Fresh off the aural hell that was Iconic By Mistake, Katseye are continuing their new EP rollout with Animal. Thus far, the group has pinballed between gimmicky ragebait and ultra-generic pop, making their overall identity a mystery. Their sweet spot likely lies somewhere between both extremes, but their producers have struggled to find it. Animals‘s Ed Sheeran-led team of composers is not the way forward, and the song’s anonymous sound bears that out.
This probably isn’t the comparison the producers were looking for, but on first listen Animal conjured memories of the brief but mighty cultural dominance of Duffy’s late-2000s hit Mercy. Katseye don’t have nearly as dynamic of vocal tones, but the song’s strutting percussion casts a similar groove. If I were to be more antagonistic, I’d probably compare this to a Meghan Trainor song instead. And here lies the problem: since Katseye have waffled so much with their sound, all we can really do is compare them to other acts. I’m not sure what makes this a Katseye song. I can hear just about anyone singing it to similar effect.
Purely on an aesthetic level, Animal is fine. It makes no strong moves in any direction and conforms to familiar structure. Its melodic range is narrow and mostly just vamps along the rhythm. It’s the kind of song I could imagine hearing the background as I’m shopping. I might even hum along here and there as I scan the shelf for deals. Someone could walk up and ask me if there’s anything they could help me with and we might have a pleasant exchange as Katseye continue to softly sing in the background. The song may even repeat more than once and I’d hardly notice. At least they’d get a couple more streams out of it, I guess.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
Grade: C-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
its much more listenable than pinky up or gnarly or internet girl, but yeah it just feels a bit too monotonous and radio-friendly to really do it for me, a more dynamic arrangement could’ve saved it
ratings the same
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right like that chorus was BEGGING for grittier, more rock production
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oh yeah currently they have a 6.78 rating in my book, yes im counting internet girl
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a tad boring but it makes for a solid starting point for what i expected out of their sound as someone who’s been stanning since debut! honestly anything is better than that slop that they’ve been releasing lately, and i’d rather take mildly uninteresting over ear bleeding any day. i just wish this had better production and… i don’t know, everything?? 7.75/10 for me!
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it kind of sounds like an animated film’s soundtrack
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it would definitely fit into one of dreamworks’ films, particularly the miss portion of their hit and miss filmography
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it reminded me of I’m In Love With a Monster by Fifth Harmony for Hotel Transylvania 2, which is a MUCH better song.
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finally, a track from them that isnt awful. its decent actually
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It’s so hilarious how relatable you are as a person hahaha😂. As for the song itself, completely agree with what you said.
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You said it’s like Duffy’s song but isn’t this just a copy of Lee Hyori’s Bad Girl??
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For a song talking about ANIMAL, the song moves NOTHING like animal. Yes the music video had a telenovela quality similar to GABRIELLA, but the music just did not do anythig WILD about it. I expect a song with more wild aspect that made GNARLY viral combined with GABRIELLA sophisticated control, that should be the sweet spot that the producers aimed for KATSEYE. This song just missed the mark for me.
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i rather have a thousand gnarlys than one of this.
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This took me back to the mid-late 2010s, actually. It reminded me of Portugal The Man’s “Feel It Still.” Also, “Devil” by CLC comes to mind when listening to this song. All this to say, the track just sounds dated, I think it was probably and Ed Sheeran reject from 2015-2018. I also think it is the same thing that happened with “Gabriela,” a song that took from the Latino popularity of the late 2010s.
So it’s just interesting that KATSEYE goes from “experimental” ragebait music to the most normie song ever created, sounding like it came from the demos someone made around ten years ago. It’s sad to see HYBE give them this type of material, considering they’re all so talented and charismatic. Hopefully, this changes at some point in their discography, but it seems unlikely. I am impressed at the fact that they’re not flopping with this type of music.
A little rant here but I just can’t see KATSEYE fans 10 years later, after the group disbands, being like “oh wow, remember Gnarly, Pinky Up and Animal? Those were AWESOME songs!!” I know that it’s hard to calculate nostalgia in that way, but 1D, Little Mix, and Justin Bieber songs from early in their career are just nostalgic childhood classics. I wonder if a Gen Alpha fan or a young Zoomer will think of KATSEYE and look back at Internet Girl like a nostalgic classic.
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Gabriela was recorded as early as 2018 I believe. Rita Ora and Anitta’s demos leaked, and even Little Mix had the song at one point.
I read this song is a reject from Ed’s own discography and he gave it to multiple artists before landing on KATSEYE.
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wish the song had a stronger punch during the chorus and had a BRIDGE leading to a final, more bigger chorus. and if i took this song as is, i would’ve wanted a more explosive last chorus at least. a 6.5 for me!
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if you go for British sound they should have tried something closer to Girls Aloud, something a bit bolder and with melodic intensity. At least Pinky Up was stupid, this is plain boring, a mobile phone ad soundtrack.
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To me, it sounds like the producers had Britney’s “Toxic” on the mood board — that percussive patterns were especially familiar!! — but they couldn’t just replicate the pazazz that song had. Otherwise, I’m glad that they’re ACTUALLY singing again!! But I feel like its lacking something??
I played Toxic and Animal back to back, and I noticed how more streamlined and repetitive Animal gets in comparison to Toxic. Toxic had dynamics with the instrumentation and some really nice backing vocals, effects, and adlibs, especially the way the violins are incorporated is different enough per segment + that dance break is so jagged yet precise. This…one just felt derivative of an otherwise better idea?
The girls sound great but the most frustrating part about KATSEYE is that they’ve got this immense potential their fans (including me) rave about but my god, their songs barely reach the heights of it.
Oh and the MV is fine, feels like a Gabriela rethread with the Demi Moore cameo (nice to see her tho!) The Substance was a fucking beast), but the arc itself just isn’t as interesting. Polished, clean, yet sporadic.
Also I’m kind of noticing that so far they’re singles go from brash, attitude-y club tracks (Gnarly, Pinky Up) to sleek, generic pop (Garbriela, Animal). Really HYBE??? Can’t we get that RnB demo Lara was cooking up???
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