The Tamesis
There’s nothing more frustrating than having major technical issues at the beginning of an interview. This is what happened in my first 15 minutes with Katseye. Static electricity, a dying laptop battery, a frozen camera, and more plagued our attempts to video call in two of the most dissimilar places: While the group’s five active members (Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Yoonchae Jeung, and Sophia Laforteza) were quarantined in a remote dance studio in Los Angeles, rehearsing for Friday night’s Coachella music festival, I was at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains.
The girls, dressed in black and white dance outfits, cuddled up on a giant couch as everyone came through loud and clear. “We’ve been working on our show for weeks – today from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. – because we want it to be as perfect as possible,” Avanzini said. “We’ve been working on some new things, so it’s going to be very different.”
Music wasn’t the only part of their Sahara stage debut; last week, the group decided it was time for a makeover, and celebrity hairstylist and Matrix brand ambassador George Papanikolas was on hand to make it happen. (Katseye is also the brand’s global brand ambassador.) The transformation began when Jeung, in her own words, “always wanted to go blonde, and finally convinced our visual creative team” — namely creative director Humberto Leon and visual director João Moraes.
She cited Pinterest as a big source of inspiration for her golden blonde makeover: “I didn’t even know who the people in the inspiration photos were, I just knew I wanted the color to be a little yellow,” she says.
From there, it didn’t take long for others to jump on the bleach bandwagon, each achieving completely different ends. “Their looks have this natural edge because we both have some elements of brunette and some elements of blonde, and Yoonchae is completely blonde,” says Raj. That edge, she slyly adds, is “something we wanted to showcase on the new album.”
Colton Williams/The Matrix
Raj’s millennial-style blonde highlights were inspired by another pop star: Christina Aguilera (Raj calls her “Xtina”). “The 2000s were a time in music and pop culture that we found really inspiring,” she said. “I’ve always loved the song ‘Dirrty’ and have wanted to have these types of streaks in my hair since I was eight years old. It’s still edgy, but I love that I can keep the dark hair on my face and just add a bright little pop of blonde.”
