The “global girl group” Katseye released a new single at the start of 2026. Despite success on the charts, “Internet Girl” hasn’t exactly been well-received by Katseye’s fanbase. Do the fans just feel entitled to a certain kind of music? Or is Katseye’s record label to blame for giving them songs no one wants to hear?
Who are Katseye?
For those unfamiliar with Katseye, let’s recap where they came from.
Katseye is a one-of-a-kind girl group with six talented members. What’s special to note here is that the members, whose ages currently range from 18 to 23, didn’t decide to come together on their own. In 2023, they were each chosen through a fiercely competitive (and somewhat morally dubious) reality series called Dream Academy. Dream Academy was a co-production by two record labels, HYBE and Geffen. It’s available to watch on Netflix under the name Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
Katseye is often thought to be K-pop-adjacent in style and training, since HYBE is a K-pop label. Their other label, Geffen, is American and has signed acts like Elton John, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and The Cure.
Katseye’s fans don’t often call them K-pop, despite some similarities with other K-pop acts. They’re a “global girl group” — a label that refers to the girls’ diverse range of cultural origins.
The members, in the order that they appear below, are: Yoonchae Jeung (Korean), Lara Raj (Tamil Indian), Manon Bannerman (Swiss-Italian-Ghanian), Megan Skiendiel (Chinese-American), Sophia Laforteza (Filipina), and Daniela Avanzini (Venezuelan-Cuban-Italian).
What’s the word with “Internet Girl”?
It’s hard to know where to start when explaining the hate for Katseye’s newest song. Mainly, because there’s so much of it, and the criticism comes from all sides.
First, the lyrics. Or rather the lyric, singular. More than anything else, fans take issue with the repeated phrase “eat zucchini.” It’s overtly sexual in nature, which at first comes off as being a little weird, considering that Katseye’s members are all young women — and they weren’t the ones who wrote it.
However, the real writer of the song, Justin Tranter, seems to have good intentions. Or maybe chaotic-good intentions. When talking about the song, he said that he loves the discourse around it. He wanted “Internet Girl” to be fun and campy, invoking the crudeness of 90s riot grrrl music.
Considering this, it makes more sense for the intended meaning of “eat zucchini” to be a quirky way of telling the haters to “suck it.” Still, that hasn’t stopped some fans from thinking that it’s just a little too out there.
The group is certainly veering away from the lighter, bubbly K-pop vibe of their early music. And many fans are not happy about this. In the YouTube comments section of “Touch,” one of Katseye’s older, more innocuous songs, you can see a lot of fans saying things like “I took this era for granted.”
The gnarly truth
“Internet Girl” isn’t Katseye’s first controversial song. That would be “Gnarly,” which came out in April 2025. This was the track that really made Katseye blow up as a group, and not necessarily in a good way. At first.
“Gnarly” was despised when it came out. For its lyrics, which are mostly nonsensical and at some points, cringey (“Hottie hottie, like a bag of Takis,” for example). For its sound, which is intense, bass-heavy, and full of random effects. And for its music video, which features some weird imagery and a bit too much twerking.
“Gnarly” was declared to be “unlistenable,” and even devoted Eyekons (Katseye’s fans) couldn’t bring themselves to like it.
But over time, “Gnarly” started to catch on. People began to recognize the value of something that’s so bad, it’s good. “Gnarly” ranked #5 on NME’s list of the 50 Best Songs of 2025, and Katseye’s fans slowly accepted that the group could have one song that was a little weird. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was fun, even.
But what about two songs like that? Another angle of the “Internet Girl” hate is the fact that it’s basically “Gnarly 2.0.” Since “Gnarly” ended up being a blessing in disguise for Katseye’s popularity, their label may be trying to make lightning strike twice with this type of sound.
“Internet Girl” is a very gnarly song. Many fans aren’t ready for the group to continue in this direction.
The baby voice problem
Although “Internet Girl” got a bit of backlash when videos of its live performance started to surface, the subsequent studio release of the song increased the dislike for it tenfold.
Why? Well, the song’s repeated spoken phrase “I’m getting out of here,” which had been delivered by Katseye themselves in the live rendition, was now said by a sampled baby voice instead.
In the live performance, “I’m getting out of here” was a great line, delivered by Katseye’s Yoonchae, Daniela, and Megan in a dramatic, campy, almost sarcastic tone. The baby voice in the studio version changed the atmosphere of the song entirely, and the voice sounds completely out of place after hearing the song without it.
