Chartbreaker: How KATSEYE gave the perfect pop 'touch' to the Charts

When rumors of a lingering rift between two of the six members of KATSEYE reached the girl group this summer, they quickly turned the chatter into a viral moment. “We're literally fine lol” read the caption in a photo of Lara and Manon holding hands and posing against a backdrop of dolphins and rainbows, playing into a then-current TikTok trend around Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson's “Symphony.”

“One thing I love about this team is how Gen Z we are,” says Manon. “We saw all of this and said, 'Okay, funny. Let's make this TikTok and put an end to it.” The 11-second post has since garnered more than 5.4 million views.

A savvy social media approach is just one of the effective strategies the up-and-coming group and their team at HxG (HYBE x Geffen Records, which represents a joint venture between the Korean entertainment group and Universal Music Group) are using to attract new fans. Another, of course, was with the music: KATSEYE's latest single, “Touch,” features crisp drum-and-bass production, shimmering electro-pop edges, and a swirl of pop-R&B harmonies in two minutes and ten seconds. Co-produced by Cashmere Cat (Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Charli XCX), the hit has stuck at US radio and helped build the group's stateside following.

KATSEYE was created by the ambitious HYBE and Geffen Records Dream Academy competition in 2023. The YouTube series sought to create a truly “global” girl group, and out of 120,000 applicants from around the world, 20 were chosen to head to Los Angeles and prepare in the style of K-pop's notoriously rigorous training methods before competing for a spot on the team. The multi-week competition concluded in November, with the six finalists representing a culturally diverse lineup: Manon, 22 (from Los Angeles); Lara, 19 (Zurich); Daniela, 20 (Atlanta); Megan, 18 (Honolulu); Sophia, 21 (Manila, Philippines); and Yoonchae, 16 (Seoul, South Korea).

A next Netflix series, Pop Star Academy: KATSEYEdocumented the behind-the-scenes journey of breaking down the 20-man boot camp into its final form — including all the biggest trials and tribulations — and creating a natural curiosity in viewers to check out the group's music. Wisely, in the days leading up to the eight-episode competition series premiering on the streaming service in August, KATSEYE released her debut EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong). The five-track project features writing contributions from HYBE president Bang Si-Hyuk, Ryan Tedder and Justin Tranter (with the former two also earning production credits), debuting at No. 6 the Bulletin boardon the top selling albums and appeared on the Billboard 200.

The group's aptly titled first single 'Debut' arrived in late June to kick off the project, but even then, the members were even more excited for their next release, the alt-pop smash 'Touch'. “It was one of our favorites when we first heard it,” says Daniela. “We just had that instinct.” Adds Manon: “Our creative director Humberto [Leon] He kept telling me, 'The 'touch' is it, just wait and see.”

The band made a strong social media push for the song when it hit streaming services on July 26. Hoping to create a viral dance trend, KATSEYE executive creator Son Sungdeuk created a choreography designed to be simple and memorable. Little TikTok-friendly gestures — like thumbs-up gestures on the chorus — were intentional hooks meant to engage fans. “I feel like it's not that hard for people to learn,” Daniela says, adding that the “little booty pop” — which Sofia interjects is “my favorite!” — was another move to attract listeners. “I was like, 'People are going to shut up.' It's so cute.”

KATSEYE's multi-layered digital focus for the song included collaboration with fan bases in the K-pop world, such as a TikTok post of Manon and Yoonchae dancing to “Touch” with Heeseung and Ni-ki of ENHYPEN (a boy band sub-labeled HYBE Belift Lab). The video has 27 million views to date, while three other clips featuring “Touch” on the group's account have more than 15 million. Importantly, such success helped prove that KATSEYE was ready to thrive in more traditional stateside offerings.

“We had our eye on radio, but we knew we needed key drivers to feel confident it was the right time to go,” says Mitra Darab, president of HxG at HYBE America. “We would see significant growth weekly not just in DSPs [digital service providers]but on TikTok and Reels it also creates their social development. We also knew we needed a big cultural moment to raise awareness of the group, which we achieved with the Netflix documentary. Once it was released, all of our goals started to fall into place.”

To gauge their appeal in the US, KATSEYE held a meet and greet and performance at the Mall of America in Minneapolis in October to connect with the growing audience, collectively known as EYEKONS. Thousands of fans showed up. “Mall of America proved to us that it's not just about 'Touch,'” says Darab.

“I think we've built a fan base that's just like us,” adds Lara. “EYEKONS are so funny. they have the same sense of humor as all of us. I feel like they're the type of people we'd be friends with in real life.”

By October, “Touch” had appeared on several of them Bulletin boardinternational charts, including the Philippines, Canada, Taiwan and Malaysia and topped the Billboard Global 200. It also reaches new No. 32 high on the US-based Pop Airplay chart dated November 16, and the song has 229.9 million official worldwide on-demand streams as of November 7, according to Luminate. “We couldn't help but put so much heart into it,” says Sofia. “We could really feel that this was going to bleed into the fans.”

While planning is already in full swing for 2025, KATSEYE is now gearing up for a performance, featuring the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders, at the 2024 MAMA Awards in Los Angeles on November 21 — marking the first time the prestigious K Awards -pop The show will take place in the US — and will run on iHeartRadio's Jingle Ball tour (visiting Dallas and Boston on December). “We don't want to go through 'Touch' yet, but we never work,” says Manon, true to her word as they talk Bulletin board in a Zoom video call from the LA rehearsal studio. “A black box with a white light where we spend most of our days,” they break, all danceable.

For KATSEYE, this move is for the greater good. Young women see KATSEYE's multicultural makeup as a starting point to shake up the pop sound worldwide. “It would be really cool to incorporate that into our music so it's something different from what we've been listening to before,” Megan says. “It's such a superpower that we all come from different parts of the world.”

A version of this story appears in the November 16, 2024 issue Bulletin board.