Chartbreaker: How KATSEYE Delivered the Perfect ‘Touch’ of Pop to the Charts

When rumors of a lingering rift between two of KATSEYE’s six members reached the girl group this summer, they quickly turned the chatter into a viral moment. “We’re literally fine lol,” read the caption on a photo of Lara and Manon holding hands and posing on a backdrop of dolphins and rainbows, playing into a then-current TikTok trend around Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s “Symphony.”

“One thing I love about this group is how Gen Z we are,” says Manon. “We saw all of that and were like, ‘Okay, funny. Let’s do this TikTok and put an end to this.’” The 11-second post has since compiled more than 5.4 million views.

The savvy social media approach is just one of the effective strategies that the rising group and their team at HxG (HYBE x Geffen Records, which represents a joint venture between the Korean-entertainment conglomerate and Universal Music Group) employ to hook new fans. Another, naturally, has been with the music: KATSEYE’s latest single, “Touch,” packs crisp drum-and-bass production, twinkling electro-pop flourishes and a swirl of pop-R&B harmonies into two minutes and ten seconds. Co-produced by Cashmere Cat (Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Charli XCX), the hit has latched onto U.S. radio and helped to build the group’s following stateside.

KATSEYE was formed from HYBE and Geffen Records’ ambitious Dream Academy competition in 2023. The YouTube series sought to create a genuinely “global” girl group, and of a reported 120,000 applicants from around the world, 20 were selected to head to Los Angeles and prepare in the style of the infamously rigorous K-pop training methods before competing for a spot in the group. The multiweek contest concluded that November, with the six final members representing a culturally diverse lineup: Manon, 22 (from L.A.); Lara, 19 (Zurich); Daniela, 20 (Atlanta); Megan, 18 (Honolulu); Sophia, 21 (Manila, Philippines); and Yoonchae, 16 (Seoul, South Korea).

A subsequent Netflix series, Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, documented the behind-the-scenes journey of whittling down the 20-person training camp into its final form — including all of its biggest trials and tribulations — and creating a natural curiosity for viewers to check out the group’s music. Wisely, in the days leading to the eight-episode competition series’ premiere on the streaming service in August, KATSEYE released its debut EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong). The five-track project has writing contributions from HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk, Ryan Tedder and Justin Tranter (with the former two earning production credits as well), debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, and appeared on the Billboard 200.

The group’s aptly titled first single “Debut” arrived in late June to kick-start the project’s rollout, but even then, the members were even more excited for their next release, the alt-pop smash “Touch.” “It was all of our favorite when we first heard it,” says Daniela. “We just had that gut feeling.” Adds Manon: “Our creative director Humberto [Leon] kept telling me, ‘‘Touch’ is the one, just wait and see.’”

The group made a strong push on social media for the song when it arrived on streaming services on July 26. In hopes of creating a viral dance trend, KATSEYE executive creator Son Sungdeuk crafted choreography designed to be both simple and memorable. Small, TikTok-friendly moves — like the chorus’ pinky-to-thumb touching gestures — were intentional hooks meant to attract fan engagement. “I feel like it’s not so hard for people to learn,” says Daniela, adding that the “little booty pop” — which Sophia interjects is “my favorite!” — was another move to draw in listeners. “I was like, ‘People are going to gag.’ It’s so cute.”

KATSEYE’s multi-pronged digital focus for the song included partnering with fan bases in the K-pop world, such as a TikTok post of Manon and Yoonchae dancing to “Touch” with Heeseung and Ni-ki of ENHYPEN (a boy band under HYBE sublabel Belift Lab). The video has 27 million views to date, while three other clips showcasing “Touch” on the group’s account have more than 15 million. Importantly, such success helped prove that KATSEYE was ready to thrive in more traditional stateside promotions.

“We had our eye on radio but knew we needed key levers to feel confident it was the right time to go,” says Mitra Darab, president of HxG at HYBE America. “We would see significant growth weekly not only at DSPs [digital service providers], but in TikTok and Reels creates and their social growth. We also knew we needed a big cultural moment to bring awareness to the group, which we achieved with the Netflix documentary. Once that was released, all our goals started to fall into place.”

To gauge their appeal in the U.S., KATSEYE held a meet-and-greet and performance at Minneapolis’ Mall of America in October to connect with the growing fandom, collectively known as EYEKONS. Thousands of fans showed up. “Mall of America proved to us that this isn’t just about ‘Touch,’” says Darab.

“I think we built a fanbase that is just like us,” Lara adds. “EYEKONS are so funny; they have the same humor as all of us. I feel like they are the types of people that we would be friends with in real life.”

By October, “Touch” had appeared on several of Billboard’s international charts, including in the Philippines, Canada, Taiwan and Malaysia and cracked the upper half of the Billboard Global 200. It also reaches a new No. 32 high on the U.S.-based Pop Airplay chart dated Nov. 16, and the song has 229.9 million official on-demand global streams through Nov. 7, according to Luminate. “We couldn’t help but put so much heart into it,” says Sophia. “We really could feel that this was going to bleed through to the fans.”

While planning is already in full swing for 2025, KATSEYE is now preparing for a performance, which will feature the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders, at the 2024 MAMA Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 21 — marking the first time the eminent K-pop awards show will take place in the U.S. — and slots on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour (visiting Dallas and Boston in December). “We don’t want to move on from ‘Touch’ just yet, but we’re never not working,” Manon says, true to her word as they talk to Billboard over a Zoom video call from their L.A. rehearsal studio. “A black box with a white light where we spend most of our days,” they crack, all in dance gear.

For KATSEYE, that drive is for a greater good. The young women see KATSEYE’s multicultural makeup as a starting point to shake up the sound of pop worldwide. “It’d be so nice to incorporate that within our music so it’s something different than we’ve been hearing before,” says Megan. “It’s such a superpower that we all come from different parts of the world.”

A version of this story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.

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