The global girl group KATSEYE of Hive and Gefen Records has broken into the U.S. Billboard main song chart ‘Hot 100’. Following their entry into the UK Official Single ‘Top 100’, which is also known as one of the world’s two major charts along with the U.S. Billboard.
According to the latest U.S. Billboard chart (dated May 17) released on the 13th (local time), KATSEYE (Daniella, Lara, Marong, Megan, Sofia, and Yoonchae) made their first entry into the ‘Hot 100’ this week with their digital single ‘Gnarly’ at 92nd place.
This song also showed its presence on the Billboard Global Chart, rising to 39th place in ‘Global (excluding U.S.)’ and 47th place in ‘Global 200’. Riding on this popularity, KATSEYE re-entered the ‘Emerging Artist’ chart at 11th place.
‘Gnarly’ hinted at a storm in the mainstream pop market by ranking 52nd on the UK Official ‘Single Top 100’ (May 9-15). It also ranked 60th on the world’s largest music streaming platform Spotify’s ‘Weekly Top Songs Global’ (May 2-8), raising expectations.
KATSEYE, through Hive, expressed, “This moment feels so unreal. Making it to the Billboard ‘Hot 100’ feels like a dream come true for us.” They shared their thoughts, saying, “We have worked really hard until now, and this result is evidence that hard work and passion will surely bear fruit. We hope our journey can inspire girls, boys, and anyone to strive towards bigger dreams.”
‘Gnarly’ is a song that combines dance and punk elements in the hyper-pop genre. After its release on April 30, the bold and experimental sound received much praise for its freshness, although there were also some responses of it being unfamiliar.
According to Hive and Gefen Records, ‘Gnarly’ was a song already secured during KATSEYE’s debut EP preparation stage. However, there were some concerns about it being an early challenge for them. But with producer and songwriter collaboration led by Bang Si-hyuk, the track was completed with a powerful performance.
HxG’s Chief Creative Producer Jeonghyun stated, “We prepared for KATSEYE to exude an artist’s aura on stage and deliver explosive performances.” He added, “During the recording process, we made various attempts to capture KATSEYE’s unique color without compromising the song’s individuality.”
To best showcase this, KATSEYE chose Korean music shows. Their bold music, matching unconventional styling, and powerful performances captivated global fans. KATSEYE’s stage videos on Mnet’s ‘M Countdown’, KBS2’s ‘Music Bank’, MBC’s ‘Show! Music Core’, SBS’s ‘Inkigayo’, and others quickly spread through various SNS platforms, boosting their popularity. The performance video of KATSEYE’s ‘Gnarly’ on M2’s ‘Studio Choom’ channel surpassed 7.79 million views on YouTube.
Their success was a result of breaking the existing norms, maximizing the artists’ inherent capabilities, and the dazzling growth of the six members. Hive and Gefen Records stated, “Korea was the most effective stage to implement new music, concepts, visuals, and performances, and that strategic choice was key.”
Behind KATSEYE’s success lies Hive’s nurturing and production system that is making K-pop a global cultural content. Bang Si-hyuk expressed his philosophy, saying, “I want to expand the scope of K-pop and contribute to its sustainability.”
In reality, KATSEYE went through a process of building performances, vocals, and teamwork based on Korean-style training after being selected through the global audition project ‘Dream Academy’. They applied the so-called ‘K-pop methodology’ while flexibly localizing concepts and communication to suit the U.S. market.
Their success was based on an understanding of the differences between the music industry structures in the U.S. and Korea. Korean agencies discover talented individuals, nurture them into artists through systematic education in music, dance, stage manners, etc. In contrast, the U.S. focuses on marketing and distribution by signing already developed artists, as there is almost no trainee system.
In order to integrate ‘K-pop DNA’ into the culturally different U.S. market, Hive transplanted the K-pop production system, T&D Center, to the U.S., transferring and optimizing the artist development system. Through this, KATSEYE was born, achieving remarkable results and directly proving the global applicability of the K-pop system.