Global girl group KATSEYE made a strong impression at the 2026 American Music Awards held on May 25 in Las Vegas. Performing as a five member group, KATSEYE won 3 major awards during the event, including New Artist of the Year, Breakthrough Pop Artist and Best Music Video for their song Gnarly.
The group’s successful debut at the award show made them one of the most talked about acts of the evening. During the acceptance speech, KATSEYE leader Sophia Laforteza mentioned the influence of BTS on the group’s musical journey.
The members also thanked their fans in several languages, including Spanish, Hindi and Korean. Their multilingual message received attention online and reflected the group’s growing international fanbase.
The event also marked BTS’ return to a major awards stage after four years. The group opened the ceremony with a performance of their song Hooligan. The performance received loud cheers from the audience and became one of the highlights of the night.
KATSEYE & @BTS_twt pic.twitter.com/ou2b8zhcaL
— GLISTEN (@GLISTEN_J) May 26, 2026
Apart from their performance, BTS won Artist of the Year, Song of the Summer for SWIM and Best Male K Pop Artist. These wins added to the group’s long list of achievements at international music award events.
Backstage moments featuring BTS and KATSEYE also gained popularity on social media. Photos and videos from the event showed members posing together with peace signs and heart gestures, which fans widely shared online.
The 2026 American Music Awards featured several major artists from around the world, but K Pop and global music groups remained among the main talking points of the event.
KATSEYE’s debut success marked an important step in the group’s international career. At the same time, BTS once again showed their worldwide popularity after returning to group activities following their break from major public appearances.
Fans continued discussing the award wins and performances online, making both BTS and KATSEYE some of the most discussed artists from the ceremony.