Fans began to joke about needing an “aborted version” of the song without the voice (and some have even created such a version themselves).
In general, the production of the studio release seems to leave a lot to be desired. As of now, there’s an agreement among fans that “Internet Girl” is trashy, hot garbage.
History repeats itself
This is far from the first time that an artist has faced backlash for the studio recording of a popular live song. The same thing happened to Big Thief’s “Vampire Empire” in 2023.
A life performance of “Vampire Empire” became popular on TikTok, but when the official version of the track finally dropped, Big Thief had changed a few lyrics. Nothing was substantially different about the song, but fans still felt entitled to their preferred version of it.
Big Thief’s singer-songwriter Adrianne Lenker spoke out against this behavior, refusing to let fans tell her what her music should and shouldn’t sound like.
Now, the situation with “Internet Girl” is a little different, since Katseye didn’t write it themselves. As a group, they’re definitely more of a musical commodity than the indie-folk band Big Thief.
Recognizing that the record labels probably call all the shots here, some Katseye fans insist that the Katseye girls don’t even like their own songs. But what if they do? They certainly seem to have fun performing them. Fans aren’t entitled to a specific type of music, one way or another.
Hot garbage is still hot
As someone whose first introduction to Katseye was “Gnarly,” I might be a little biased in advocating for their weird, “unlistenable” songs.
But songs like these are what give the group an identity. It’s an unpalatable identity at times, sure. But I admire what songwriters like Justin Tranter are going for — a rude, crude, riot grrrl-esque energy. This energy just happens to clash violently with pop and K-pop aesthetics.
Personally, as an alternative music fan, I’d love to see Katseye go full punk rock. But some things just can’t happen for a group that was literally manufactured by two highly successful record labels.
Still, my first reaction to hearing “Internet Girl” when clips of it started to appear on social media was “Oh good, they’re finally doing another weird one!”
And it seems like the song is catching on. If HYBE and Geffen wanted another “Gnarly,” they got one. Despite fans’ vocal dislike of the song, it’s been a hit in the UK, the US, the Philippines, and globally on the Spotify charts.
While I agree with the consensus that the studio version isn’t as good as the live rendition, both variations of the song are addictive to listen to. Katseye’s songs are a bit like sour candy. There’s an aspect of harshness or unpleasantness to them at first, but there’s something deliciously enjoyable there too.
Valid criticisms?
Many fans online paint HYBE and Geffen as the bad guys in the “Internet Girl” controversy. Since the members of Katseye were chosen through such an intensive process, shouldn’t their songs highlight more of their vocal talents or diverse cultural backgrounds? Are the record labels just going for a shock value or ragebait angle, when they should be trying to produce music that’s actually good?
I do have to agree with the culture aspect. I would love to see more self-expression in Katseye’s work. Previous nods to the girls’ heritages have been incredibly fun and well-received. To name two examples: Daniela’s Spanish verse on “Gabriela” and the group’s culturally-specific monster characters from the Monster High collab.
Overall, despite what the record labels want and what the fans want, I truly believe that the members of Katseye should have the final say when it comes to their music. We don’t know how involved they are in choosing their songs, and almost certainly, if they have anything negative to say about HYBE and Geffen, they can’t say it publicly.
I really enjoy the weirdness and potent identity of songs like “Gnarly” and “Internet Girl.” I don’t think every song featuring a talented singer needs to showcase their entire vocal range. But, if it turns out that the members of Katseye do dislike their own musical direction, of course, I want better for them.
It’s the same with the discourse surrounding their outfits, which aren’t necessarily a problem — as long as the revealing styles the girls wear are a choice they’re making themselves. But there’s not a lot of transparency surrounding Katseye’s permitted level of creative input. So we can’t assume anything, either way.
This discourse is all too much, I fear
In general, fans are a little too quick to villainize the record labels just because they don’t like how something sounds. Katseye has a reputation for being a bit of a chaotic group, one which doesn’t fit any sort of mold. They’re allowed to be open about things that K-pop idols are typically forbidden to discuss, such as who they’re dating and their sexualities. I wouldn’t be surprised if they enjoy having wackier songs than your typical K-pop group as well.
Basically, I hope Katseye likes having “Internet Girl” in their catalog. Because I can’t stop listening to it.
