WILD

The record

WILD is KATSEYE’s third mini album, released on 14 August 2026 with five tracks. The title track is ‘Hootie Frutti’.

The album introduction places the record after the group’s second mini album BEAUTIFUL CHAOS and says its five tracks run from dance pop and EDM to Brazilian phonk and contemporary pop. The pre-release singles ‘PINKY UP’ and ‘Animal’ open the tracklist. Kyunghyang Shinmun described the record as one about moving toward instinct and freedom regardless of how others look at you.

Reviews

NME’s Rhian Daly reviewed the mini album on the day of release, going through all five tracks. The song the review singles out is the title track: “It’s clearly designed to expand KATSEYE’s global culture canon with occasional Portuguese lyrics, but most importantly, it’s a fun, infectious piece of pop.”

Among the tracks

‘Hootie Frutti’ is a Brazilian phonk and hyperpop hybrid. NME writes that the five members sing over it about “$20 smoothies in LA” and “mochi drenched in chocolata”.

Of the fifth track, ‘That Way’, the same review says KATSEYE use a slinking groove as the foundation to take control with a partner and set boundaries that reflect their worth. It treats the fourth track, ‘Bel Air’, as a ballad carried by a buzzing bassline and a gently marching drum beat, on which the members reflect on being stuck in a relationship that will not work and on finding the strength to move on.

Numbers

Kyunghyang Shinmun reported, citing the chart preview Billboard posted on 23 August 2026, that the record entered the Billboard 200 dated 29 August at number one — the first time KATSEYE had topped that chart since their debut. In the same report Billboard said that WILD, released on 14 August, held the largest week for a female group since the chart moved to album-equivalent units in December 2015. Its first week came to 170,000 units.

Four songs entered the singles chart the same week. Star News reported that on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 29 August the pre-release single ‘Animal’ climbed six places to number 24, the title track ‘Hootie Frutti’ entered at 31 and the other pre-release single ‘PINKY UP’ reached 81, while ‘ICONIC BY MISTAKE’, the collaboration with LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT, placed 94th. By the same report the tracks ‘Bel Air’ and ‘That Way’ stood at 11 and 14 on Bubbling Under Hot 100, and KATSEYE rose 27 places to number one on the Billboard Artist 100.