There’s no avoiding Katseye, the record-breaking, Grammy-nominated, global girl group.If you don’t have the lyrics to one of their many internet anthems stuck in your head (“Pinky Up!” “Gnarly!” “Eat Zucchini!”) then you’ve most definitely seen their hypnotizing Gap denim campaign, or maybe you’ve unknowingly ordered their $22 Erewhon smoothie named for their viral hit “Gabriela,” or perhaps if you’re a parent, you’ve thrown your eight-year-old daughter a Katseye-themed birthday party. (Here’s looking at you Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!)
It’s all part of the absolute pandemonium surrounding the group that I reported on for the Summer Issue. To witness it firsthand, I travelled on assignment to Indio, California in April to watch Katseye make their Coachella debut. As the sun began to set on the Valley, and thousands of festival-goers flocked to the Sahara stage, I watched raptly from inside their artist compound as the global girl group, minus sixth member Manon Bannerman, who has been on hiatus since February, navigated backstage chaos like disciplined athletes about to hit the field. Taking in the set, over the sound of deafening roars, I caught a glimpse of Katseye’s magic that 20-year-old member Megan Skiendiel later decoded for me: “We were like, ‘We fucking ate that.’”
The day that I spent interviewing Skiendiel, Lara Raj, Daniela Avanzini, Sophia Laforteza and Yoonchae Jeung, they opened up about their rapid rise, the pressures of global fame, and addressed the rumored tensions between them and Bannerman. That day also happened to be my birthday, and what struck me the most was how we ended up bonding over coming of age as women, feeling, at the end of the day, like we were all still just girls.
Elsewhere in VF today, Dan Adler tackles Dave Portnoy’s new memoir and tags along with alien conspiracists for a field trip to the Disclosure Forum in DC. Plus, Maxwell Adler reports on the fallout from NPR’s Justice Alito retirement retraction. |
DANIELA TIJERINA,
ASSOCIATE EDITOR |
Vanity Fair goes backstage with the global girl group as they prepare for world domination. |
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An “erroneous” report that Justice Samuel Alito was stepping down ricocheted through Washington before NPR pulled it back. The aftermath has left journalists and political insiders asking what, exactly, is happening. |
The Barstool Sports founder’s new memoir, Cancel Me If You Can, is a celebration of his own longevity—and appetite for controversy. At a 92nd Street Y event on Monday night, he suggested that there are more than a few provocations left. |
Aliens, spaceships, and Trump, oh my! VF reports from the Disclosure Forum on Capitol Hill, where members of a sprawling community of national security experts and UFO conspiracists gathered to celebrate how far they’ve come. |
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