It’s hard to see what Katseye’s intended target audience is with their recent releases. Originating from the survival show ‘Dream Academy’ which saw 20 contestants from all around the world compete for a spot on a global girl group created between the labels HYBE and Geffen Records. Six members were picked to debut in what we now know as Katseye and that consists of Sophia Laforteza, Manon Bannerman, Daniela Avanzini, Megan Skiendiel, Lara Raj and Yoonchae Jeung. The last of which was only 16 when she debuted in the group.
The group’s first releases were centred around more of a pop group focus with bubbly instrumentals which obviously catered towards younger audiences. Their song ‘Touch’ boosted their fame into the stratosphere and cemented them as an actual girl group instead of just a product of a TV show. Katseye took a different direction with their song ‘Gnarly’ which split fans down the middle where some loved the direction the group was going by experimenting with hyper-pop influences.
What was an almost dream scenario for a girl group who were performing at festivals like Lollapalooza and had one USA tour under their belt all came to a holt when on February 20th, 2026, Swiss member Manon Bannerman was announced to be going on a hiatus to focus on “health and wellbeing.” WILD, is the group’s first official EP release without Bannerman despite her being seen in some leaked promo which has sparked rumours that she was kicked from the group.
‘PINKY UP,’ was the first single released for the WILD EP, and its sound is a continuation of that from ‘Gnarly.’ With an EP opener that immediately throws himself into the hyper-pop genre you would expect that the rest of the EP explores that sound right? Spoiler, it doesn’t! The kids must be yearning for the nightclubs because the juvenile lyrical background of living life to the fullest with friends and “I wanna live large, right before it all burns down” seems fitting for the current state of the world right now. Towards the end of ‘PINKY UP,’ Yoonchae and Megan’s verse that they share literally makes no sense whatsoever. It just feels like the songwriters were just throwing phrases together and hoping it sounds like something sophisticated. Just because you bring up Socrates doesn’t make you the second coming of him.
On a more positive note, ‘Animal’ was the last single released before the EP was officially released to the WILD. It feels like a moment to breathe after the heavy EDM bass drop at the end of ‘PINKY UP.’ What I didn’t expect when looking in the song credits is that the song was written by Ed Sheeran, but listening to it closer it’s so obvious with the signature Sheeran humming sounds after the chorus and in the intro. A more traditional pop song, ‘Animal,’ has a slight Motown feel to the instrumental which is complete switch from ‘PINKY UP’ and almost causes whiplash on the first listen of WILD. An earworm of a chorus which compared to the headache that was the previous track makes ‘Animal’ easy listening.
But not for long. Now don’t get me wrong I can appreciate electronic and hyper-pop music, I am not going to say that isn’t “real” music but it just feels very thrown together when it’s in Katseye’s hands. However, it is nice to hear them embracing their global girl group title with Daniela Avanzini speaking in Portuguese for the intro of ‘Hootie Fruitti.’ Which has raised some eyebrows as many things that Katseye does currently. As Avanzini’s roots are in a Cuban and Venezuelan heritage, it is almost like whoever wrote the song, saw that one of their members had Spanish heritage and went “Eh close enough.” Another song on the EP that shows every Katseye song they release recently has a chorus of them repeating the title over and over again in front of an EDM instrumental track.
‘Bel Air’ begins the wind down of the WILD EP. This song was originally written for Charli XCX for her 2013 album SUCKER and went through many different variations before it fell into Katseye’s hands. Lara Raj’s buttery vocals carry this song while the other members hold down the harmonies like running the Navy. While it’s a very repetitive instrumental and the singing of the word “mine” in the chorus can sound very robotic at this point I’m taking all the positives I can get.
Katseye clearly saved the best for last with the final track ‘That Way.’ The lyrics are very suggestive yet tongue in cheek and focus on them asserting themselves as a prize for a man and references specific expectations which makes you wonder yet again “Who is their target audience?” A song that bathes in 2010s inspiration, it sounds very similar to ‘I’m in love with a monster’ by Fifth Harmony. This song is literal proof that their team should give Katseye songs that are less like ‘Gnarly’ and ‘PINKY UP’ and more songs where they can show off their vocal talent not just their dancing.
Before I acknowledge that “the door is that way,” my final thoughts for the EP is that while I love Katseye and have done since their early debut as a group and can understand that things should change in a musician’s career to avoid them being stuck in a box, I’m afraid to say that Katseye have managed to get themselves ‘That Way’ with hard to listen hyper-pop tracks that hold them back from showing what they are capable of. The WILD EP seemed to be lacking in direction, not knowing whether they wanted to focus on the more electronic sound or remain in their pop origins.
Katseye: WILD EP – Released 14 August 2026 (Hybe UMG & Geffen Records)
