Teahouses and raves have not often been mentioned in the same breath, but Katseye brought the hyper-pop dance party to a beyond-brightly-colored tearoom set with the quintet’s live rendition of “Pinky Up” on the American Music Awards.
The galvanizing number came shortly before the group won best new artist on the CBS/Paramount+ telecast.
Kateye’s performance was one of the most highly anticipated of the night, given the devotion of the group’s fan base, so it was not a surprise that “Pinky Up,” appearing two-thirds of the way through the three-hour telecast, featured some of the most elaborate production values of the night.
Before the group came out, a group of extras mimed drinking tea and feasting on pastries, with pinky fingers aloft — per the song’s innate spoofing of the etiquette stereotypically associated with tea drinking. And maybe pinky fingers weren’t the only thing getting high in this milieu, as the number further exploded in a riot of EDM rhythms and pink hues. The five members burst out of a giant pink teddy bear, and even their costumes were festooned with tiny bear faces, like the Grateful Dead’s mascot had suddenly infiltrated the world of girl groups.
The group’s acceptance speech for new artist of the year was mostly delivered in English, but with touches of other languages from the members’ different backgrounds. “We’ve always been on a mission to celebrate diversity and represent our people and our culture, so thank you so much for giving us the platform to do so,” said Lara Raj.
Katseye had some starry boosters going into the lively performance, as EJAE and Rei Ami, of “KPop Demon Hunters” fame, introduced the performance. “Tonight already feels golden, and it’s about to get even better,” EJAE promised in her intro. (The mutual admiration society between the “Demon Hunters” singers and Katseye was already well-established when the two ensembles came together during Katseye’s Coachella set in April for a performance of “Golden.” Rei Ami described that festival collaboration as “a beautiful meeting of girl power.”)
“Pinky Up” is scheduled to appear on Katseye’s third EP, “Wild,” coming out Aug. 14. But fans have already gotten a good dose of it, first as a digital single released in early April, then through the song’s live premiere on successive Coachella weekends that same month.
Katseye came into the night with three nominations, for new artist of the year, breakthrough pop artist and best music video (for “Gnarly”).
It was the group’s first awards performance since the Grammys, which happened to be their last major performance as a six-piece, at least for now. It was announced soon after that Manon Bannerman would be taking a hiatus from the group, and she remained absent during Monday night’s AMAs performance.