The Tamesis
When I spoke with Katseye via Zoom a few days after the Palladium show, they were in Mexico City, their final stop beautiful chaos In about a month, the tour covered 14 cities in North America. So far, all the wear and tear is a bit severe. Avancini had hoped to see “Bad Bunny” play that night at GNP Seguros, but she was battling a virus that had knocked out Skindill, who was on bed rest.
Of course, the pop star’s loss isn’t just physical; For every person who idolizes Aiken, there’s a vicious, faceless critic who ranks them based on their talent or appearance. (In February, when Hybe and Geffen Records announced that Bannerman would be taking a “temporary hiatus” from the band to “focus on her health and well-being,” fans alternately blamed burnout and Internet trolls.) “We really try to support each other,” LaForteza said. “If any of us were going through anything, we would lock the six of us in the bathroom until we felt better.” In between their busy daily schedule of rehearsals, public appearances and performances, they also dutifully attended therapy together.
“We’ve been together every day for the past two years,” Avantzini added. “We’re learning about different cultures and ways of working, but it’s the things we love that bring us together, like our shared love of singing, dancing and performing.”
Their racial and cultural diversity is no small thing: Avanzini grew up in Atlanta to Cuban and Venezuelan parents; Raj grew up in New York, the daughter of Tamil immigrants. Skiendiel is a Chinese-Singaporean American from Honolulu; Jeung is from Seoul; Bannerman is a Swiss-Ghanaian; and LaForteza grew up in Manila. While many K-pop groups prioritize some kind of consistency, Katseye offers a vision of pop globalism.
This is a point of pride for its members. Unlike traditional K-pop, Katseye sing primarily in English, but for “Gabriela,” the second single from their 2025 EP, beautiful chaos—Avanzini contributed a poem in Spanish. (The song earned the group one of two Grammy nominations this year, for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best New Artist.) Other girls were keen to make the same version. “Seeing Dani represent her culture and then seeing how explosive it has been is a good sign that global factors are at work in our music,” Raj said. “We all want to incorporate our culture into our songs. The 2000s saw a lot of Bollywood use from Timbaland and Pharrell, Britney Spears, and even Gaga. So there’s a lot of room for us to shine.”
