If “Mean Girls” were to be remade in 2025, who would play the lead? If telenovelas were no longer centered around romance, what other themes would they explore? These are the questions that KATSEYE’s second EP, “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS,” poses to us. “Mean Girls” tells the story of Cady, a girl who moves from Africa and finds herself entangled in a power struggle driven by romance and school politics after falling for Aaron, ex-boyfriend of her new school’s queen bee, Regina. The melodramatic plots of Latin American telenovelas similarly tend to revolve around romance, breakups, and rivalries between female protagonists and antagonists over a shared love interest. The girls in the track “Mean Girls” off “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS,” though, aren’t fighting over love, and KATSEYE’s version of a telenovela in the music video for the single “Gabriela” doesn’t have a single man in it. So what’s left of a story about women once love’s taken out of the equation?

Promotions, power, success, reaching the top—these are the things the women in the “Gabriela” video are fighting for. It fully embraces the telenovela flavor with a Latin melody, big hair, extravagant accessories, leopard and rose prints, and melodramatic scenes. But the music video twists these conventions of the genre to create chaos. “One of you must succeed me and claim my name as the next CEO of Gabriela Enterprises,” Jessica Alba, playing the CEO of Gabriela Enterprises, says. “So, who will be the next Gabriela?” She then takes off her rose necklace and tosses it onto the conference room table. What follows is an all-out war as the members of KATSEYE, each claiming to be the rightful successor, start attacking each other, throwing things and taking blows in a desperate attempt to claim the necklace as their own. It’s a symbol of power not received from someone else but earned through your own hard work. Gabriela, the eponymous subject of the song, is showered with praises like “You got everybody's eyes undressing you," “You make me wonder,” and “You could have anyone else you wanted to,” while the “narrator” has to stay on guard for Gabriela who might snatch her partner away. Compare that to what you hear when you call the phone number made public alongside the “Gabriela” teaser—a heated exchange, with each KATSEYE member claiming to be the one true Gabriela. The music video does away with the archetype of the seductive man stealer with a name that both belongs to a CEO who’s run a company for over 20 years against all odds and stands as a symbol of female empowerment. “May the best Gabriela win,” Alba’s character announces in the music video, and in this love-free telenovela, Gabriela is the ultimate victor, triumphing in every battle to rise to the very top.

The camera eventually reveals that the violent clash between the KATSEYE members for succession rights all takes place on a TV set. But even off set, women in show business are expected to compete and clash with one another. Model Soo Joo appears as the host of a fictional talk show in the music video, rousing her audience to chant “spill that tea” and demanding the group spill all about their “katfight.” After fighting so theatrically in front of the camera, the girls suddenly all start blowing rose petals from their mouths. A rose also blooms from the bandage covering an injury Megan sustained during their fight, all alluding to how women are often pressured to engage in conflict with one another to achieve goals as coveted as the rose necklace. But here, the KATSEYE members unite, dancing together and transforming people into whatever they desire. These girls dancing beneath flower petals could all be Gabriela together. They fought for what they wanted, but in the end, they achieved it together. As the talk show closes, Manon turns to the camera that’s been following their every move and all the fighting relentlessly and turns it off. Women in the entertainment industry can be idolized, even envied like in the lyrics to “Gabriela,” but KATSEYE transforms it into a symbol of solidarity between women who stick it out to the very end together to rise to the top. Traditional telenovelas draw female audiences in with shows full of romance, betrayal, revenge, and heroines, often reflecting societal issues directly or indirectly. KATSEYE reinvents the format to show that women—without being heroes, falling in love, or even having to address social issues—can still take the lead.

It all makes the way “Mean Girls,” another track off the album, randomly lists different kinds of women feel like an obvious next step. Unlike the love- and school politics-driven power struggle between Cady and Regina in the movie “Mean Girls,” love and power mean nothing when KATSEYE becomes the protagonist. In line with the group’s diverse multicultural background, their “Mean Girls” randomly lists different women, each unique in their own way: “God bless the sweet girls / God bless the dream girls / God bless the queen girls that turn the other cheek girls / God bless the free girls / And, yes, God bless even the mean girls … God bless the hot girls / God bless the thot girls / God bless the shot girls / That go get what they want girls … God bless the T girls / And all the in-between girls.” And these girls “forgive ’cause” they know “insecurity’s a mess,” and they’re “sending … love” because they “hope you don’t end up alone.” KATSEYE’s earlier single “Gnarly” name dropped things like “boba tea,” “Tesla,” and “fried chicken” to highlight things they like or that express their identity. By contrast, “Mean Girls” names all different kinds of girls to create a space for all the women of the world, even if they don’t see themselves explicitly included, or if they use those same labels to describe themselves in entirely different ways, or if they defy specific categorization altogether. While the “Mean Girls” movie centered on white teenage girls navigating love and rivalry to explore women’s personal growth and reconciliation in 2004, here in 2025, KATSEYE’s song amplifies the visibility of the diversity of girls from all different backgrounds, like KATSEYE themselves—and makes more women their own main characters.

Women who earn their success, who foster solidarity and inclusivity, aren’t just part of a story KATSEYE tells—they’re the real deal. In a behind-the-scenes look at shooting the “Gabriela” music video, Jessica Alba spoke to the group from the heart. “It’s a lot of work,” she said. “And the hustle, and all the things—no one realizes, right? Because when you’re little, you just see the end. You never know the buildup of what it takes to be successful. The grind is real, and the hustle. And good for you guys. And, continue to put in the work, because it’ll pay off. Don’t let anyone put you in a box.” Alba doesn’t just play the CEO of Gabriela Enterprises in the music video—she’s a successful Hollywood actor, model, and the cofounder and chairperson of a massive corporation in real life. Her words were a kind gesture of advice and encouragement to KATSEYE coming from a woman who’s been around longer and seen more than her fair share of hardship—telling them they’ve worked hard, that they’re doing well, and to keep going. Her words reflect Sophia’s description in an interview with "Variety” of the aim behind the new album, “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS”: to show women in solidarity with one another. “We never have to cry in a room alone, ever,” she said. “We always are going to have somebody there to support us, and that’s what’s really keeping us going.”

The telenovela as portrayed in “Gabriela” and the teen drama reimagined through “Mean Girls” are popular genres of Latin American and North American entertainment, respectively. Over time, both telenovelas and teen dramas have begun to reflect a more diverse range of women and shows of solidarity. Even so, for a long time in the media, portrayals of women’s desires were often limited to romantic pursuits. Despite being protagonists, women were also expected to be in constant competition, fighting for what they want and even getting hurt in the process. But today, KATSEYE expresses self-love through their boldly confident performances in “Gnarly” and they compare love with men to a game where they don’t have to think much about others in “Gameboy.” Happy endings for women no longer hinge on finding love but on fighting for what they want, just as they do in “Gabriela”—something that can be achieved not alone but together, with no one left behind. And that’s why, as KATSEYE sings in “Mean Girls,” women can forgive and make up with each other while embracing all their differences. “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS” shows how a chaotic world that disrupts the established rules surrounding women can bring about a whole new kind of beauty—a beautiful chaos from KATSEYE that’s exclusively for women.