Is katseye kpop or not ?

the majority of members are not korean and don’t speak korean. They are not singing in korean. the kpop influence is there but ımo katseye is not a kpop group.

While there is kpop influence, I personally don't see them as kpop. You can promote in Korea without being KPop, just as you can promote in the West and still be Kpop.

They don't speak korean apart from yoonchae who is Korean, they don't sing in korean, their producers aren't korean. They aren't kpop

Quote from SooYoung

their fanbase in mainly kpop fans

this is false

Honestly, I don't think it's that important. They're obviously not, but it's easy to see why they are grouped together. You're going to have a strong vocal minority very passionately insisting they aren't, but realistically, the distinction really doesn't matter to at least 95% of people. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who is into Katseye who isn't also into Kpop.

While it definitely isn't the same situation, there are people who insist WayV isn't Kpop, but while they primarily promote in internationally in another language, it's all part of the same industry and the Hallyu wave at the end of the day. Not to mention, they seem to have made a much more active push in Korea with their last few combacks.

Hybe, for all intents and purposes, is a Kpop company, and arguably THE representative Kpop company. If they plan on making other international groups (which I am sure they are), it won't be until they have successfully established one or two other groups before most people will confidently feel like they aren't just a Kpop company. Until then, Katseye will always be attached to Kpop, and even then, they likely always will be.

Quote from SooYoung

why is their company promoting them on deezer in a "top kpop" playlist, which is a kpop only made for kpop song

are we the one in position to decide if they are or not kpop if their own company consider them as kpop ?

I doubt the company cares what anyone considers them, promotion comes first. If people's confusion about whether or not they're kpop generates noise, then that's free marketing for them. If I were HYBE, yeah, I'd promote them as kpop for playlisting/streaming/promotion reasons. No reason to keep them out of a playlist over this.

They were made by a kpop company who will use kpop route on them, but nope, they aren't kpop.

They mesh well with kpop tag bc they promote and are more active with kpop idols, but that's it.

Also, if they're not Kpop, why have we all been talking about them in the Kpop channel?

You should make this a poll. If most of the forum agrees they aren't Kpop, we move all Katseye discussion and threads to Western Entertainment section. /s

About as kpop as XG

Quote from SooYoung

why is their company promoting them on deezer in a "top kpop" playlist, which is a kpop only made for kpop song

are we the one in position to decide if they are or not kpop if their own company consider them as kpop ?

I think HYBE is well aware that kpop fans don't just consume music but also buy merchandise etc., so labeling them as a kpop group is part of the marketing strategy.

They are stuck in the middle. They are kpop and they are not kpop. The training, the performance-heavy promotions, the tiktok challenges, the company makes them kpop. The language they sing in, the locations of their promotions, their clothes (quite revealing for most kpop groups) will make them not kpop. When a kpop fandom has problems with them, they will be not kpop. When their fandom wants to one up a kpop fandom, they will be kpop. We have to accept that they are a crossover group and they will be loved, hated, promoted and marketed, ignored and liked that way, with forever changing labels.

And I will post Katseye threads in the kpop section so I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry for the people who are anoyed by that.

Just because this is the platform where I can speak about these things so I have no choice in the matter.

Isn't the definition of kpop that it's popular music sung in Korean? By that definition, NO.

I predicted that 5th gen would happen in 2025 and would coincide with the rise of a global multilingual Kpop group. I couldnt have been more right tbh.

So yes, Katseye is the evolution of Kpop and if Allday continues to end Aespa in their current battle, i would say the Fifth Gen is finally here as well.

Quote from DaisyTheGenuine

Depends on whether it's convenient or not

Basically this

They're similar to XG and NizIu where they trained in the kpop system and promote towards the kpop audience, but they're not kpop. I consider these groups to be kpop adjacent. They get included in kpop conversation due to training in the system and promoting towards kpop fans.

A hybrid, like XG.

EDIT: Okay... someone beat me to the punch, as I typed that on the previous page 😅

Quote from bartkun

do they live in Korea?

I believe they're based in LA but they heavily promote in Korea. I guess it's working because their album sales improved in Korea.

Quote from frala19

Honestly, I don't think it's that important. They're obviously not, but it's easy to see why they are grouped together. You're going to have a strong vocal minority very passionately insisting they aren't, but realistically, the distinction really doesn't matter to at least 95% of people. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who is into Katseye who isn't also into Kpop.

