As 2026 begins, new music emerges especially from new artists. A new trend in music in the 2020s seems to be a group of people making music together. You usually see this from East Asian countries however, so what happens when a South Korean company named Hybe makes a global girl group for a western audience, but the music isn’t good?
Hybe X Geffen made a global girl group called Katseye and on January 2nd they released a song called “Internet Girl” and to say the least the internet had nothing nice to say to these girls about their songs. However, the girls were already in hot water about their music. On April 29th, 2025, they released a song called “Gnarly.” The song also got negative reactions, but people quickly changed when they saw the choreography on Korean variety show MCountdown also known as M2. Many Katseye fans with the (fandom name eyekons) quickly changed their opinions and found the sound likable and it became one of their most streamed songs. However, it was subtly forgotten about when the full Chaos EP mini album released and the attention quickly shifted to their hit song Gabriella and M.I.A.
With that shift, many fans and lukewarm listeners expected Gnarly to just be a satire song for publicity. After all, negative attention is still attention. Even Katseye member Manon said she thought Gnarly was career ending so when Katseye released Internet Girl, people were reasonably confused.
The song was revealed as a surprise song on their Chaos Tour but unfortunately the live version is better than the studio version which is rare amongst artists especially people who make music as a group. Many people summed it up as “Dubai chocolate labubu 67 cringe brainrot” music in mockery.
Katseye audience was already shifting from Gen-z to Gen Alpha with their internet presence but how can they be taken seriously when they keep making music that a majority finds boring and childish? It’s disappointing to say the least, when they first debuted in the industry with ‘Touch’, they had people in a chokehold and now it feels like self-sabotage. Katseye members Lara and Megan make music themselves and it’s a lot more listenable than the lyrics “Eat zucchini” 10x over as the chorus.
But as this song marinated, many people, fans and non-fans question if they continue to make music like this, what will be their fate? Pandering to a western audience, they won’t tolerate gag songs as much as South Korea does. What that specific audience wants is good music that can be listened to daily.
If Katseye continues to make unbearable music that is only tolerable to elementary schooled students, they were just fade into the background and eventually kids will move on as well. Girl groups unforgettably thrive on fandom competition as harsh as it is and as people tune into a group like Girlset and their hit ‘Little Miss’, it’s better that Hybe X Geffen step up their game with Katseye music and make sure they’re making good music from now on. A reason for their exotic sounding music is that they’re experimenting with sounds to find out what works for them. This is something that is normal for rookie groups or just K-pop groups in general. In Hybe, a sister group to Katseye which is called Lesserafim also just recently released an experimental song ‘Spaghetti’, but it was more well received.
As for why is very simple, it was still a good song. Experimental music doesn’t always have to sound bad but also the lyrics made sense and was easily understandable as for Internet Girl people are making theories for the lyrics to explain why it was so nonsensical.
Another thing to add is, Lesserafim contributed to the lyric making as for Katseye didn’t and relied on A.I. There’s a lot of A.I songs that are out and you can always tell when that it wasn’t authentically made. But aside from the usage of A.I the song just isn’t enjoyable, lyrics aside the beat isn’t very good either along with the dancing.
The critism that Katseye is facing for this song is harsh yet needed if they want a long-term career. Again, they make good songs, but title tracks and the most heavily promoted song is important for groups who makes music. For example, Itzy released a song called ‘sneakers’ that a lot of people didn’t like, and it left their career in shambles. If you don’t release good music, then why would anyone be a fan?
Again, Katseye are good influencers, and they do have good music but satire cringy songs isn’t what people want from them. They have strong powerhouses and those amazing vocals are being wasted on unmoving lyrics like “Hottie, hottie, like a bag of takis. I’m legit.”
