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Katseye, Saint Satine and how the K-pop methodology is heading west
Katseye are the music industry’s shiniest new stars right now – but the machine that drives them isn’t as novel as we might think
Scroll long enough on any video sharing platform and – unless you’ve meticulously trained your algorithm to ignore them – you will come across at least a few aspiring musicians. From those with sizeable followings to those playing for four people on a TikTok live, there are hundreds of new artists using social media to find an audience. For most of them, things will never go much further. For a select few, careers await, if they can find a way to cut through the noise.
The democratisation of the music industry – particularly pop – has been fascinating to watch over the last few years, but most artists learn quickly that it’s both a blessing and a curse. In theory, a space where every new artist can take their music direct to a potentially very large audience and find out if they’ll sink or swim is a great thing. In practice, pop music has never been more oversaturated. “Did I just write the song of the summer?” asked thousands of girls a few years ago, sitting in their cars, ready to play us a scathing track about an ex. Now, the self-funded visuals have gotten more ambitious. The work is around the clock. More often than not, it still isn’t enough to break through.
There is another side of the modern music industry, though. On this side, a roomful of girls, none older than their very early twenties, sit on plastic chairs and sob. Accusations are flying. Friendships are being tested. Some clutch envelopes. Some cry into empty hands. “This is so messed up,” laments one. Messed up it might be, but all this madness has a method. The K-pop method, to be precise.
This is a scene from the Netflix show Pop Star Academy: Katseye, which is a documentary following the development of the survival show Dream Academy (still with me?) The show follows a group of young performers, scouted globally by Hybe x Geffen for a collaboration between the two major labels that aims to create a ‘global girl group’ using the K-pop methodology – and springs a survival show on its trainees with dramatic consequences.
Even before Katseye’s enormous success came to pass, anyone watching on would have to admit that this was an incredibly smart move from the two labels. Prior to Katseye’s debut, the western world’s fascination with K-pop had climbed to a fever pitch. BTS became the first Korean group to headline Wembley Stadium back in 2019, whilst Blackpink were the first Korean headliners of BST in Hyde Park in 2023. To rattle through the long list of other K-pop groups who have found a large, passionate fanbase in the west would take all day. To those on the outside, some of these groups may seem niche – dig a little deeper, and you’ll find many have a global appeal that most artists could only dream of.
Why is the western world so taken with K-pop? Our fascination with competition in music isn’t a new thing. The more emotional, ethically dubious moments in Dream Academy would rival some of the stuff put to screen on our own survival shows of the past two decades: The X Factor, The Voice and American Idol to name a few. Despite the input of judging panels, it’s always the public who get the final say in whether an artist is allowed a long career – survival shows accelerate that decision and maximise attention on these potential stars, if only for a short period of time, whilst we decide if we want them to stay. Outside of structured competition, western pop music also has a longstanding love affair with feuding musicians. The K-pop methodology might look slightly different on the surface, but we’ve long expected discipline, drive and a fighting spirit from our performers – and we’ve long been fascinated with exposing their messier moments.
For many naysayers, it’s the manufactured nature of K-pop groups that supposedly turns them off. In most, the performers have very little creative control. Demos are sourced by the label; choreographers and stylists are hired by upper management. The group members are putting in absurd hours of work, but not many of those hours go to decision making. There’s been a swing towards singer-songwriters in recent years – few pop groups have broken through compared to individual artists producing highly confessional music. But in an era where anyone might set up their phone, pick up their guitar and post the best song you’ve heard all week, we’re beginning to expect artists to work a little bit harder to hold our attention.
@katseyeworld more gnarly dance break for you all #KATSEYE ♬ original sound – KATSEYE
Enter Katseye, a group of outrageously individual talents behind which a megamachine is working. They’re an act designed for the TikTok era, one for which the performance is as much a part of the artistry as the music. Polarising releases like ‘Gnarly’ and ‘Pinky Up’ make far more sense – and win over far more fans – when performed live. Watch Pop Star Academy and you’ll realise that their dancing and ‘visual performance’ abilities were considered just as essential in training as their vocal competence. In fact, in line with many K-pop groups, Katseye are deliberately balanced to include members strongest in a range of skills.
Katseye released their first single in 2024, the aptly named ‘Debut’, and hit the Billboard Hot 100 just a year later with ‘Gnarly’ – the same year that they scooped a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. By the end of the year, they were second in Google’s U.S. “Trending Musicians” ranking and had been named TikTok’s Global Artist of the Year, after racking up 30 billion views on the platform. On their WILDWORLD tour this September, they’ll play two nights at London’s O2 and one at Manchester’s Co-op Live – huge bookings for an act still relatively new.
@saintsatine We are SAINT SATINE!!
♬ original sound – SAINT SATINE
Is it any wonder, then, that Hybe x Geffen are launching their new global girl group already? With the success of both Dream Academy and Pop Star Academy, fans around the world became invested in far more contestants than the handful who made it into the group, and in this attention economy, there’s no sense in wasting those millions of watching eyes. That’s why three of the four members of Saint Satine are contestants who missed out on debuting the first time around (Lexie Levin actually dropped out of Dream Academy, put off by what she felt to be unethical treatment of the contestants). And no one was too surprised when, to find their fourth member, the label introduced a new survival show, Prelude: The Final Piece, which set out to scout a contestant from Japan.
Saint Satine has not been without its controversies already. Emotions surrounding any survival show run high, and some fans have been disappointed that their favourites did not beat out Japanese recruit Sakura Tobi for the spot. Then there are the concerns around Sakura’s age. Just 15 when she was selected for the group, fans have expressed a worry that Sakura will be expected to mature too fast beside her twenty-something group members. With the world awaiting their first release, time will tell if Saint Satine reach Katseye’s heights. There’s clearly a mounting appetite for groups that blend K-pop with the west. And when you’re trying to hold the world’s attention, a little controversy never goes amiss.
Katseye will bring The WILDWORLD Tour to the UK this September – find tickets here
