KATSEYE Perform ‘Animal’ and ‘Hootie Frutti’ in ‘SNL’ Debut

KATSEYE made their Saturday Night Live debut on Saturday (Sept. 26), performing two songs from their latest EP Wild on the NBC sketch series.

The global girl group delivered “Animal” and “Hootie Frutti,” both from the five-track EP released in August. Four of the group’s six members performed, as Manon Bannerman and Sophia Laforteza are currently on hiatus; both stepped back citing their mental health. Wild also features the singles “Pinky Up,” “Bel Air” and “That Way.”

The appearance marked another mainstream U.S. television milestone for the group, following an August performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a slot on the Today summer concert series.

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The SNL debut caps a rapid ascent for KATSEYE, who formed just two years ago through the reality competition series Dream Academy — a joint venture between K-pop powerhouse HYBE and Universal Music Group’s Geffen Records designed to build a globally sourced girl group. The six-member lineup, drawn from across the U.S. and around the world, released their debut EP SIS (Soft Is Strong) in 2024 before breaking through in a major way the following year.

That breakthrough came with their 2025 second EP Beautiful Chaos, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 — their first top 10 — and spent more than a year on the chart. Its lead single “Gnarly” became the group’s first Hot 100 entry, while the Latin-pop follow-up “Gabriela” climbed to No. 21, still their highest-charting single to date. The run earned KATSEYE nominations for Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 68th annual Grammy Awards.

Wild pushed them to a new commercial peak. Released in August, the EP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 170,000 first-week units — the group’s first chart-topper and the biggest sales week for an all-female group in years. Its lead single “Animal,” co-written by Ed Sheeran, debuted at No. 24 on the Hot 100, a career high and the fifth consecutive solo single the group has sent onto the chart, following “Gnarly,” “Gabriela,” “Internet Girl” and “Pinky Up.” With more than 30 million monthly Spotify listeners at points this year, KATSEYE have become one of the most commercially successful girl groups in the world.

The group is currently on their 31-date Wildworld Tour, which opened in Europe earlier this month and heads to North America in October, beginning in Miami and working north into Canada before moving west and wrapping in Mexico City in late November.