HYBE Girl Group’s New Release Sparks Heated Debate Over Their Target Audience
HYBE’s international girl group KATSEYE has sparked yet another heated debate with their latest release.
On November 11, KST, the official social media accounts of KATSEYE posted a series of videos teasing the release of their first “Season’s Greetings.”
new drop for the holiday season!!
2026 SEASON'S GREETINGS ‘MOD & MAD’📅 pre-order: Nov 13, 6PM (PST) l Nov 14, 11AM (KST)#KATSEYE #SEASONSGREETINGS #MOD_MAD pic.twitter.com/B9D1GfGBbC
— KATSEYE (@katseyeworld) November 11, 2025
— KATSEYE (@katseyeworld) November 11, 2025
In the world of K-Pop, “Season’s Greetings” usually refers to a package of goods released by artists with relevant items such as desk calendars, photobooks, planners, photocards, and even exclusive content, among others. This type of artist merchandise is sold around the time of the new year.
Since it is a typically K-Pop phenomenon for artists to release their “Season’s Greetings,” KATSEYE’s teaser videos sparked some confusion among their fans.
was so confused i had to google it https://t.co/7m4H9MkRpc pic.twitter.com/P4m4A9rkmQ
— luna (@cestmoiluna) November 11, 2025
I genuinely have no idea what ur tryna sell us here
— laur (@itslaurlmao) November 11, 2025
what are they promoting 😭 are they starting a clothing brand?
— ً (@h2gkmro) November 11, 2025
The videos have sparked criticism about the group’s lack of commitment to the label of “K-Pop.” Many found it hypocritical that KATSEYE claimed to be a non-K-Pop group yet took something so typical out of the industry’s book that a majority of their fans had no idea what they were trying to sell.
If katseye not kpop why kpop shaped?
— Jennie (@Rose41022648) November 11, 2025
i thought they weren’t a kpop group ?
— 🍓 (@chuuhoseok) November 11, 2025
The concept of claiming not to be a K-pop group but doing all kpop shit that even kpop idols don't do anymore https://t.co/f0v8FGimlX pic.twitter.com/NP5aOxPXqh
— ♡ (@wuvyaxian) November 11, 2025
It’s pretty clear their agency wants to attract as many K-pop fans as possible while calling them a “global group” to avoid being ostracized by places like the Grammys.
They’ve got everything a K-pop group has (including their label), just without singing in Korean. https://t.co/NXNa0oHKUU— Soli_ (@oh_soli) November 12, 2025
However, fans are considering the reaction as positive, since it proved that KATSEYE’s fame is not restricted to the K-Pop circle and that they have been able to make a name for themselves in the global market as a global girl group.
i think it’s so funny that people were claiming nobody knows katseye outside of kpop when most people in the comments and quotes don’t know what season’s greetings is https://t.co/orttJ6nwXc pic.twitter.com/zrnDcO83ab
— k (@jongseongfever) November 11, 2025
eyekons being confused as to what season’s greetings is proves that katseye fans aren’t all just kpop stans like kpop stans be saying https://t.co/ZZzjyfPZ7N
— 🐈 (@a2kcami) November 11, 2025
the comments just proved katseye's fandom is not majority kpop stans because why is everyone confused about a season's greetings? 😭 https://t.co/CQKXymbAYS
— katja 🍫 (@katswafel) November 11, 2025
