In the world of K-pop, the work involved in becoming a global superstar is not too different from that of an Olympic athlete. As is true in sports, the body is an artist’s most precious asset, and to be successful, they must hone it relentlessly and tirelessly so it can perform to near perfection. The docuseries Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE follows a group of some of the most talented young women on the planet as they train for a spot on the dream team: K-pop juggernaut HYBE and major US record label Geffen Records’ global girl group, KATSEYE.

The catch? There are only six spots.

When we first meet the finalists — referred to as “trainees” — in the series, these women already have something to be immensely proud of. They’re the final batch of 20-odd contestants, chosen from a submission pool of over 120,000 young people from around the world. Each were selected because of their innate talents — whether it be singing, dancing, sometimes both, or just embodying that elusive “star quality.” But being great isn’t enough — even though they will be US-based, they’re being trained in the K-pop way. The young women must go through rigorous training to become the best of the best, with the hope of becoming all-rounders, which will make them indispensable to the group of seasoned coaches and producers who hold their fate in their hands. Needless to say, the panel have their work cut out for them — especially since so much of making a girl group is about finding cohesion among a group of very unique talents.

Below, meet the trainees bringing their spirit and gifts from all around the world as they follow their dreams.

Abby

17, USA

Height: 5'8”
MBTI: INFP
Astrological Sign: Sagittarius
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Rooster
Pets: Four dogs named Buster, Bill, Mack, and LaLa, a donkey named Honkey, a pet duck named Seb, two geese named Luba and Pearl, and a chicken named Lee Min Ho
Number of Siblings: None
Languages Spoken: English
Fun Facts:  
• I grew up in a tiny mining town in Red Cliff, Colorado, elevation 8,832 ft, population 250, with no cell service and really long winters where snowmobiles were the vehicle of choice. My childhood home was a haunted, Wild West saloon/brothel from the 1800s and I spent most of my time in nature.
• I grew up in a racing family and spent my childhood living part-time down in Baja Mexico (in a camper on the beach) while my dad was training for his off-road races. I also have co-piloted and raced with my dad.
• I have been pursuing my solo artist career and I just released my first two singles “Zero Chill” and “Break the Curse” under my stage name Abby Paradise.

Follow Abby on Instagram.

Adéla

19, Slovakia

Height: 5'7”
MBTI: ENTJ
Astrological Sign: Sagittarius
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Goat
Pets: Two dogs
Siblings: Two
Languages spoken: Slovak, English, German, Czech
Fun Facts: 
• I’m low-key really good at singing impressions … I specialize in Shakira and Lorde.
• I’m a professionally trained ballet dancer, and started when I was 3 years old.
• My old vocal coach Jennifer used to be Olivia Rodrigo’s teacher — she’s [the one] who sent me the post about the audition. I found her through an ELLE article about Olivia. If I didn’t read that article I would have never participated. Kismet.

Follow Adéla on Instagram and TikTok.

Brooklyn

17, USA

Height: 5'8”
MBTI: ENFP
Astrological Sign: Taurus
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Dog
Pets: Two dogs named Stella and Lola
Siblings: Two
Languages spoken: English
Fun Facts: 
•  I dropped my first song at 13 years old.
• I had my first job at six months old. 
•  I used to want to be the president (low-key still do) and Obama wrote me back in a letter when I sent one at 8 years old to the White House.

Follow Brooklyn on Instagram and TikTok.

Celeste

19, Argentina

Height: 5'6”
MBTI: INFJ
Astrological Sign: Leo
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Monkey
Pets: Seven cats and 13 dogs
Siblings: Two
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Fun Facts: 
•  I’m a very sensitive person. I get easily emotional and cry at the smallest things most of the time. Last time, I cried watching Toy Story 4.
•  Usually, I wake up in the middle of the night just to grab a snack and go back to sleep.
•  I hate playing sports. One day at school, some boys were playing football and the ball hit my face. I started bleeding [because] I was wearing glasses. If I already disliked sport balls, this time definitely made me hate them even more.

Follow Celeste on Instagram.

Daniela

19, USA

Height: 5'4”
MBTI: ENFJ-A
Astrological Sign: Cancer
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Monkey
Pets: Two dogs (Yorkies)
Siblings: None
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Fun Facts: 
•  I’m super double-jointed, specifically in my left hand.
•  My favorite rap artist is Playboi Carti.
•  I’m allergic to cats.

Follow Daniela on Instagram and TikTok.

Emily

19, USA

Height: 5'0”
MBTI: ENFP
Astrological Sign: Aquarius
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Dog
Pets: Two dogs and two cats
Siblings: Four
Languages spoken: English
Fun Facts: 
•  I LOVE spicy food and it’s a dream of mine to be on Hot Ones!
•  I’ve been a competitive dancer since I was 5 years old!
•  I was in a horror movie with Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino and Evan Peters!

 Follow Emily on Instagram and TikTok.

Ezrela

20, Australia

Height: 5'4”
MBTI: ISFP/INFP
Astrological Sign: Taurus
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Goat
Pets: None
Siblings: Two
Languages spoken: English, Malayalam, Japanese, Korean
Fun Facts: 
• I’m lactose intolerant.
• I majored in animation and sound design at university.
• I used to rewatch Friends so much that I could guess what episode was playing purely based on what they were wearing.

 Follow Ezrela on Instagram and TikTok.

Hinari

14, Japan

Height: 5'3”
MBTI: ESTP
Astrological Sign: Pisces
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Ox
Pets: Until a few years ago, I had a black pug that looked exactly like my father!
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: Japanese, English (a little)
Fun Facts:
• I can make the most delicious ramen in the world!
• I can stretch my cheeks a lot.
• I'm a ☆lucky girl☆!

 Follow Hinari on Instagram.

