Think about the defining images of LE SSERAFIM and KATSEYE so far this year. One would be LE SSERAFIM filling massive stadiums in the United States. Excitement for their “EASY CRAZY HOT” tour, which kicked off earlier this year in April, reached a fever pitch with their seven US shows in September. Each was sold out, and Korean fans couldn’t get enough of the audience over there singing along to “CRAZY” in Korean. The other defining moment would be KATSEYE’s record-breaking show at Lollapalooza in Chicago back in August, their first time attending the festival. Despite the early afternoon slot, 85,000 attendees packed the place to watch, setting a record for daytime attendance at the event. It’s impossible to think of that and then not think of Chappell Roan’s similarly triumphant show in roughly the same time slot just a year earlier.

We’re all familiar with success stories about K-pop girl groups like BLACKPINK, but LE SSERAFIM and KATSEYE didn’t debut until 2022 and 2024, respectively, when the globalization of K-pop had firmly taken root—specifically, when it had become a notable genre even in Western markets. Skepticism surrounding K-pop and calling it a niche genre exclusively for Asian audiences or a handful of diehards has proven unwarranted. That doesn’t mean that everyone likes K-pop, though. If a K-pop artist becomes popular in Korea, that popularity doesn’t automatically translate into success in the West. Reaching the wider public is always a challenge, and this applies to every genre, not just K-pop. Which begs the question: How are LE SSERAFIM and KATSEYE storming the US market like they are?

Let’s start by looking at how you can categorize different girl groups. Setting aside the obvious example of Taylor Swift, countless individual women like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli xcx are explosively popular today, but there are currently no girl groups who enjoy the same level of success. When Huntrix reached No. 1 on the “Billboard” Hot 100 earlier this year, it was the first time for a girl group in 24 years, the last being Destiny’s Child all the way back in 2001. Even as recently as the ’90s, groups like Wilson Phillips, TLC, and the Spice Girls put out 12 No. 1 hits among them. After Destiny’s Child, groups like the Pussycat Dolls and Fifth Harmony experienced only a faint hint of that success.

There’s many reasons for this, but let’s consider Sabrina Carpenter as an example. Carpenter didn’t debut out of nowhere when she put out “Espresso” in 2024—it took her five albums from 2014 until her hit “Nonsense” in 2022 to get to where she is today. And you can imagine how many more things have to go right on that long journey when it comes to making music as a group. But the rich fullness of the same lineup singing together and all the chemistry they have together makes groups something special. And K-pop, as the carefully crafted system it’s become today with so many resources now at its disposal, is uniquely qualified to fill the vacuum that’s gone unexplored for over a decade. K-pop hasn’t just made it to the US—it’s filling the space that was left behind.

So what sets K-pop and other girl groups apart? Let’s take a look at LE SSERAFIM following the release of their single “Perfect Night” in late October 2023. The single was a collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment for their hugely popular game “Overwatch 2.” In-game content tied to the music video was available for a limited time. The group closed out Blizzard’s annual event, BlizzCon, with a live performance that included the new single.

Playing off their BlizzCon promotions, LE SSERAFIM made appearances on different gaming YouTubers’ channels, like Valkyrae and BRO YOU WACK. Around the same time, they shot a vlog in New York with another group of YouTube stars, the Ha Sisters. What really stood out was how HUH YUNJIN acted as a linguistic and cultural bridge between them all. As a fluent English speaker who’s up on the latest memes and slang, she had no trouble facilitating what could’ve otherwise been a chaotic meeting with the Ha Sisters. LE SSERAFIM got people talking all over again when they later took some of the Gen Z slang that came up in the video and used it while touring the US.

Last, LE SSERAFIM made inroads with major sports league the NBA. They attended both LA Lakers and LA Clippers games, during which the Lakers cheerleaders performed to “ANTIFRAGILE.” People were also fascinated by the custom jerseys the group received, featuring their names plus numbers personally significant to each of them.

The way they engaged with gaming culture, influencers, and mainstream sports was far from a one-off. In March this year, LE SSERAFIM did another “Overwatch 2” collaboration, the Ha Sisters visited Korea in 2024 to film a follow-up vlog with the group, and in April that same year, the NBA officially partnered with the girl group and made them Friends of the NBA. This made them the second K-pop stars, after BTS member SUGA, to form an official partnership with the basketball league.

They took a similar approach leading up to the US leg of this year’s tour in September. LE SSERAFIM attended the US Open Tennis Championships and an MLB game with the LA Dodgers, launched a limited-edition collection with up-and-coming New York designer Danielle Guizio, and performed “HOT” and “ANTIFRAGILE” on the hit TV show “America’s Got Talent.” Thanks to their tenacity, the controversy surrounding their 2024 performance at Coachella faded into the background. A few months later, that September, the group found a way to take their K-pop performances and merge them with audience engagement at the MTV Video Music Awards. Fast forward a year later to their appearance on “America’s Got Talent” and the US part of their tour, and it’s clear how the group has come to master the art of the performance.

What about KATSEYE, who sidestepped the cultural and linguistic barriers right from the start? With members hailing from various countries, including the US, Korea, the Philippines, and Switzerland, KATSEYE isn’t just notable for their diversity—it’s basically their message. A prime example is an advertising campaign Gap set out on this year, Better in Denim. The campaign immediately drew comparisons to American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans campaign, and while Gap publicly stated that their campaign was independently conceived, it stood in notable contrast to American Eagle’s ad, which inadvertently carried racial undertones through its pun on “jeans” and “genes.” Gap’s ad proved a resounding success for both the company and KATSEYE, seeing 20 million views within the first three days and 400 million views in the weeks following.

KATSEYE is already their own group, not the carefully curated mix of models clothing brands typically aim for in their ads. By aligning itself with a whole musical group, one of the most widely recognized brands in the world was showing a commitment to racial and cultural representation. KATSEYE’s unique lineup is also reflected in their music as it evolves into a kind of global pop that incorporates the cultural backgrounds of each group member. Thanks to the wealth of experience the K-pop training process instilled in them, it only took them a year to perform at Lollapalooza and fill thousands of seats on a tour across North and Central America.

LE SSERAFIM and KATSEYE are pioneering a path distinct from that of BLACKPINK. BLACKPINK has shot to unprecedented global fame through their enviably powerful “girl crush” image, personal branding as luxury fashion house ambassadors and mega-influencers, and infrequent comebacks that turn each one into a major event. LE SSERAFIM’s built an intimate connection with listeners and permeated everyday US culture thanks to their signature K-pop performances and HUH YUNJIN playing cultural liaison. KATSEYE, on the other hand, is a bold and radical experiment. By localizing the K-pop system, debut reality show included, they’re building themselves into a global group and securing their place within the US as swiftly as a new K-pop group from a major agency would establish themselves in Korea.

Ultimately, both groups are moving beyond the perception of being a novelty import, establishing a lasting presence and responding to market conditions. It demands a delicate balance between two very different approaches: K-pop’s disciplined performances and the intimate audience engagement associated with Western pop stars. LE SSERAFIM may have wavered briefly under a moment of high pressure, but they quickly got back on track. And KATSEYE is proving to be consistent. It’s a path that’s never been traveled before, and it’s impossible to imagine where this could all be heading.