KATSEYE have spoken about the challenges they’ve faced since rising to fame – see what they had to say below.
In a new interview with the BBC, the HYBE x Geffen global girl group have revealed the harrowing experiences they’ve faced since winning Dream Academy to officially form the group.
While the group have their fair share of loving and loyal fans – thanks in part to viral tracks like ‘Touch’, ‘Gnarly’ and ‘Gabriela’ – they’ve also received an equal amount of hate and racism.
Speaking to BBC’s Mark Savage, the group’s Lara Raj opened up about the pressure and hate: “I think as time goes on and on, the stakes just get higher and higher, and the pressure from 360 all sides becomes more heavy and intense. I’m like, ‘It doesn’t matter, and what people say doesn’t matter,’ but we’re humans.”
“And if 1,000 people are, like, sending you death threats, it’s jarring,” she continued. “Even if it’s not gonna happen, and it doesn’t mean anything, it’s heavy, and it’s jarring.”
Later on in the chat, Filipino member Sophia Laforteza shared that even their friends and family aren’t safe from the ugly side of fame and hatred: “We’ve gotten a lot of things already said to us, about us, to our families.” Manon Bannerman added that it’s “very terrorising on the mind.”
The group shied away from naming specific threats, though Lara Raj – who is Tamil and of Indian descent but is an American citizen – had previously shared that she was once reported to ICE for “working and residing in the United States without legal authorisation”.
Elsewhere, the group have celebrated several triumphs this year, including the 2025 MTV VMAs, where they performed two songs on the pre-show. First, KATSEYE kicked things off with the smash hit ‘Gnarly’, which NME named as one of our Songs of the Summer. Later, KATSEYE returned for another pre-show performance, this time turning in a rendition of ‘Gabriela’. During the main award show, KATSEYE won the MTV Push Performance of the Year award for 2024’s ‘Touch’, marking their first-ever VMA win.
Since then, KATSYE have clinched two Grammy nominations – Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their viral hit ‘Gabriela’ – and are set to make their Coachella debut in April next year.