We’ve got our eye on KATSEYE! This 6-member rookie girl group is taking the world by storm with their powerful visuals, talent, and charisma.
KATSEYE is more than just a pop group—they’re a global phenomenon. With roots in India, Switzerland, Korea, Singapore, America, and the Philippines, this international girl group brings together a world of talent and passion. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they share one common destiny—they were born to captivate the world as popstars.
This sextet was formed from Dream Academy, a talent competition reality show under the global idol company, HYBE, and major US label, Geffen Records. They debuted on June 28, 2024, with their single “Debut” and another of their bops, “Touch”, was released a month after.
As part of the group’s global launch, the journey of these rising popstars will be shown through the Netflix docuseries, Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE on August 21, 2024.
The Global Search For Dreamers
K-pop is a genre loved by millions around the world. The high-energy choreography combined with outstanding and stable vocals has inspired the younger generations to awaken their talent in the same way.
Through Dream Academy, HYBE and Geffen Records wanted to form an international group based on the well-loved K-pop methodology, essentially giving international K-pop fans a way to realize their pop dream.
When Dream Academy was announced, over 120,000 submissions from around the world were received, some of them from our very own hopeful Filipinas. On September 1, 2023, Dream Academy premiered with 20 outstanding girls who made the cut.
Global Popstars: KATSEYE
On November 17, 2023, Dream Academy announced six successful dreamers. These are Lara, Daniela, and Megan from America, Manon from Switzerland, Yoonchae from Korea, and Sophia from the Philippines—who also placed first in the Dream Academy rankings.
With these girls completing KATSEYE, HYBE and Geffen Records have successfully demonstrated that K-pop formula can create global superstars beyond Korea.
After half a year of preparation, KATSEYE released their debut single titled “Debut,” a song that exudes girl power and immeasurable confidence. Another single, “Touch”, followed a month after and it’s a cute and catchy song about the emotional push and pull with a love interest.
KATSEYE became a group known for their powerful feminine energy, and are often likened to Bratz or Winx Club, iconic cartoon influences to every girl’s childhood.
The group had their debut performance at KCON Los Angeles 2024. Their synchronization and powerful vocals made the crowd forget that they were a rookie group performing in public for the first time. Their performance video went viral and their fandom, named Eyekons, grew exponentially.
On August 16, 2024, KATSEYE released their first ever mini-album SIS, Soft is Strong. Included in the mini-album are their two previously released songs and three new releases, “My Way”, “I’m Pretty”, and “Tonight I Might”. Despite being less than a week old, these songs have reached hundreds of thousands of streams on music platforms, attesting to KATSEYE’s influence and impact.
Dream Academy
Contrary to usual idol survival shows, Dream Academy only aired snippets of the girls’ journey toward stardom. Missions were announced, and the next episode was the girls’ performance itself. Fans of the show were given the opportunity to vote on their favorite girl on Weverse based on the performances.
Fan votes were combined with the labels’ own critique, and the series continued with simple elimination announcements.
Despite the short peeks into their journey, Filipino dreamer, Sophia Laforteza, shone with skill, professionalism and charisma. Sophia took on every mission with determination and passed all stages with flying colors.
Sophia is a full-blooded Filipino, daughter to stage actress and singer Carla Guevara-Laforteza and former dancer and executive chef Basilio Godfrey Laforteza III. It’s apparent that her parents’ talents have manifested in Sophia and it was said she was raised in a household that was filled with music.
Sophia’s talents boosted her show popularity but she wasn’t just loved by the viewers, her fellow dreamers also acknowledged her skill and leadership. When the girls were asked who they wanted to debut with, almost all of them named Sophia.
Dream Academy aired for 12 weeks, and the final 6-member lineup was determined on November 17, 2023.
From Dreamers to Popstars
Dream Academy showed the making of KATSEYE in real time, but is that really it?
Out of 120,000 submissions, 20 girls were remarkably chosen. Aside from the final six, viewers expressed that the short episodes weren’t enough to show the entrants’ full extent of skills.
Viewers had raised complaints on the lack of connection they had with the contestants during their challenges, and plenty were eager to know more about each girl’s effort and preparation for each mission.
Little did they know, HYBE and Geffen Records fully intended to show the unseen story of Dream Academy.
With the collaboration of Netflix, these two labels’ prepared a docuseries showing the journey of KATSEYE—even before they fully determined who KATSEYE would be—titled Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The docuseries will show the behind-the-scenes process of putting together an international K-pop coded group, as well as showing the authentic personalities and outstanding talents of the 20 girls chosen from different parts of the world.
Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE will premiere on Netflix on August 21, 2024. Finally, everyone will witness the unfiltered journey on how the global rookie phenomenon KATSEYE truly became KATSEYE.
