The global pop group Katseye has recently been facing some backlash for their songs “Pinky Up” and “Gnarly,” but do those songs really deserve the hate?
On the first listen to both songs, the most obvious thing is how repetitive they are. In “Pinky Up,” the phrase “pinky up” is used 19 times, and the word “gnarly” is used 38 times in their song “Gnarly.” This repetition, while making it easy to sing along to the songs, also makes the song quality a lot worse. It doesn’t show off the girls’ vocal power at all, and there is no depth to the lyrics. Listeners can hear in their first album SIS (Soft is Strong) that all six of the members are vocal powerhouses. While those songs are still slightly repetitive, they have more meaning to them. This allows people to listen to the lyrics while appreciating the thought that the lyricist put in it. In contrast, for the songs “Pinky up” and “Gnarly,” no depth to the lyrics means that you don’t have to think about the song. While it’s easy to listen to, it doesn’t keep many people’s attention.
What does keep people’s attention is the dances that go along with these songs. Both songs have dances made by Katseye’s choreographers that work very well with the internet’s algorithm. The dances have enough difficulty that people need to put effort into learning them but are simple enough that most people can do it with practice. This gives people something to focus on. They can think about all the dance’s small details, and when focusing on the dance, the lyrics matter less.
If you want a song that is lyrically good, going to Katseye’s first album SIS (Soft is Strong) might be more for you. All the songs on that album show off both their vocal skills and three of the five had accompanying dances. If you want songs that don’t require concentration, “Pinky up” and “Gnarly” will probably be more for you.
While their most recent songs have positives, there are a lot of negatives to them. They don’t show the girls’ true vocal potential, and they aren’t good at holding people’s attention. Since the girls in the group don’t have any control over what songs they release, their fans can only hope that the group’s label chooses to give them better songs in the future.
