LOS ANGELES \u2013 The culturally diverse girl group Katseye, now temporarily down two members, are eager to show a more raw and authentic side through their upcoming EP and tour, as well as the concert film Katseye: Wild Hearts, which premiered in theatres worldwide on Aug 12.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles-based group, formed in 2023, has two members on hiatus. Sophia Laforteza became the second member to take a break for mental health and wellness reasons<\/a> on Aug 7. Swiss singer Manon Bannerman\u2019s hiatus<\/a> was announced on Feb 20.<\/p>\n \u201cShe (Manon), no matter what, will always be a part of Katseye. I think it\u2019s a lovely thing for us and the fans to see the true, full journey,\u201d Indian-American singer Lara Raj said, referring to 24-year-old Bannerman\u2019s appearance in the documentary.<\/p>\n Before Laforteza\u2019s departure was announced, Raj described the 23-year-old Filipino-American singer as the group\u2019s official leader.<\/p>\n \u201cI think she has always been meant to be the leader, and she feels like the roots of the tree, and we\u2019re like the branches that branch out,\u201d Raj, 20, said.<\/p>\n South Korean entertainment company Hybe and American record label Geffen said in a joint statement on social media that Laforteza\u2019s condition will be re-assessed in September. Katseye\u2019s Wild World Tour begins on Sept 1.<\/p>\n The multinational group won success by blending the performance training model of K-pop with Western pop influences. Their hit singles include Touch (2024), Gnarly (2025) and the Grammy-nominated Gabriela (2025).<\/p>\n Katseye: Wild Hearts chronicles the sextet\u2019s formation and rise, revisiting their time as finalists on Hybe and Geffen\u2019s 2023 Netflix competition series The Debut: Dream Academy.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking back, I was a wreck most of the time,\u201d Megan Skiendiel, 20, said with a laugh.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it really prepared me for now, to this coming day, being an artiste, to being in front of the public eye,\u201d the Hawaiian native added, reflecting on the criticism from Hybe experts faced by contestants during the show.<\/p>\n The remaining members \u2013 Raj, Skiendiel, American Daniela Avanzini, 22, and South Korean Yoonchae Jeung, 18 \u2013 are determined to keep flourishing with future projects, and expressed excitement about the group\u2019s upcoming releases.<\/p>\n Their new music includes Unloveu, which Raj co-wrote and co-produced for their EP Wild, which was released on Aug 14.<\/p>\n Skiendiel said fans can also expect favourites such as Pinky Up (2026), a social media hit that gained traction across TikTok, YouTube Shorts and other platforms through its quirky hook and playful choreography.<\/p>\n Romanian singer-songwriter Sorana, one of the song\u2019s co-writers, recalled drawing inspiration from the overly refined style of people who extend their pinky fingers while sipping from a teacup. REUTERS<\/p>\n Katseye: Wild Hearts is showing exclusively at Shaw Theatres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 The culturally diverse girl group Katseye, now temporarily down two members, are eager to show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-585490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}