KATSEYE: From Dream Academy to GAP's New Advertisement

By Katherine Schreiner

You could call 2025 the year of Sabrina Carpenter or the year of TS13, but no one can deny that 2025 was the global girl group, KATSEYE’s year. Releasing their second EP, this year was a gnarly start to the groups rise to fame.

Pop Star Academy

KATSEYE rose to fame the same way most people do in 2025: TikTok. But that fame wasn’t as simple as a video going viral of the group. Instead, the competition reality show that formed the group made its rounds after a performance of “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls showed the power a girl group can hold.

The competition show, Dream Academy, allowed viewers week after week to vote for their favorite performances. Quickly the 6 girls later forming KATSEYE rose to outshine other contestants, with each girl perfect fitting a spot of the group:

Sophia - the Leader, the most experienced of the group

Manon - the Visual, the member with looks and facial expressions that keep the audience attention

Megan - the All-Rounder, a girl that can excel in any category

Lara - the Lead Vocalist, the girl able to singing anything and everything

Yoonchae - the Maknae, the youngest member of the group

Daniela - the Lead Dancer, the girl with the strongest dancing talent

SIS: Soft is Strong

As the group premiered in 2024, they started with a bang with their debut single, “Debut,” Not only did the song and music video show the talent shared amongst this group, but what to expect from KATSEYE: soft, sweet, fun music. 

While fans only expected one single, a month later “Touch” was released with another music video to complete it. This song played into an elegant, sweet feeling and left fans, both new and old, hoping for more.

After the release of the two singles, their first KATSEYE EP was announced: SIS. Featuring both the singles and three new songs, the fan base grew overnight. Between live performances and silly TikTok videos showing the members’ personalities, everyone coming across the group were becoming “eyekons,” excitedly waiting for new music to drop.

Beautiful Chaos: The Rise of Gnarly

Very little was heard from KATSEYE after December 2024. Videos on their TikTok were hiding members’ hair and fans started assuming the next phase of the group was right around the corner. While eyekons had to wait until the last day of April, they were right: there was a new era coming out.

“Gnarly” introduced a new beat, edgier looks, and an overall more grown up feel. While the first release had fans second guessing lyrics like “hottie, hottie, like a bag of takis,” a few listens later and a watch of the music video changed minds. Not only was Gnarly a fun song, not meant to be taken seriously, but the dance moves hit a whole new level. The dance was EVERYWHERE. Between Dancing with the Stars Pros and the Jolibee mascot, everyone had either seen the dance, done the dance, or tried to learn the dance.

Coming off of the high that was Gnarly, KATSEYE honed in on their next single, Gabriella, a latin ballroom inspired song. Venezuelan and Cuban member Daniela was the face of the single, performing the whole bridge of the song herself in Spanish. 

With two great singles blowing up the internet, it was only natural for the announcement for their second EP to come out: Beautiful Chaos. Once again the album featured the two singles and three new songs. The other songs, MIA, Gameboy and Mean Girls kept fans on their, varying in intensity, but keeping that fun chill adult energy going.

Collaborations: Both the Celebs and the Businesses

Across the two EPs, dozens of collaborations have grown from them. Some collaborations include:

• Jessica Alba appearing in the soap opera inspired music video for “Gabriella”

• A partnership with Jolibee

• Glossier partnership to announce the new Lip Glaze

• Collaborating with Toca Boca to make in game outfits corresponding to each member

• Working with Monster High to create a new rendition of the theme song

• Brought Ice Spice on to remix Gnarly with a feature

• A new GAP ad. Let's talk about this one.

The Gap Ad

August 2025 brought some highly intriguing ads from jean brands (we’re looking at you, American Eagle). The American Eagle ad campaign starring Sydney Sweeney brought about the topic of good celebrity ads. This flopped campaign left consumers feeling lost and concerned about the brand’s message, with their cover star bragging about her “genes” and how they’re blue.

GAP on the other hand, is known for a series of ads featuring famous celebrities and/or songs of the summer and having a group of dancers perform with it. In the past, both Tyla and Troye Sivan were picked to star in these videos. This year though, a new choreographed dance for KATSEYE made waves across the internet. GAP stores are selling out of those blue jeans and the ad—which features the song Milkshake–fills every store. The dance went viral.

This ad reached a level of virality that not many companies have seen. Not only was it entertaining, it genuinely intrigued the audience in its product. The ad worked so well to the point that not even a month after its release, college advertising/marketing professors were using it in classes to show examples of good advertising.

The Future

While the group's future is unclear, recent reveals of performance at Lollapalooza Brazil and their upcoming tour give promise for the group. The steady rise to fame shows the possibility to pass many well known girl groups in fame like Blackpink or Little Mix. The group has a lot more planned based on recent interviews with the girls, and we will be sitting here watching.