Last summer, we were spoilt with tons of incredible music moments. As the days are growing hotter, everyone is on the edge of their seats wondering what the highlights of this years summer soundtrack will be.

A strong contender to become the defining voice of 2025 is Katseye. After numerous successes in their debut year such as hitting, the global girl group announced their second EP Beautiful chaos will be released on the 27th of June.

However, since they dropped the leading single, ‘Gnarly’, many fans were left disappointed.

Their first EP 'Soft is Strong' is the perfect mix of delicate vocals and fierce passion. Songs like 'Debut' cemented their fandom and proved beyond doubt that Katseye had something special.

For their new era, the girls are remixing... well everything. They're changing up their aesthetic and they're taking a lot of risks. While it's certainly drawing attention, a lot of EYEKONS are feeling that Katseye has gone from 'Touch' to 'Out of touch'.

Will This Year Be 'Gnarly' Summer?

'Gnarly', is supposed to be edgy, making a statement about teenage online culture.

With its energetic sound and lime green motifs throughout, it's clear what Gnarly is trying to be. "You can describe everything with one single word" sounds very reminiscent of summer 2024, or should I say Brat Summer when the iconic design was everywhere, and a word that was previously negative was suddenly mainstream.

Apple from Charli xcx's album, Brat, inspired a viral TikTok dance trend.

Now let me say, I love that Katseye is fusing K-Pop with western club music. I love that they're doing something different. But what their label just isn't getting is that you can't always follow a formula and guarantee success.

To make a hit, you need a few things: cultural timing, luck, and authenticity. Unfortunately, Gnarly is severely lacking these key ingredients.

What elevated Brat from a song to a movement is because Charli XCX chose exactly the right moment. We all needed to listen to something more upbeat. In 2024, we were long past the restrictions as well as the lingering sadness of the pandemic. People wanted to party!

Charli xcx reclaimed a word that made sense. Before last summer, the immediate connotations of a brat would be someone young, silly and selfish. After all the seriousness of the early 2020's, for the first time a lot of us are learning how to be silly and how to put ourselves first; being a 'Brat' didn't sound like a bad idea.

Charli xcx at Times Square from wikicommons

In many ways, the album just didn't take itself too seriously. Charli XCX’s team clearly invested thousands into marketing and song development, but never appeared like they were trying too hard.

While Brat is the title of her album, it was luck and Charli’s effortlessly cool energy that meant everybody knew the word (which won Collins dictionary’s word of the year). It didn’t seem forced, compared to Gnarly by Katseye, which uses the word Gnarly over 40 times. The team behind Gnarly is clearly aching to be relatable to teens, but it just doesn't pay off.

When some people use the term Brat, it's code for a woman with high standards who knows what she wants. So, the Brat Summer phenomenon was about having fun just as much as reclaiming power in a very subtle way.

Take the Quiz: What’s Your Secret Superpower? This Quiz Will Reveal Which Singer Icon You Resemble

This fun quiz will unveil your unique qualities and reveal which music icon you resemble the most.

What Does Gnarly Mean?

When asked this question by Fazer magazine, the group was pretty vague. Manon said: "-gnarly can be a good thing or a bad thing in our minds. It's kind of up for interpretation."

Now, let's think about the word Gnarly. For me, its making me think of something twisted and ugly and weird. I just don't get how fried chicken or boba tea can be 'Gnarly' or what 'good gnarly' really is.

So while parts of the song ('Na-na-na-na-na-na-Gnarly') are starting to grow on me, I still don't get the lyric choices at all. Personally, the concept of Gnarly makes little sense to me, and it doesn't feel relevant.

What's Up With The Song Lyrics?

In fact, the biggest criticism from fans was about the songs lyrics. Some such as “Hottie, hottie, like a bag of takis” are drawing some criticism of being more entertaining than empowering.

As one youtube comment on the MV by @mightychocobro3890 puts it: "The beat is fire but the lyrics are the the exhungisher...."

Yet with a talented team including JKash (worked with Katy Perry, Dua Lipa), and and Madison Love (collabed with Camilla Cabello, Ava Max) how did this happen?

