During an intimate fan Q&A in Sydney this week, global girl group Katseye gave away clues for their next era, teased a visit to Qudos Bank Arena, and talked about doing their own version of Spice World, but Katseye World, obviously.
Katseye were in town for Universal Music Australia’s Ignite showcase, which spotlights priority international talent and introduces them to the Australian market. The five-member group recently wrapped their first sold-old North American tour and debuted new single “PINKY UP” during their Coachella performance earlier this year.
The two-time Grammy nominated girl group will play at Melbourne’s Festival Hall tonight (May 8th), marking the group’s debut Australian appearance and their only public performance in the country during the visit.
Below are some highlights from the Sydney Q&A event with Katseye members Sophia Laforteza, Lara Raj, Daniela Avanzini, Megan Skiendiel, and Yoonchae Jeung.
Interviewer: How did you each find out about the Katseye auditions?
Sophia: Well, it all started because I became a huge fan of BTS. And then I was pretty much subscribed to their YouTube channel, and I saw the audition there… I basically auditioned for the first announcement of this project, which was really cool.
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Megan: I actually don’t think I’ve ever said this, but I was training under another company, and I knew someone who worked there, and I got scouted to come onto this project.
Daniela: I don’t think I’ve ever said this either, but my mum gets a lot of emails for auditions, and she never looks at them, like ever. But she just had an inkling, like a gut feeling, and she was like, “I’m just gonna look at this one.” This is a true story, I swear. And she clicked it, and she was like, “Why don’t you just go audition?” and I was like, “Okay!” And now I’m living my dream.
Lara: HYBE and Geffen DM’d me. I think they found one of my singing covers that I had posted… and it was a really sketchy DM, and I was like, I’m definitely getting scammed right now. But, it’s not a scam. So now I’m here.
Yoonchae: I was in the singing academy for my high school. One of the teachers filmed me, and she kind of sent it to some companies, and one of them was HYBE and Geffen, and they called me.
You were picked from over 120,000 applicants. Did you learn anything from the process?
Megan: With all the evaluations we had to go through with the whole training process, I think there were a bunch of times where we would get stuck in our own heads, and we would kind of be too perfectionistic. So I think letting go of things that are just not that deep… really, really helped me just not overthink it, and just be the artist that you were born to be.
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What’s the secret to success as a girl group?
Lara: Communication. You have to talk and be so honest. Even if there’s a little thing that doesn’t seem relevant, we still bring it up to each other. And we talk about everything, because that way, nobody holds any grudges, nothing is left unsaid. We really make an effort to have tough conversations with each other… and also hanging out outside work is huge.
What does your family think of your success?
Daniela: They’re so proud of us. Like so, so proud of us. My mum especially, she loves the attention and she’ll use it. I’m like, “Mum, chill.”
Lara: They love the internet. They’re just playing on the internet. But we’re so grateful, our parents are so amazing.
Megan: My mum is like, begging me to introduce her to BTS, and I’m like, I wanna meet BTS.
Sophia: My dad too, he loves BTS! He loves LE SSERAFIM.
Were there any dance moves that were hard to nail?
Megan: “Gnarly”, it’s the dance break, it winds me every single time. Also because by the time we do it, it’s the end of our set, so we’ve already done so much choreo before that. By the time that “Gnarly” comes, I’m trying to catch my breath. But I think we’ve done it enough, now our stamina is built and we kind of know what it is now. But when we first learnt it we were like, “Oh my god, we’re dying.”
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Who are your dream collaborators?
Sophia: Ariana Grande. I’m never gonna stop saying it until it happens.
Lara: Ariana, definitely. Petal, are you guys excited for Petal?
You’ve just announced your new EP, what was on the moodboard?
Sophia: I’d say we wanted to get a little more authentic. And by authentic, I mean a little more raw with our personalities and the way we present ourselves. We wanted to be a bit messier, and everything doesn’t have to be too polished. I think that was the whole point of “Pinky Up”, it’s very posh, but we wanted to add a modern and relaxed twist to it, mess it up a little bit. That’s the direction we’re headed in.
Is there a song you’re most excited for Eyekons to hear?
Sophia: It’s a secret.
Megan: You almost got us!
Lara: It’s like something you’ve been asking for.
What are your career dreams?
Daniela: A world tour, maybe Australia? We love Australia.
Sophia: We heard you guys have a really big arena somewhere…
Lara: Obviously, like an album. Winning a Grammy!
Sophia: We want to headline Coachella. Headline Lollapalooza. Headline everything.
Megan: Also, go to the Met Gala!
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In the future, will we ever see Katseye dip outside of music? Are there other careers you want to try?
Megan: Oh my god, so many. I think one for me is being like a fashion designer. It’s one of my passions. And I got to design some merch for the Beautiful Chaos tour, so if and when we go on tour again, I’ll be able to design some pieces again.
Daniela: I used to act when I was little. I was in like three furniture store commercials. I’d love to star in a movie or series. I’m not tall enough, but modelling would be great.
Lara: I would love to do fashion and my own jewellery line. I really want to do some sort of activism or something like that for my people. That would be so cool.
Sophia: I want to do musical theatre. I’m gonna do it, just give me time. I’m gonna do Katseye first.
Yoonchae: I would like to do acting.
Sophia: I wanna do a Katseye movie, you know like the Spice Girls Spice World? Have a story but still play ourselves. Write that down. This is a start of an idea.
Will you be coming back to Australia?
Megan: Of course, we love Australia. We’ll definitely be back, and sooner than later.
From Refinery29 Australia