Iliya

21, Belarus

Height: 5'3”
MBTI: ENFJ
Astrological Sign: Leo
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Horse
Pets: I had a big white beautiful dog when I was little
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: Russian, English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Fun Facts: 
• Before the program I’d NEVER ever danced in my entire life (and had never taken lessons). 
•  My most viewed singing TikTok right now is at 30 million views.
•  I was in a long distance relationship for four months.

 Follow Iliya on Instagram and TikTok.

Karlee

19, USA

Height: 5'4”
MBTI: ENFJ
Astrological Sign: Libra
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Goat
Pets: A dog named Tobi
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: English, a little bit of Korean and Japanese
Fun Facts: 
•  I can speak gibberish.
•  I can rap.
•  I don’t have a favorite color.

 Follow Karlee on Instagram and TikTok.

Lara

17, USA

Height: 5'6”
MBTI: ESTP-A
Astrological Sign: Scorpio
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Rooster
Pets: Three cats
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: English and a little Tamil!
Fun Facts: 
•  My other dream in life is to be a house producer/DJ and to have my own clothing/bindi line. 
•  I’m allergic to avocados.
• I have near-perfect pitch.

 Follow Lara on Instagram and TikTok.

Lexie

19, Sweden

Height: 5’0”
MBTI: INFJ
Astrological Sign: Virgo
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Monkey
Pets: One cat and one puppy
Siblings: Four
Languages spoken: Swedish, English, and a bit of Spanish
Fun Facts: 
•  I’m obsessed with bows and cute hair accessories.
•  I’m a huge sports car fan.
•   I love jazz music, especially Michael Bublé!

 Follow Lexie on Instagram and TikTok.

Manon

21, Switzerland

Height: 5'5”
MBTI: ENFJ-J
Astrological Sign: Cancer
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Horse
Pets: None
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Fun Facts: 
•  I’m allergic to almonds.
•  I can wiggle my ears.
•  When I was 17, I went to a concert of my favorite artist at that time and he picked me out of the crowd to perform on stage with him.

 Follow Manon on Instagram and TikTok.

Marquise

17, Thailand

Height: 5'6”
MBTI: INFJ
Astrological Sign: Leo
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Dog
Pets: Unfortunately, no
Siblings: None
Languages spoken: English, Thai
Fun Facts: 
•  My favorite colors are blue and black.
•  My dad and I share the same birthday.

 Follow Marquise on Instagram.

Megan

17, USA

Height: 5'6”
MBTI: ISTP
Astrological sign: Aquarius
Chinese zodiac sign: Dog
Pets: A husky named Cassie
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: English, a little French, and learning Cantonese and Mandarin!
Fun Facts: 
•  I first learned Hula and Tahitian dance when I was 2.
•  I’m allergic to cats.
•  I used to be a model and did a fashion show in Paris.

 Follow Megan on Instagram and TikTok.

Mei

17, Japan

Height: 5'4”
MBTI: ENFP
Astrological sign: Libra
Chinese zodiac sign: Rooster
Pets: None
Siblings: Two
Languages spoken: Japanese, Korean
Fun facts: 
•  I’m always grinning when I eat delicious food.
•  I’m good at making friends.

 Follow Mei on Instagram.

Naisha

19, UK & Spain

Height: 5'3”
MBTI: ENFP
Astrological sign: Leo
Chinese zodiac sign: Snake
Pets: No, because Flappy died
Languages spoken: English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Catalan
Fun Fact:
•  I studied in 10 different schools growing up.
•  English is the last language I learned, and I used to have a funny Spanish accent.
• My first dream was to become a famous soccer player and play for Brazil in the World Cup — and win.

 Follow Naisha on Instagram.

Nayoung

21, South Korea

Height: 5’3”
MBTI: ISFP
Astrological sign: Aries
Chinese zodiac sign: Horse
Pets: A Pomeranian named Babpul (밥풀) 
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: Korean
Fun facts: 
• I can sing nursery rhymes.
• I can do Taekwondo.

 Follow Nayoung on Instagram.

Samara

17, Brazil

Height: 5'2”
MBTI: INFJ
Astrological sign: Virgo
Chinese zodiac sign: Rooster
Pets: An orange cat named Klaus
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: English, Portuguese
Fun facts: 
•  I have this weird thing where I need to turn off my phone before I go to bed, like I clean everything ... no notifications, no Wi-Fi, and then I leave it in airplane mode. I can’t sleep unless I do this.
• I have the ability to imitate singers — I can make my voice sound like them.

 Follow Samara on Instagram and TikTok.

Sophia

20, Philippines

Height: 5'6”
MBTI: ENFP
Astrological sign: Capricorn
Chinese zodiac sign: Horse
Pets: Two chow chows and four cats
Siblings: Two
Languages spoken: English, Tagalog
Fun facts: 
•  My left eye starts to twitch when I eat something sour.
•  I love to watch Architectural Digest videos or listen to Disney movie scores while doing a lengthy task to stay focused. 
•  My dream instrument to learn to play is the violin.

 Follow Sophia on Instagram and TikTok.

Ua

15, Japan

Height: 5'2”
MBTI: ISTP
Astrological sign: Pisces
Chinese zodiac sign: Rat
Pets: Three cats and one chicken
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: Japanese
Fun facts: 
•  I’m allergic to cats.

 Follow Ua on Instagram.

Yoonchae

15, South Korea

Height: 5'5”
MBTI: ISFP
Astrological sign: Sagittarius
Chinese zodiac sign: Pig
Pets: A cat named Oreo
Siblings: One
Languages spoken: English, Korean
Fun facts: 
•  I really like to eat.
• My new hobby is listening to music and drawing whatever the songs bring to mind.

 Follow Yoonchae on Instagram.