Gnarly (song)

In March 2025, Katseye were added to the lineups of Lollapalooza's and Wango Tango's 2025 festivals.^[1][2] On April 23, Hybe X Geffen announced that the group would be releasing their first digital single, titled "Gnarly".^[3] A teaser was released on April 29.^[4] The song and its music video, directed by Cody Critcheloe, were released April 30.^[5]

"Gnarly" was written by Alice Longyu Gao, Tim Randolph, Kyle Buckley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, and Madison Love. It was produced by Buckley, "Hitman" Bang and Slow Rabbit.^[6] The song has been described to be an experimental pop and hyperpop track characterized by "quaking 808s, gritty rave synths and a pugnacious attitude".^[5][7] It was written in the key of C minor with a tempo of 135 beats per minute.^[8]

Performed by its songwriter Alice Longyu Gao, a pioneer of the hyperpop genre,^[9] an early demo of "Gnarly" was first publicly shared by Andrew Taggart on TikTok in April 2023. Gao stated that her inspiration for the song originated from her "gnarly" experiences with boba tea and fried chicken, among other interests. The song's prominent use of "gnarly" stems from Gao's background as a non-native English speaker who was "always on the lookout to expand her vocabulary". Upon first hearing the word, Gao admitted that she had initially not known its meaning but was "amused and surprised by the excessive usage of this word by some basic bros".^[10]

Lyrically, the song gravitates around the word "gnarly", which is defined by its ability to express "different meanings and connotations depending on what cultural or life context you're in", as indicated in the track's opening line: "They could describe everything with one single word."^[10] Explaining the meaning of the term, Katseye member Manon stated, "Gnarly can be a good thing or a bad thing in our minds. It's kind of up for interpretation."^[11]

"Gnarly" received polarizing responses,^[12] having been described as a "sharp turn" from Katseye's previous releases.^[13] In an interview with The Fader, Lara described "Gnarly" as unstructured, and acknowledged that it was a change of sound after "Touch".^[11] Tetris Kelly reviewed the song for Billboard's Music You Should Know, describing it as "if you get it, you get it".^[14]

NME's Rhian Daly contributed "Gnarly" to the magazine's Songs of the Summer list.^[15] Pitchfork's Joshua Minsoo Kim described the song as "the most interesting of their career", comparing it to the work of Sophie and writing that it "provides a glimpse into what Katseye could do to live up to their promise as a global girl group."^[16]

"Gnarly" appeared at number five on NME's list of 'The 50 Best Songs of 2025' list^[17] as well as on The New York Times 'Best Songs of 2025' list at number two.^[18]

The choreography for "Gnarly" was arranged by Katseye's performance directors, Sohey Sugihara and Grant Gilmore.^[22] Katseye first performed "Gnarly" on the May 1 broadcast of M Countdown.^[23] They then performed on Music Bank on May 2,^[24] Show! Music Core on May 3,^[25] and Inkigayo on May 4.^[26] While promoting in South Korea, the group also performed "Gnarly" on Studio Choom.^[26]

Katseye's first North American performance of the song was during their set at Wango Tango 2025.^[27] On June 21, they performed the clean version of "Gnarly" at the 2025 Kids' Choice Awards.^[28] They also performed the song at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show on September 7.^[29] At the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, Katseye performed the song along with a dance break that was included in the Best New Artist medley, which also marked the group's last television performance before Manon's hiatus.^[30]

Adapted from Melon.^[6]

Location

• Mixed at MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, VA
• Mastered at Sterling Sound

Credits and personnel

• Katseye – vocals
• Tim Randolph – writer, producer, bass, guitar synthesizer, vocal producer
• Pink Slip – writer, producer, drum programming, keyboards, vocal producer
• Alice Longyu Gao – writer, background vocals
• Jacob Kasher Hindlin – writer
• Madison Love – writer, background vocals
• "Hitman" Bang – producer
• Slow Rabbit – producer
• Bart Schoudel – vocal producer, recording
• Alex Ghenea – mixing
• Chris Gehringer – mastering