When Jalen Brunson stood on the Saturday Night Live Season 52 premiere stage to introduce the musical guest, only four members of KATSEYE were there to take Studio 8H. Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, and Yoonchae Jeung pulled off the group's SNL debut, with both Manon Bannerman and Sophia Laforteza absent from the lineup.
The four members opened with "Animal," the lead single from the group's third EP Wild, complete with a full choreographed performance. The retro-pop-flavored track, co-written with Ed Sheeran, hit No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its July release, marking another recent hit for KATSEYE in the US market. Later in the show, the four returned for a livelier, more playful rendition of "Hootie Frutti," also from Wild.
More intriguing than the two performances was a pre-taped sketch built into the show — one where KATSEYE played survival-show judges in a fictional second season of "The Debut: Dream Academy," watching a fresh batch of contestants try to win them over. The bit directly referenced the group's own origin story: it was the 2023 competition show "The Debut: Dream Academy," a joint production by HYBE and Geffen Records, that originally selected Avanzini, Raj, Bannerman, Skiendiel, Laforteza, and Jeung to form KATSEYE. Now sitting on the other side of the judging table poking fun at their own formation process turned out to be the most amusing touch of the entire SNL appearance.
Wild, released on August 14, is KATSEYE's third EP within two years of debuting. NME gave it three stars, noting the group is still finding the balance between "crowd-pleasing catchiness" and "willingness to push boundaries." The previous EP, Beautiful Chaos, featured two breakout singles, "Gnarly" and "Gabriela" — the latter co-written with Charli XCX, while "Gnarly" landed on NME's list of the 50 best songs of 2025.
Laforteza is currently taking a break from the group to focus on her personal mental health, while Bannerman has been on hiatus since February. The team confirmed before the tour kicked off that they would proceed with the current lineup. KATSEYE is currently on their "WILDWORLD" tour, having wrapped up the European leg earlier this month with shows at The O2 in London and Co-op Live in Manchester.
