On Sept. 26, KATSEYE stepped onto Saturday Night Live for the first time, performing two songs from their latest album Wild during a broadcast of the NBC sketch show. The global girl group performed “Animal” and “Hootie Frutti,” both tracks from the five-track EP released in August.
Of the six people in the group, four appeared onstage for the performance, while Manon Bannerman and Sophia Laforteza have stepped back from the band during their hiatus. They both cited their mental health as the reason for their withdrawal. The EP includes the three singles “Pinky Up,” “Bel Air”, and “That Way.”.
The look rounds out a swift climb for the act, which came together via the reality contest Dream Academy — a collaboration between HYBE, the K-pop powerhouse, and Geffen Records, part of Universal Music Group, built to create a girl group with international reach. The six-person roster, pulled from the U.S. and beyond, put out their first EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong), in 2024, then broke through the next year.
From SIS to Beautiful Chaos
Their 2025 second EP Beautiful Chaos marked the breakthrough, opening at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and holding its place for over a year. It gave the group their first top 10. The lead single “Gnarly” became their first Hot 100 entry, and the Latin-pop follow-up “Gabriela” reached No. 21, remaining their highest-charting single to date.
At the 68th annual Grammy Awards, the song earned KATSEYE nominations in two categories: Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Wild Tops the Billboard 200
The EP Wild sent the group’s commercial fortunes to new heights. It arrived in August and opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, moving 170,000 first-week units — marking both the group’s first chart-topping effort and the largest sales week for an all-female group in recent years.
The group’s lead single “Animal,” which was co-written by Ed Sheeran, reached No. 24 on the Hot 100, a career high for the act. It is also the fifth straight solo single the group has placed onto the chart. That streak includes “Gnarly,” “Gabriela,” “Internet Girl”, and “Pinky Up.”. This year, the group has drawn more than 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify, positioning KATSEYE among the most commercially successful girl groups in the world.
A Busy Year of Television
Another major U.S. television milestone arrived when the group made its SNL debut, coming after their August appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a spot on the Today summer concert series.
The Road Ahead
The Wildworld Tour is the current run by KATSEYE, a 31-date outing that started its European leg earlier this month and moves to North America in October. It starts in Miami, then heads north into Canada before turning west, and finishes in Mexico City at the end of November.
The Numbers Behind the Debut
- Release: Wild — five tracks, released in August
- Billboard 200: No. 1, 170,000 first-week units
- Hot 100: “Animal” debuted at No. 24
- Grammy nominations: Best New Artist, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
- Tour: 31-date Wildworld Tour, running through late November
What This Debut Means
The group’s appearance on Saturday Night Live marks the latest signal of a band that has been moving quickly. They came together two years ago, put out their first EP in 2024, broke through in 2025, and now sit atop the Billboard 200.
Across three records, the band has kept their sound feeling new. SIS laid down the groundwork, Beautiful Chaos showed they could hold their own against the biggest names in pop, and Wild has already matched the chart peaks of its predecessors.
Two members stepped away from the group during a period when most bands never pause, yet the rest kept performing and touring without them. The SNL appearance demonstrates that the momentum has not slowed down, even with Bannerman and Laforteza taking time apart.
A Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, paired with a run of Hot 100 entries, places the group among an exclusive few. Only a small number of acts can boast both a Grammy nod and a series of chart hits within two years of forming.
The road from Dream Academy to the Billboard 200 to SNL has been steady for KATSEYE, and their current tour schedule shows no sign of slowing down. Right now, the SNL appearance serves as a marker of a remarkable two years.
Source material: “KATSEYE Perform ‘Animal’ and ‘Hootie Frutti’ in ‘SNL’ Debut,” Billboard.
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