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By Emma White
Katseye was my introductory foray into the world of K-pop and the K-pop training model, even though Katseye is not a K-pop group, but instead a global girl group under a K-pop label. I followed along with the Netflix docuseries Dream Academy religiously and even have all of the choreography for their dances memorized. It’s not uncommon to find me randomly breaking out into the “Gnarly” dance at the most inopportune times. While I love Katseye and all of its members, I would be remiss to not acknowledge the way that it was formed and the slightly sinister ethics involved.
Katseye was formed out of a desire to combine the broad appeal of western music with the rigorous training and performance style of K-pop. The American record label Geffen and the Korean record label Hybe came together to develop an intense training program and recruit trainees from across the world. This allowed them to draw upon a global appeal when forming the group. Today, Katseye is known as a massive success, drawing the largest ever daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history and breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 with their songs “Gnarly” and “Gabriela.” Their successes are amplified by the diverse cultures and ethnicities represented by the members of the group. The group has achieved what Hybe and Geffen set out to do: create a group focused on dancing and singing in equal measure with broad global appeal and support. However, one must remember that before the group was Katseye, they were a group of young girls who moved thousands of miles from home to achieve their dreams.
The formation of Katseye is well documented through Popstar Academy. The docuseries followed the trainees as they worked for years to secure a spot in the group. While it may sound glamorous to be a part of an elite training program and have the opportunity to pursue one’s dreams, the reality of the K-pop training methodology, which was used to form Katseye, is a lot less glamorous. Prospective group members train for years, usually unpaid or even collecting
debt from the label, from as young as age 12. The oldest member of the training program when it began was 19 years old and the youngest was 15 years old. Further, the initial group of trainees worked for over two years working from 8am to 8pm every day. The twelve hour work day these young girls were required to complete doesn’t even include the additional practice outside of that time that was expected of them. This clearly should raise some questions of child labor law violations; however, the record labels justified their methods by emphasizing that the work was voluntary. It should be noted, though, that if the minors had not put in these hours, they likely would’ve been cut from the program. These ludicrous hours raise major ethical concerns, yet the program was allowed to continue. The training style was supported by the pervasive mindset seen in the K-pop world that this is simply what is necessary for success in the industry and largely left unquestioned by audiences.
There was another unique ethical concern with the formation of Katseye in particular, though. Many K-pop groups are formed using a survival show, and they come into training knowing that they will have to compete in front of a public audience to make the group. This was not the case for Katseye. The girls were not told that there would be a survival show when they signed on to train. Some members even asked production if they would be put into a survival show and were told no. So, when after two years of training, the girls were informed that they would be taking part in a training show, they were understandably upset. Trainees stated that it made the process less of a collaboration and more of a competition, completely changing the culture of their environment. The ethical consequences of this cannot be understated, especially with the emotional impact that a sudden shift like this can have on young girls. In not disclosing the end point of a survival show, the record label executives created an even more emotionally taxing and stressful experience for the trainees so that they could “reach their dreams.”
This is not a critique of Katseye or the girls themselves. As stated, I truly love Katseye and their music. They are all amazingly talented individuals comprising an incredible group. However, one should remember the exploitation that occurred in order for this group to form and look critically at the record labels that profited off the uncompensated labor of teenage girls. While the end product of this process is an incredible global girl group that has brought great racial diversity into the K-pop genre, one should still be critical of the ethical violations committed by the executives to make it happen.
Emma is a McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville in the class of 2029. She is studying political science, criminal justice, and legal studies.