The Girl Group received ‘thousands’ of death threats

Girl group Katseye said they have received many death threats online since they made their debut last year.

The six-piece, who were recently nominated for best new artist at the Grammy Awards, told BBC News that their families, “may be overwhelmed by their families,” may also be overwhelmed by their families, “may be overwhelmed by their families,”

“I try to tell myself it’s not important, but when 1,000 people send you death threats, it’s scary,” said Singer Lara Raj. “Even if it doesn’t happen, it’s heavy.”

Raj, who is a US citizen with Tamil Indian heritage, was also subjected to racist comments, and was falsely reported on ice for “working in the United States without state permission”.

The 20-year-old said he had “deleted Twitter” (now known as x), to avoid seeing negative comments.

“I learned that I’m not the audience for other people’s opinions,” he said.

Katseye did not specify the nature of the threats they received; But aggressive and inappropriate behavior is frowned upon in most fan communities.

Last year, Chappell Roan criticized “a lot of physical and social interactions” with his fans, including people who harassed his family and friends.

The pop band Muna has blocked some of their supporters for “spreading lies about us and our loved ones for clout and attention”; While DOJA Cat called the “horrifying” behavior “behavior from a section of his fanbase.

“Our career is very close, but I feel that many things have been said to us, to our families,” said Katseye Sophia Lighterza.

“We know we signed up for that in public. We know it’s part of the fame. But it doesn’t change the fact that we’re human.”

Raj also pointed out the sexual nature of the comments the band received.

“People see us as girls to rank. They grade us based on how beautiful we are, our singing skills, acquiring skills, and then add us to a percentage.

“That’s dystopian.”

“I feel like the intimidation of the mind,” added his bandmate Mon Bannerman.

Despite the online negativity, Katseye has had an amazing year.

Their second EP, Beautiful Chaos, peaked at number two on the US album charts, thanks to the brilliant lead single, Gnarly, and the Charlie-penned follow-up, Gabriella.

An ad they published for Power Gap went viral in August, converting 400 million people in the world? “There are only people who are “Billions of people in the world”

Last month, they won best performance at the MTV awards. Five days later, they became only the third girl group in history to receive a best new artist nomination at the Grammys, following SWV and Wilson Phillips.

The six members, aged between 17 and 22, are truly international.

Daniela Avanzini is a Cuban American from Atlanta. Raj is a Sri Lankan American from New York. Bannerman is a Ghanaian-Italian from Zurich. Megan Skienda is an American-Singaporean American from Honolulu. Loraceza is from Manila in the Philippines. And Yoonchae Jeung was born and raised in South Korea.

They chose Katseye to debut: Dream Academy, a reality show designed by Korean records and the geffen of BTS and leffen of BIFRIA – roses in America.

Thousands applied, but 20 made it through to the training and development stage – a fun, two-year bootcamp of daily dance lessons, vocal practice and fierce feedback.

Again in a dance routine, they were mocked for their lack of synchronization: “It should sound like someone walking down the stairs. It doesn’t sound like a group of people falling down the stairs.”

Those days are long behind them. The sextet learned the intricate, aerobic choreography for their gap announcement in just one day.

“The longer we stick together as a team, the more we need,” Skiffiel said.

“One day of rehearsals and we’re in sync. Then we nitpick the others.”

Last year’s sis (soft strong) EP established the band with a confident, soop pop sound. But it’s gnarly that really puts it on the map.

Released in April, the song is two minutes and seventeen seconds of aggressive chaos drops on the beat, sacrificial synths and gang stickals and gang vocals.

It immediately divided opinion: “But people keep coming back for more. At the time of writing, it has overflowed more than half a billion times. No less than the New York Times called it “The future of K-Pop”.

“When we first heard about it, we knew it was going to be shocking,” Avanzini said.

“That’s very exciting, the idea of ​​making people angry,” agreed Raj. “It’s not giving them something that’s okay – we’re really giving them something that’s fun.”

It may have been polarizing – but Katseye turned it from a pop curiosity into a cultural phenomenon.

An early fan was Melanie C, who hosted a showcase for the band in London last month.

Speaking on stage, she said that Katseye reminded her of the Spice girls.

“The one thing about the Spice girls is so many people feel like they can identify with one of us,” she said. “And I think that’s really beautiful [the diversity of] Your Band: You open the door though for a lot of people. “

“We pride ourselves very much that our team is diverse,” Bannerman told the BBC.

“It’s our number one priority to show girls out there to be proud of where they’re from, no matter what they look like.”

And, despite the online pushback he received, Raj encouraged musicians from different backgrounds to pursue their dreams.

“Please do it,” he told the BBC. “You don’t feel restricted.

“Our skin color, our culture is our power. Use it and own it.”