AUGUST 21, 2026

By Craig Jenkins

Photo: HYBE LABELS via YouTube

Katseye is taking off like a rocket ship that’s losing bits of mass as it gains altitude. Their new EP, Wild, is reportedly about to debut at No. 1 as the biggest release from a girl group in the streaming era. But it has been an intermittently baffling, sometimes worrying year for the international sextet, who formed in 2023 on the competitive reality series The Debut: Dream Academy. In February, the group’s label, K-pop machine Hybe, announced fan favorite Manon Bannerman’s indefinite hiatus citing health reasons — which she seemed to challenge by attending Coachella two months later even as the rest of the group performed there without her. Her departure and a lack of clarity from management fed speculation in the press and in their fandom full of children and teens that there’s potentially a deeper problem and she may never return. (Manon is not featured on Wild but shows up in archival footage in the new Katseye: Wild Hearts documentary, so no new tea is spilled there.) Then this month, another member, Sophia Laforteza, announced her temporary health hiatus. Down a third of its crew (and periodically appearing as a trio), the quartet-for-now seeks modern girl-group chart history while nagged by uncertainty and controversy that extends to their music.

Celebrity gossip, industry updates, and beyond.

➼ Julia Stiles saved the last dance for ABC.

➼ Meghan Markle may sparkle on TV again. 

➼ Not a drill: It's The Pitt season three teaser.

➼ Movies Fantasy League, explained in 30 seconds.

ADVERTISER CONTENT