looking forward to hearing the feedback from your fans?

MANON: We’re excited to see what the fans have to say about “Gnarly,” just cause they have no idea what’s coming. The outfits in the music video, the whole styling, everything, I think we’ve listened to our fans too, and I think that’s what they wanted.

LARA: I feel like “Gnarly” is so chaotic, it’s also vulnerable in a way. There’s so much stimulation that comes from the song and it’s really about being young women growing up on the internet. We all grew up with social media, with our phones around us. It’s hard to remember a world where I didn’t have my phone. [The song] ties into that and how confusing that can be and how blurry the digital world and the real world can get and how random it is. It’s going to be such a gag coming from “Touch.”

MANON: How do I say this? The fans, once they hear “Gnarly,” some of them might be in shock, and I just want them to know it’s OK. I love this song, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think anyone is expecting this. So I just want to tell them, just be prepared for what we have coming.