In September, HYBE – the management company responsible for launching BTS and NewJeans – and Geffen Records embarked on a quest to assemble the next great K-pop girl group. The search for the members, who hailed from around the globe, took the form of a competition show dubbed The Debut: Dream Academy.
“I have wanted to form an international group based on K-pop methodology for a while,” HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk said.
The six members of the girl group, which is called Katseye, have now been revealed. Daniela Avanzini, Lara Rajagopalan and Megan Skiendiel hail from the US. Yoonchae Jeong is from South Korea. Sophia Laforteza comes from the Philippines and Manon Bannerman is from Switzerland.
Katseye’s members were selected based on a combination of votes from the show’s viewers and evaluators’ scores during a live-streamed event on Friday. The event also saw the rollout of the group’s first three tracks, “Dirty Water,” “Girls Don’t Like” and “All the Same.”
“This has been a long journey and an unprecedented collaboration between Hybe and Geffen. We are very proud of the results and of all the contestants who joined us in this project,” Si-Hyuk said. “We wish Katseye much success as we are sure they will inspire fans across the globe.”
Katseye will be releasing its debut album in 2024. A documentary charting the competition and the group’s formation will follow.
In other music news, Majid Jordan delivered the dreamy two-part LP, Good People / Afterhours.