While it definitely isn't the same situation, there are people who insist WayV isn't Kpop, but while they primarily promote in internationally in another language, it's all part of the same industry and the Hallyu wave at the end of the day. Not to mention, they seem to have made a much more active push in Korea with their last few combacks.

Hybe, for all intents and purposes, is a Kpop company, and arguably THE representative Kpop company. If they plan on making other international groups (which I am sure they are), it won't be until they have successfully established one or two other groups before most people will confidently feel like they aren't just a Kpop company. Until then, Katseye will always be attached to Kpop, and even then, they likely always will be.

great post, very good points

it really doesn't matter if they are kpop or not in practical terms

They are kpop adjacent group.

I would say 70% kpop, 30% pop group.

Quote from SooYoung

are we the one in position to decide if they are or not kpop if their own company consider them as kpop ?

What's the point of this thread given that "wr are in no position to decide?

Quote from StanGIDLE

I believe they're based in LA but they heavily promote in Korea. I guess it's working because their album sales improved in Korea.

They promote in korea because their company is korean company. They do promotion for a few days and then fly back to their home in America

Side note: Now that I think about it, what Katseye is to gnagnagnagna, what Illit is to dududududududuh... what's Le Sserafim's going to be in their new era?

They are whatever I need my agenda to be

Quote from SooYoung

they promote in korea
their fanbase in mainly kpop fans

These things can be true and Katseye still isn't Kpop

CNBlue debut in Japan before they did in South Korea does that make them a Jpop Group?

miss A unofficially debut in China as the Chinese Wondergirls does that make them MandoPop or Cpop?

Kpop has always been about Korean Language, Korean Ethnicity and Korean priority Promotions.

Kpop isn't a Music genre but a Style of Music, well if it's in Korean that is.

If Katseye is a Kpop Group then Jeongyeon is from Texas.

They're about about as kpop as EXP Edition.

Quote from LilJ

Isn't the definition of kpop that it's popular music sung in Korean?

No. Kpop is a subsection of South Korea's domestic music industry. It makes no difference what language anyone is singing in, or wether or not they're even Korean, as we've seen countless times with groups that are indisputably Kpop singing in other languages and of other ethnicites, including non-Asian ones.

Katseye are a weird group that's stuck between two worlds. They're backed by (and were trained by) a Korean Kpop company but also by an American, non-Kpop company. They promote in Korea, like a Kpop group would, but they also promote elsewhere. Most of their fans are Kpop fans. The group don't think of themselves as Kpop, but the links are too strong to deny, with them even being advertised as "Kpop" in many places. They basically don't fit cleanly inside the Kpop box OR outside of it, making the whole discussion kind of moot. It's like asking if a liger is a lion or a tiger. It's both and neither simultaneously.

about as kpop as these 2

I take it back...at least EXP Edition made the effort to learn Korean.

Kpop or not, they still have Spotify's #1 debut of 2025 for groups.

IMO it’s insulting to not call them kpop

They are completely based on the kpop idol model. Them singing in English will not change this.

the people who don’t call them kpop think either

1. They think kpop is some insulting thing and they want to distance katseye from it

2. They think kpop is too “pure” and “should only have east Asian or it loses its purity”

Both of these categories I don’t wish to address cuz I don’t even consider these people worth arguing with. They are bigoted in some way or the other and that’s their own problem to deal with.

Now the next category of people are one’s who think “kpop” is just singing in Korean (their thoughts might be mixed with (2) or (1) people but they’ll act like as if they have some better points.

Kpop has ALWAYS been much more than JUST the music or JUST language. It’s the whole package. It has evolved to mean so much more. It’s the idol system. It’s the trainees. It’s the stylistic concepts and synchronize choreo. It’s the members bonding. It’s the offscreen content. And so much more.

Katseye very much fits into ALL those molds. For me when you don’t call them kpop it’s erases so much of what Korea has contributed to making the group.

Now they might eventually break away from this mold that I do not know. But for now they are no different that every other kpop GG.

the question as always is to define what kpop is

and then see if katseye fits those categories

language? members ethnicity? training? connection to kpop company? producer?

promotion? etc etc

Quote from 0ppar

I take it back...at least EXP Edition made the effort to learn Korean.

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At least? Effort? Katseye never planned to sing in korean, why would they learn it? They live in America and their focus is on western market. That's the point of the group, that's why it was made.