The new single is marketed as younger Gen Z's anthem, exploring how it feels to grow up in an online world. This is such an interesting concept, giving tons to work with.

Despite this, the team for this project is all adults. You may be the best producer in the world, but can your lyrics really represent a generation you aren't a part of? This has led to many fans feeling like Katseye's talent has been wasted and many are calling for more input from the girls themselves.

Katseye practising the choreography for Gnarly

Personal style

Plenty of artists change up their sound, so why has Katseye received such a negative response? Something that stands out to me is that Katseye's transformation has happened in such a short space of time. Gnarly feels otherworldly to touch despite only nine months between the songs.

Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpetner both evolved as artists and as a result they catapulted into the limelight. However, they did this in a way that felt sincere, consistent and over many years. Fans felt that they could grow with the artist, whereas with Katseye, Gnarly seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this new release is feeling as though the girls’ talent has been wasted. For example, many are highlighting how Lara, arguably one of the strongest vocalists, has been reduced to just saying "gang gang" in a monotone voice in the new song. With other current artists, fans just haven't felt that disappointment- that their production team isn’t letting them shine.

It hits even harder as a huge percentage of Katseyes’ listeners come from watching "Pop Star Academy"- the Netflix survival show which formed the group. As you watch each girl pour their soul into rigorous training, it's hard not to feel united with them. We watch the struggles they overcome and the sweat they put in… just to finally be given a song that doesn't highlight their strengths at all.

Official trailer for Pop Star Academy

Damage Control

Manon, Yoonchae, Lara, Sophia, Megan and Daniela first won over the public with their vote in Dream Academy, and they now are also serving major damage control. Since the initial release, Eyekons have mellowed from their first reactions, and their energy has gone from disappointment to praise for Katseye's charisma and dance talent.

The group has released a series of TikTok's and promo videos including a self-aware skit which recognises that the fans 'won't get it' the first time they watch the mv.

We seem to be back in 2024 where viewers were outraged at the twist in Pop-Star Academy and felt the girls were being let down... yet we keep eagerly watching because of the talented, likeable idols.

While we are in suspense for the next release, fans are also bringing to the table other concerns- particularly about visual choices.

Towards the end of the MV, the girls are ambushed by a swarm of male photographers who oogle at them with creepy bug-like eyes. It's an uncomfortable choice, and something that normalises women being treated like objects at a time which is devastatingly, all too common. The members all started the K-pop training at such a young age, and it does make me feel sad that these types of messages have been bestowed on them by the team they have devoted their all to.

The video also features unnecessary gross clips of bugs on food (if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about) on top of suggestive choreography and sound effects that many are calling inappropriate, particularly for the groups youngest member Yoonchae, who is still just 17.

Stylistically, fans are also commenting on the song structure saying the whole song feels like and intro, and it is brash and chaotic. Although, clearly the team didn't intend for this song to be palatable. Was this an intentional choice to disrupt what we think a pop song should be?

Gnarly's clean edit which many are preferring to the original song

Wrapping it Up

Gnarly has its issues, and I could sit here forever talking about why it's not a perfect song. I think the main problem is that Gnarly is lacking a clear message. From beginning to end, there's shock-factor moments, and poorly chosen culture references, but ultimately no heart.

It's been made to be consumed, made to draw attention, written to make money but it's not telling us a story. It's clear from the Fader interview, that the girls themselves have no idea what gnarly means with Lara saying "there are good gnarlies and there are bad gnarlies. They're just like, yeah, whatever you interpret it as."

Maybe Gnarly is a warning to us all about the future of art in a capitalist world. Where things are chosen to get people talking instead of giving us something meaningful. On the other hand, it is an intentional piece about growing up online- with overstimulation, brain-rot, and some honestly pretty weird content?

Or, is it just a chaotic pop-song that we shouldn’t take too seriously? What do you think?

One thing is for sure, Katseye has not fully lost it's audience. Gnarly has certainly given us something to think about and we haven’t even heard the rest of Beautiful Chaos yet! Let's watch this space.