There are few things more frustrating than a major technical issue at the start of an interview. That\u2019s all that was happening for the first 15 minutes I spent with Katseye<\/a>. Static, a dying laptop battery, frozen cameras, and more plagued our attempt at a video call from the two most different places possible: while the group\u2019s five active members (Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Yoonchae Jeung, and Sophia Laforteza) are sequestered in a remote dance studio in Los Angeles, rehearsing for their Coachella set on Friday night, I\u2019m at Blackberry Farm in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains.<\/p>\n By the time everybody was coming through loud and clear, the girls are cuddled up on a giant couch in black-and-white dance gear. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working for weeks on our performance\u20149 a.m. to 11 p.m. today\u2014because we want it to be as perfect as possible,\u201d Avanzini says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on some new things, so it\u2019s going to be very different.\u201d<\/p>\n Music isn\u2019t the only thing they\u2019ll be debuting on the Sahara Stage; last week, the group decided it was time for a makeover, and celebrity hairstylist and Matrix brand ambassador George Papanikolas<\/a> was on hand to make it all happen. (Katseye is a global brand ambassador for the brand, as well.) The change began with Jeung, who, in her own words, has \u201cbeen wanting to go blonde for a while now and finally convinced our visual creative team\u201d\u2014namely, creative director Humberto Leon and visual director Jo\u00e3o Moraes.<\/p>\n She cites Pinterest as an important source of inspiration for her golden-blonde makeover: \u201cI don\u2019t even know who the person is in the inspiration photo, I just knew I wanted the color to have a little bit of yellow,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n From there, it wasn\u2019t long before the rest of the group hopped on the bleach bandwagon, each to totally different ends. \u201cThe looks have this natural edge to them because we all have some elements of black hair and some elements of blonde hair, with Yoonchae being completely blonde,\u201d Raj says. That edge, she adds slyly, was \u201csomething we wanted to showcase with our new album.\u201d<\/p>\n Colton Williams\/Matrix<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Raj\u2019s Y2K-style blonde highlights were inspired by another pop music great: Christina Aguilera (or, as Raj calls her, \u201cXtina\u201d). \u201cThe 2000s are an era of music and pop culture that we find really inspiring,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved the song \u2018Dirrty\u2019 and wanted to have those types of streaks in my hair since I was eight. It\u2019s still edgy, but I like that I could keep the black hair around my face and just add in bright little blonde pops.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/assets.vogue.com\/photos\/69d674b60474475d8f1cf777\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Matrix-2026-KATSEYE-TRNSFRM-Vogue-2.jpg\"\/)
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