feature image photo by Jeremychanphotography / Contributor via Getty Images

Recently, a TikTok of Indian woman creators went viral at singer Tyla’s Mumbai concert. Allegedly thanks to the video, people were discovering that South Asian women were beautiful. Vogue India did a piece on this bizarre phenomenon titled “Is 2025 the year the Indian bombshell stops apologising for being sexy?” The headline image featured Lara Raj, popstar and member of the global girl group Katseye.

Katseye came to the spotlight in 2023, through the survival show Dream Academy, which was designed to find the next girl group from K-Pop powerhouse label HYBE (of BTS and TXT fame), in partnership with the US-based label Geffen Records. However, the masses of the internet started talking about Raj more than ever when Katseye launched a partnership with GAP in an ad set to “Milkshake” by Kelis. The commercial spotlights Raj’s face during “I can teach you but I have to charge,” where the 20-year-old takes on a very “teacher-like” dance move. “My own Instagram feed is flooded with videos of Tamil diva Lara Raj serving baddie dance moves in a viral Gap campaign one day and posting thirst traps with bindis the next,” Nancy Uddin writes of the commercial in the Vogue India piece. “She’s hot and she knows it. Raj is undeniably a bombshell, claiming a title that was not even designed for her.”

I have never identified as femme. How I feel represented by Lara Raj as a South Asian person isn’t as simple as her looks. Raj is hyper-femme, much more into displays of traditional femininity than I’ve ever been comfortable with. I’ve always been Jess Bhamra from Bend it Like Beckham, the one chasing the ball, the one getting scrutinized by aunties of the community, the one looking at Keira Knightley. Yet, in Lara Raj — and Katseye overall — I found home in an artist like I’ve never found before.

Raj came to my radar in mid-2024, when Katseye debuted and released the single “Touch.” At first, I only listened to the audio, not thinking much of the group. I have been familiar with the K-Pop and broader boy group/girl group world for the better part of the last decade, even understanding and accepting my own gender identity through BTS’s music, and particularly feeling seen by member Park Jimin’s androgyny. I loved the natural familiarity K-Pop boys had with each other: easing into each other’s touches, complimenting each other freely, and experimenting with fashion and makeup. In my mid-twenties, K-Pop boy groups satiated me in a way One Direction hadn’t. The men played into the fans’ gaze and “fanservice” took shape in the form of displaying love for their fellow members.

Katseye, a global girl group sometimes lumped into the K-Pop category despite its international makeup, grabbed my attention in a way most musicians hadn’t. And it was primarily because of Lara Raj. When I discovered tweets showing Raj had commented on TikToks hinting she was interested in women, something unlocked in me.

In March 2025, Raj said what most fans already knew: that she was “half fruitcake.” To outsiders, this might be a cop-out. Shying away from labels. But as someone who had been following Raj for almost a year at that point, I knew it was her own brand of humor. Most idols under HYBE and its contemporaries don’t get to make explicit announcements about queerness. She wanted to speak about herself and her identity, and she had to do it more carefully. Katseye member Megan has also since that she’s bisexual on a live where she had Raj with her for support. These reveals haven’t done anything majorly negative for the band’s image. In fact, I believe they’ve made more fans feel welcome. Katseye are unapologetic onstage, showcase goofier sides of themselves on their livestreams, and talk about sisterhood and their love for each other.

2025 was a big year for Katseye. They went viral for the GAP ad, for their hyperpop song “Gnarly,” and received two Grammy nominations. They recently played a sold-out North American tour with 16 stops. I love Katseye’s performances for the same reasons I love BTS, the same reasons I love women’s wrestling and women’s basketball. The natural contact. It’s intoxicating. It’s a breath of fresh air. Many other fans feel this way, especially queer fans. The way Lara and Manon perform the MIA outro — with lots of intimate contact and grinding — is the talk of Twitter after every performance.

I must admit I bought a VIP ticket and had the chance to meet Katseye. These meet and greets are so fast and so awkward. They feel impersonal. But there was a second where I did get to hold Lara Raj’s hand and thank her for her work. I did it for me. I did it for a young me who looked for popstars that looked like me. I may be starting my thirties, but the intense fan in me will never die.

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