Katseye Says Netflix Doc Was Only “a Percentage”

Katseye says – Katseye members say the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: Katseye captured only a slice of what they endured during The Debut: Dream Academy—pointing to injuries, tears, breakdowns, and pressures to change who they were.

On screen. it plays like a transformation story: 20 girls step into The Debut: Dream Academy. get whittled down through fan voting and teacher evaluations. and finally watch the Katseye members be announced. Live on November 17, 2023, the finale aired—and it became a moment millions could stream, clip, and replay.

But for the members of Katseye now, the story is heavier than what viewers saw.

Lara puts it bluntly. “There was a lot of darkness,” she says. She remembers how the show has been received since, when people tell her, “Oh my God, you guys went through so much,” and she answers, “You don’t even know a percentage of it.”

Katseye’s formation was built from a highly structured pipeline: Hybe. the South Korean multinational company behind BTS. and Geffen. an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. collaborated to create the group. The members were selected from 120. 000 international applicants and trained under K-pop methodology—an intentional process that turned them. overnight. from teammates into rivals on an elimination show.

Their training didn’t just unfold inside studios. The experience was streamed across YouTube, Weverse, and ABEMA. And after the elimination run. Netflix released the docuseries Pop Star Academy: Katseye. which—over eight episodes—showed a behind-the-scenes account of the journey as 20 girls were reduced to six.

Almost three years later, the members say that final cut didn’t show the full cost.

“The rest of the girls recall injuries, tears, and breakdowns that weren’t shown in the final cut,” the story continues through their memories, with the emotional emphasis landing on what stayed off camera.

For Yoonchae, the pressure carried a different shape. She had already started K-pop training back home. so most of the time spent trying to enter Katseye was spent working alone. “I always went to lessons and practice alone by myself,” she says. “I had to eat by myself every day, so it was very lonely.”.

The hardest pressures, in the girls’ telling, weren’t only about endurance—they were about performance. In an episode of Dream Academy, a teacher told Lara she needed to tone down her personality. Lara says she changed herself to match what the show—or what the group originally was supposed to be—needed. “In response, the 20-year-old says she became ‘a completely different person’ to have a shot at getting in the group.”.

That kind of reshaping, Lara argues, didn’t just alter behavior. It tangled with identity. “I think a lot of the girls went through that same struggle where who they are authentically did not fit into what I think Katseye was originally supposed to be. ” she says. “I tamed myself because I saw a future and it was worth it. but I think that caused so much soul torment.”.

The gap between what Katseye was meant to be and who the members are becoming now seems to be part of why this moment feels pivotal—both as a group and for each of them as young women learning what it means to speak with their own voice.

Megan links the turning point to defiance, not discipline. “If we never cussed in our first livestream or if we weren’t wild. we would not be where we are. ” she says. “I feel like you need to break rules to make an impact in any aspect. Even in the music industry, people who follow the rules don’t make history, you know what I mean?. I feel like to get what we wanted, we had to start speaking up.”.

Katseye Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: Katseye The Debut: Dream Academy Hybe Geffen Universal Music Group Lara Yoonchae Megan BTS K-pop