KATSEYE Bare Shh Harrowing on “Animal,” the Second Taste of WILD

Five months after “Pinky Up,” KATSEYE return with a sharper, flirt single built for the group’s most confident era yet.

KATSEYE released “Animal” on July 24, 2026, the second pre-release single from their upcoming third EP, WILD, due August 14 through Geffen Records and HYBE UMG. The track arrived alongside a music video shot through hallways and red-lit rooms, following a 32-second teaser that closed on the word “Freaky” painted across a red fingernail.

stir

Where “Pinky Up” leaned into hyperpop bounce and Y2K styling, “Animal” pulls back toward something moodier and more physical. The group has described it as a flirtatious pop anthem about embracing a wilder side, built on punchy percussion and a hook engineered to stick. Five members appear on the track and in the video: Lara Raj, Sophia Laforteza, Megan Skiendiel, Yoonchae, and Daniela Avanzini. Manon Bannerman remains absent from the release, continuing a hiatus from group activities that KATSEYE announced back in February to focus on her health and wellbeing.

Critics greeted the song with a shrug more than a roar. The Bias List called the track anonymous-sounding despite its pedigree, comparing its strut more to a late-2000s Duffy hit than anything distinctly KATSEYE. That pedigree is real: “Animal” was written by Ed Sheeran, Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid, Blake Slatkin, and Omer Fedi, with Slatkin and Fedi also producing.

huh

“Animal” is KATSEYE’s seventh single overall and slots in as track two on WILD, a five song EP the group has framed as the start of a more euphoric, self-determined chapter following last year’s Beautiful Chaos. The rollout continues a busy stretch for the group, who formed through the HYBE and Geffen competition series The Debut: Dream Academy and built a devoted fanbase known as EYEKONS. The group has spent two years positioning itself as one of the defining new acts in global pop, and WILD is being pitched as proof of that evolution rather than a repeat of it.

The EP follows a run that has kept KATSEYE in constant motion. Lead single “Pinky Up” arrived in April ahead of the group’s Coachella debut, where they also performed “Gnarly” and joined the “Huntr/X” voice cast from KPop Demon Hunters for a rendition of “Golden.” That festival run helped push the group into three American Music Awards nomination categories: New Artist of the Year, Best Music Video for “Gnarly,” and Breakthrough Pop Artist. Between the awards attention and headline slots lined up at Head in the Clouds, Hinterland, and Governors Ball, “Animal” lands at a moment when the group’s commercial momentum is arguably outrunning the reception of any single song.

verd

That gap between hype and reviews is part of what makes “Animal” worth watching. The song was engineered by a songwriting team with a track record for hits elsewhere, and its release strategy, teaser first, then a full video same day, mirrors how the group rolled out “Pinky Up” months earlier. WILD arrives August 14 across multiple physical formats, including individual member editions and vinyl, with a world tour and a companion documentary, KATSEYE: WILD HEARTS, both on the group’s calendar for later this year.